4 Techniques for Overcoming Procrastination

Overcoming procrastination requires will power and self discipline. It requires strength and courage to face tasks and situations that are uncomfortable, anxiety provoking, boring and unfamiliar. It also means we must accept the possibility of making mistakes or being imperfect.

Since none of these feelings are easy to confront, controlling procrastination does not simply come down to acknowledging what they are. Most of us know fully well all the fears that lead to our procrastinating. While identifying the causes can surely help in overcoming procrastination in the long term scheme, this reflective process does not usually stop procrastination in the moment.

Many procrastinators are too smart for their own good. This makes it difficult to keep deadlines and accomplish goals in a timely fashion if the only person you are held accountable to is yourself. Experienced and determined procrastinators can talk themselves into putting anything off. What we need are techniques to apply on a day to day basis that will ultimately get the tasks completed. It almost comes down to tricking our minds.

Here are some ideas:

1) Prioritize and Limit Your Daily To Do List
This tip comes from the Mastering Your Adult ADD Client Workbook by Steven A. Safren, Susan Sprich, Carol A. Perlman and Michael W. Otto. Here's the gist:

Get out a piece of lined paper and starting at the top put an "A" at the beginning of the first line. Now do the same for the 4 rows directly underneath; one letter "A" for each row. Next, do the same, but mark 5 rows with letter "B". Finally, below that, label 5 rows with letter "C".

The letters represent the priority levels of your tasks and you will make a daily To Do List based on them. The rule is only a single task is allowed per row and you must prioritize your task list to include no more than 15 items. (5 for each priority level). "A" represents those tasks that are urgent and cannot be put off any longer. "B" represents those of medium importance. "C" will be assigned to those easy tasks we are all familiar with that require little effort and/or pain but are not really emergencies to complete and take up all of our time.

The part in this technique that is key to help control procrastination is the rule that you must do your tasks in order, starting with all of the "A"s. Make an agreement with yourself that you will not check off the "B"s or "C"s until those priorities in "A" are done; regardless of how complicated, challenging or boring they may be to accomplish.

This technique for overcoming procrastination does once again come down to self discipline but something about writing it down and limiting each category to 5 items only really helps ensure that the tasks of true importance get taken care of.

2) Do One Task at A Time
People who procrastinate often have trouble focusing on one task. If you are working on something that you aren't thrilled about having to do, it's very easy to abandon the task at hand when thoughts of easier or more fun things to do pop up into your head.

Try to pick a single item on the "A" section of your daily To Do List and concentrate on that alone until it has been completed. Keep a notepad next to you so that when inevitable distractions pop into your head about "people to call", "things to buy at the grocery store later", or "a TV show you need to remember to record", take only a quick second to jot down a note to self that you can go back to later once your current project is fulfilled.

3) Break Down Large Goals
Another trick to you stop procrastinating is to break down your goals into smaller parts. It can be intimidating to confront a thesis paper, for example, comparing the various world religions; but aiming instead to, let's say, just get through the section on Buddhism in the next few hours can be less scary to approach. Or perhaps you have to clean and tidy your house before company arrives. Instead of taking on the whole house as a general plan of attack, tell yourself you'll concentrate on the guest bathroom first. Then, once that is complete you can decide on another small task to address next.

This method also works well if you give yourself some kind of reward or do something leisurely in between the broken down dreaded tasks. For instance, put off that bowl of ice cream you have been craving until you dedicate at least 20 minutes to the guest bathroom. Or, if you want to maximize productivity and check off your To Do items more quickly, you might allow yourself to do one of those easy or fun but not so important tasks you've listed in category "C" each time you successfully tackle and finish a task in "A".

4) Appoint a Witness
A Final trick to overcoming procrastination is to get someone else involved. The other person does not have to do anything but agree to let you verbalize to them (or sometimes writing it in an email is also effective) whatever goal it is you plan to take on and by what time you will have it finished. This way you feel accountable to someone other than yourself.

There is something about declaring your plans to another person that adds a little necessary pressure to the situation. Some people feel that the embarrassment that comes along with having to admit that you couldn't stick to your plan (especially when it happens over and over again) is enough to put their butt in gear.

If your friend is super cool they will remember to ask you if you accomplished your goal but you shouldn't just expect this. This procrastination control method is not about getting help or support; you just more or less need them to be a witness. In order for this technique to be effective to help control procrastination you have to make a commitment to follow up at the time your goal is due, regardless of whether it is to report your success or the lack thereof. That is, if they don't track you down first.