Overcoming our natural urge to procrastinate
In this month’s mindfulness and wellbeing update we’re going to be touching on a subject that arguably affects nearly all of us: procrastination.
According to Times Higher Education, there are four basic reasons for procrastination: lack of confidence in our ability to successfully accomplish a task; not seeing the immediate benefit of completing the task; the extent to which we’re distracted by external factors while working on the task; and the amount of time we have available to complete the task.
In no particular order, we’ll be sharing some tips on how to overcome the above four mental blocks and get those creative juices flowing.
Rule number 1: Don’t overthink things
Procrastination is often unfairly associated with laziness, when often we might actually delay starting a task because we care too much about it rather than too little. If you’re drawn to perfectionism, you’re working on something you’re really passionate about, or you’re trying to accomplish a task that has important external factors riding on it, then you might find yourself in the situation where a lack of confidence or perceived fear of failure can sap your enthusiasm to get started. In this case, try to break your work down into smaller stages and focus on how you can tackle these, rather than becoming too swayed by the bigger picture. Remember that in most cases it’s possible to review work or seek advice from other people while still on a task.
If you’re afraid of failure, remember that even in the worst-case scenarios there’s often an opportunity to try again at a later date, whether that means resitting an exam or retaking a driving test. Ultimately, we should always keep in mind that anything that we can accomplish is still better than nothing. ‘Done’ is better than ‘perfect’, as Sheryl Sandberg would have said.
Rule number 2: Write now, edit later
If you’re working on an assignment and you’re unsure of where to start, just start anywhere. Even just opening up a Google or Microsoft Word document, giving it a title and saving it is still a vital first step to starting a project.
Once you have your document open, just write anything. If you’re writing an essay, start on the section that most speaks to you if it’s too daunting to start from the beginning. This might even mean writing the conclusion of the essay first, as long as you go back and reorganise your ideas later. If you’re working on a writing assignment or any kind of creative project, start reading around your chosen topic and looking for ideas. This is generally a less daunting way of easing yourself into a project and will increase your likelihood of finding sudden inspiration later.
Rule number 3: Take regular breaks
If you feel like you’re hitting a wall, it might be that you’ve been thinking about something for too long. If you’re struggling for inspiration then sometimes it can help to spend some time reading about unrelated topics or talking to other people, since this creates some distance from the task at hand and helps you to come back at it from a different perspective. Along those same lines, it can also help to have a change of environment. If you’re doing your work from home then it can be well worth going for a walk or even taking your work to a public place such as a library or café.
If you’re working on your project alongside a day job or another responsibility, try to use small moments here or there to work on your piece, even if it’s just to read an article on the topic or make some brief notes that have come to mind during the day. Sometimes it’s actually easier to organise ideas when facing an immediate time limitation, and you can always work through your ideas in a more focused way later.
We can often get our best ideas when we’re not actually sitting down at a computer with a document open, so if you think of ideas while on the move, try to capture them as soon as you can even if it means writing them down on pieces of paper or emailing them to yourself.
Rule number 4: Avoid distractions
Once you’re ready to sit down and work through all of the ideas that you’ve accumulated, you need some focus time. Wherever possible, it’s good to follow the usual tips to avoid distractions, such as working in a quiet environment if you can, and limiting phone time. At the same time, it’s important to note that procrastination can often take on more subtle forms than just flicking through phone updates, such as getting engrossed in house cleaning or, perhaps most insidiously of all, continuing to read and research when we know deep down that we have enough material already and it’s time to start writing.
These practices are difficult to avoid, but it’s good to be aware of when you’re doing them so that you can remind yourself to either return to the task at hand or take a break to organise your thoughts (in which case, refer to rule number 3).
Rule number 5: Don’t be afraid to delete work if you’re going off track
When working on any kind of creative project, the most powerful tool at your disposal is often the ‘Delete’ button. Most creative processes by nature involve some level of waste. If you’ve come up with something that you’re not happy with or that you don’t think is taking your work forward, it might be better to just bin it rather than write yourself into corners making it fit with the rest of your arguments. You can always back up a copy of your work so you still have the original material to refer to, then delete the irrelevant parts. Remember also that if you produce content that later turns out to be unhelpful or irrelevant, the process of creating it will still have been useful in helping you to organise your thoughts. Don’t be deterred from getting started through fear of coming up with material that you might not use.
Rule number 6: Consider creating a schedule
One of the biggest enemies to starting a task is having a very long deadline, since this can often create a sense of complacency or, more troublingly, give us even more time to worry about getting started. If you can relate to this then it might be helpful to break your project down into intermediary stages such as researching, writing and editing, and creating a rough timeline for when each of the stages should be completed. If your work involves having to check in with colleagues, other collaborators or supervisors then these small milestones should also help you to stay on track.
If you don’t find precise scheduling helpful, try to at least organise your time so that you have a few dedicated intervals where you can really sit down and focus, and try to use these for their intended purpose whenever they come around.
Rule number 7: Reward yourself during the process and think of the end results
Try not to be too hard on yourself, and celebrate small successes. If you can reward yourself by doing something that improves your overall health and wellbeing, such as going for a walk or a swim, that’s even better. Remember that taking time out to pursue unrelated activities is a valuable opportunity for your mind to unconsciously process whatever you’re working on, and most importantly of all, it will boost your own happiness too.
If you’re struggling to stay motivated or hitting a mental block, try to remember why you’re working on your task, whether it’s for personal fulfilment, professional reasons or something different altogether. If you’re researching and writing an essay, visualise yourself closing every tab after submitting the essay and then shutting your computer down. If you’re doing something you’re being paid for, think about how you might spend some of the money. Not only will this hopefully lift your spirits, it should also help remind you that as long as you keep chipping away then you will accomplish your task eventually.
But most importantly of all, just get started!
Sources
Sheryl Sandberg: Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead (2013)
Times Higher Education: How to stop procrastinating – from a procrastination psychologist (2023)
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