What's your best advice for overcoming procrastination?
Bren Kinfa π SaaS Gems
24 replies
Procrastination is HUGE and is one of the many demons that prevents you from getting stuff done.
What are some ways that have personally helped you overcome this rather all-too-common obstacle?
Here's a couple that have worked for me:
- I try to set deadlines and adhere to them. I don't always meet my deadlines, but it at least helps give me a nudge into completing something by X date.
- I try to break tasks into smaller and manageable steps. This helps reduce the cognitive overload that a big project has.
How about you?
Replies
Nadezhda Babushkina@nadenade
Hello Bren! Procrastination is huge.
Maybe Iβm not the right person to share experience cause Iβs bruised in the battle, and itβs still challenge for me.
Here is what I do. First Iβm making myself admit, that this thing I need to do is βhardβ, painful, or whatever. Step two is defining whatβs here that needs to be done that eliminates this pain, fear or whatever itβs in this particular project. It might be lack of expertise, or unclear situation, or dependance on outside provider. Step three - get the hardest part done in quick storm.
I donβt recall where I got this, maybe my adaptation of βeating frogβ as a first thing ))
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Limit my time on social media and messenger apps by using timers on iPhone and Mac. Also, use 1Focus on Mac.
Forest pomodoro app.
Have a backup phone that doesn't have any social media or messenger apps installed that I use only for productive tasks (email, pocket, productivity, travel, finance, etc. apps).
At midnight put my phones and iPad into a box that locks until morning (has a timer lock).
@outofelement Great ideas and tips, thanks for sharing π Love the technique about putting your devices into a box - that's brilliant haha!
@saasdesigner Just started testing Llama Life. Found it on Reddit when looking if someone made a product to replace 30/30 which I liked a lot.
Overcoming procrastination might be pretty challenging.
I set specific and easy-to-achieve goals.
What really helps me is breaking down large tasks into smaller, more manageable ones. This makes tasks feel less overwhelming and goals - easier to achieve.
IMHO procrastination is not a problem it is a sign that you don't know your goals and target so it is better to relax, walk or do sports. At some moment you find the target and procrastination will disappear on its ownπ»
BTW: I appreciate you rating my own product on my page and your view about the starter page will be niceπ
For me, the best advice for overcoming procrastination is to break large tasks down into smaller, achievable steps. That way you can accomplish something that otherwise may seem too daunting or difficult. And I don't just mean breaking down the final product you want to achieve; I'm talking about breaking each step of the process down into its most basic components, and then taking it one baby step at a time. As long as you keep taking those little steps every day β holding yourself accountable for making progress β you'll soon find yourself making real headway on any task or goals you set for yourself. That's how I always get things done!
I always find myself procrastinating before starting a task, so I try to break my routine a little every now and then and start at odd times. Break down my work into manageable portions, schedule each portion, and try to convince myself that each task is a flight I must not miss. So, I plan my work like a trip. Have to do X from 9 AM until 11 AM, then comes something fun, and after that have to catch up with Y at 1 PM, etc. When it starts to become monotonous, I shift the timings a little.
I do the same two things that you listed above. Something that I've found beneficial is starting my day the night before aka just making a list of what I want to get done.
Using time constraints can also be a big motivator when approaching a task. Say you've been putting off a certain task, set a timer and say you're going to do it in 10 minutes. You may not finish it of course, but you might find that you made some serious headway and want to continue it till it's finished.
Baby steps! Start from small things.
@outofelement I mean, if you have REAL, solid, like, ADHD, then I certainly don't have a leg to stand on to say, "Don't do it." But if you're a regular squidboy like me, procrastination is unprofessional. If it's procrastination to not tidy your sock drawer, then, as Jordan Peterson would say in his shrill, squeaky, flappy-head Canadian voice, "Just do it."
@kevin_t_ Again, if it were so easy not to procrastinate it wouldn't be such a massive issue for most people.
In fact, procrastination is natural because it's an evolutionary trait. We evolved to focus in short, intense bursts (go hunt a mammoth) and then chill for a long time enjoying the spoils of a successful hunt.
In fact, the whole idea of working most of the time we're awake is actually very new. Believe it or not, up until just a couple of centuries ago we worked only about 15 hours a week.
The reason the absolute majority of people are prone to procrastination is not because they have "real, solid ADHD" but because we're fighting centuries of evolution when we're forcing ourselves to work 40 or more hours per week.
@outofelement There are many things that are evolutionary traits, but humans don't continually make victims of ourselves, claiming the behavior is "natural," therefore okay to indulge in.
I am not attempting to attack you. I'd like to hear what you say. I can be convinced.
@kevin_t_ Not taking it as any sort of an attack at all. We're just talking.
It's not about being victims but being realistic about human behavior and causes for it. "Just do it" doesn't work for the overwhelming majority of people. That's an easily observable fact when it comes to attempts to change any kind of behavior deemed undesirable. Most people fail to change their routines. Even when they succeed they usually revert back after a short amount of time. There's a huge body of scientific evidence in behavioral science to support this.
Procrastination is the least of our troubles. People have a hard time quitting pretty much any undesirable behavior. That's why there are widespread issues with alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling, etc. Telling people to "just do it" simply doesn't work and isn't realistic. I wish it were that simple. We'd all be perfect and not spend so much time reading or watching self-help articles / videos :)
Social media apps, and the internet in general, have made the procrastination problem much worse. There are so many distractions now at our fingertips and these apps were purposely designed to be as addictive as possible (constantly delivering hits of dopamine) by behavioral scientists. Their entire business model is based on time users spend using them. Check out the documentary "Social Dilemma", if you haven't seen it yet. In it many of the creators of these apps talk about regretting what they've done to society.
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Forgot to mention. One of the simplest and quickest ways to reduce your social media app distractions is to completely turn off all the notifications for all such apps at the OS level.
Don't worry. You still won't miss anything. But now YOU get to decide when to use them.
Another good way in addition to that is to use the Screentime feature to setup time limits for such apps. For example, limit all social media apps to 2 hours per day. You can still bypass this but it's pretty annoying so creates a bit of a barrier.
Android phones also have something similar but, I think, you need to install a third party app.