by S J Scott
Reason #5: You Experience a Lack of Motivation
Have you ever thought to yourself that life always gets in the way of what you’re supposed to do?
This lack of motivation can come from several underlying causes, including:
fatigue;
stress;
other priorities;
unexpected emergencies;
trouble formulating new ideas;
failures in the past with this task;
negativity from the people (and events) in your life;
lack of confidence;
working in the wrong environment; and
unclear goals.
You’re not alone with feeling a lack of motivation for certain tasks. In a study done at Carnegie Melon University, it was revealed that people lack motivation when they find little value in the projected outcome of their work.
The lesson here is if you can connect a task to your interests, goals, and values, then you increase your motivation for working on it.
Reason #6: You Don’t Know How to Get Started
What if the task at hand is too complex, unique, or difficult? What if it has a lot of moving parts, making it unclear where to begin? This uncertainty may keep you from starting because you don’t know your first step.
Even if you can figure out the first step, once you are considering the process, it’s easy to underestimate the time and commitment that’s needed to complete a project.
The result is you’ll often procrastinate on a task simply because you feel overwhelmed by all the steps that you’re required to complete.
What’s the best way to overcome this?
A very effective method is to use the approach David Allen discusses in his book Getting Things Done.
The idea here is to break down any multi-step project into a series of smaller tasks that can completed in a single block of effort. There are five steps to this process:
Write down the specific tasks that have your attention.
Decide which actions can be taken care of right away and do them.
Organize the rest of the task.
Constantly review your breakdown of tasks.
Do each task, one by one, until they are all finished.
You can even take these steps further by creating a checklist and getting the satisfaction of checking things off as you go. (We’ll talk more about this concept in Step #3, where I show you how to break down any complex project.)
Reason #7: You Often Get Distracted
Let’s dive into all the modern distractions that we’re faced with daily:
Email messages.
Text messages.
Push notifications.
Social media updates.
Phone calls.
Meetings.
Skype calls.
People asking for your time.
Side tasks (e.g., errands, paperwork, desk organization).
The list goes on and on.
In fact, in a recent survey conducted by Career Builder, it was found that one in five employers believe that their workers spend fewer than five hours each day being productive. When looking for a reason for this, over half of the employers say that workers’ smartphones are the first thing to blame, closely followed by spending time on the internet and gossiping around the workplace.
So, how can you keep these distractions at bay?
One simple solution is to design your environment so as to prevent those temptations from occurring in the first place. You can do this by:
blocking the websites that often distract you using tools like SelfControl or Freedom;
deleting games and apps on your smartphone;
disabling wireless internet whenever you need to focus on deep work;
putting your smartphone on airplane mode;
wearing noise-canceling headphones;
unplugging your router; and
closing your door to avoid interruptions from coworkers or family.
Sure, some of these strategies might seem extreme. But they can be incredibly effective if you understand your temptations and are willing to remove them from your environment whenever you need to focus on an important task.
Reason #8: You Don’t Have Enough Time
This is a common excuse for procrastination we’ve all given at one point. You have a task scheduled on your calendar, but life got in the way, so you’re left only with a “little bit” of time to work on it. The amount of time is irrelevant. What’s important is that in your mind, there’s not enough time to complete a task, so you tell yourself that you’ll do it later.
This excuse can take many forms: You don’t have enough time to exercise. Or to work on a big project. Or to run the errands that you planned. Whenever you procrastinate on a task due to a lack of time, you’re succumbing to the limiting belief that a little bit of effort doesn’t make a difference.
There are two fixes for this form of procrastination. First, if you improve how you plan your schedule, you’ll have enough time to complete the tasks that truly matter. Specifically, the one technique that I recommend is to do a daily and weekly review where you schedule blocks of time to work on the various activities in your life. This is something I’ll cover at length in Step #5.
Next, even if you only have a few minutes to work on something, I recommend still doing something. The idea here is to use those “short slivers of time,” as discussed by Suzanne Perez Tobias, that we all have to make a little bit of progress with your goals. Yes, you won’t get the full “dosage” of hours spent on this activity, but something is better than nothing, right?
Consider these true-to-life examples:
Don’t have time for a full workout? Then take a brisk 10- to 15-minute walk.
Can’t complete all the tasks on your to-do list? Then pick the one that has the biggest long-term influence on your career and do that first.
Don’t have time to work on a report? Then outline and map out what you’ll write when you do have time.
Can’t run all your errands? Then complete the most important one on your list.
Woke up late and can’t complete your morning routine? Then focus on the one or two healthy habits that give you energy for the rest of the day.
It’s easy to feel frustrated when there’s not enough time to complete all the tasks on your to-do list. But if you commit yourself to taking a little bit of action in the time that you do have, then at least you know that you didn’t completely procrastinate on a task.
Exercise #1: Identify Your Procrastination Reasons
(Side note: This exercise and all the others are included in a downloadable “Quick Start Checklist” that’s part of the companion website, which can be found here: www.developgoodhabits.com/procrastination-website.)
At the start of this chapter, I mentioned how we all have different reasons for procrastinating. When you identify your reasons, you’ll take that first step to breaking this bad habit.
To begin, I recommend setting aside 30 minutes today to mull over the tasks you’ve procrastinated on within the past week or month. If you can’t remember any examples, then do this exercise during the next week while you make decisions about your daily tasks.
First, write down each of the tasks, projects, or habits you’ve procrastinated on. The size or scope of the activity doesn’t matter. The only requirement is that you’ve delayed taking action on it for some reason.
Next, write down the reason that you gave for putting it off. Be honest here, because this is for your eyes only. So, if you skipped a workout because you wanted to binge-watch season five of House of Cards, then write that reason down. Do this for all the activities that you’ve procrastinated on recently.
Third, look at the reasons you gave and see if they compare to
the eight that I just detailed. Here they are again if you get stuck:
You are a perfectionist.
You fear the unknown.
You promise to do it “later.”
You focus on easy tasks.
You experience a lack of motivation.
You don’t know how to get started.
You often get distracted.
You don’t have enough time.
Don’t worry if your answers vary from task to task. Some activities you’ll put off because you want them to be perfect. And other activities you’ll procrastinate on because you weren’t in the mood to do them. What’s important is to understand the common reasons you give for putting off a task.
Finally, keep these reasons in the back of your mind as you read the rest of this book. Whenever you come across an idea that specifically addresses an issue that you have, highlight it and bookmark it for future use. Odds are this will lead to that breakthrough strategy whenever that issue pops up again in the future.
Step #1: Identify Your Current Commitments
One challenge of modern living is that it’s easy to let your to-do list snowball into numerous tasks, projects, and obligations. For some folks, it’s impossible to complete every item on this list, which often causes that stressful feeling of overwhelm. You might even reach the point where you think it’s impossible to get out of the massive hole that you’ve dug for yourself.
But don’t worry if that sounds like you.
If you make a commitment to follow the advice that I’ve outlined in How to Stop Procrastinating, then you’ll remove much of the anxiety and stress that comes from having too many tasks on your to-do list. Plus, you’ll learn how to build a solid framework that prevents you from procrastinating on future activities.
To get started, I recommend a simple exercise that can take anywhere from 30–60 minutes. In the same notebook that you used in the previous exercise, write down all your current commitments and any goals you’d like to accomplish within the next year.
You can pick one of two options for completing this task:
The Getting Things Done (GTD) method.
How to Stop Procrastinating method.
Let me briefly go over each one.
Option #1: The Getting Things Done (GTD) Method
Detailed in one of the classic books on productivity, the GTD method rests on the idea of moving planned tasks and projects out of the mind by recording them externally and then breaking them into actionable work items. This allows one to focus attention on taking action on tasks instead of recalling them.
I’ll be the first to admit that the GTD method is a vastly superior strategy for identifying all the “stuff” in your life. With this approach, you will gather 100% of all your incompletes. This includes any personal task, professional task, long-term goal, and random idea that you’ve ever had. This includes items like:
current projects;
bucket lists and “someday” goals;
appointments;
routine checkups (e.g., dental, medical, and appointments for your children);
financial investments;
commitments to others;
responses to email messages and phone calls; and
household chores or repairs.
These are just few examples. If you want to get the full picture of all that’s included in the GTD method, then check out the full list that’s provided courtesy of the site 43 Folders.
Again, I highly recommend the GTD approach because it’s the most thorough method for identifying all the “open loops” in your life that require an action. That’s why you might be interested in checking out David Allen’s book Getting Things Done to complete this step of the process.
That said, I will say the following with as much humility as possible. The GTD approach is not for everybody—especially for people who already struggle with procrastination.
The time requirement for completing this life review can take at least a day or two of focused effort. It also requires a specific organizational structure for files and the stuff in your life. If you’re someone who struggles to keep up with your day-to-day tasks, then you might find yourself overwhelmed by the GTD process.
That’s why I’d like to offer an alternative solution in the paragraphs that follow.
Option #2: How to Stop Procrastinating Method
The exercise that I recommend for readers of this book is to think about everything that you must (or would like to) do for the next 3–12 months. Forget about your long-term goals or bucket list items. Just focus on the items that you have the ability and capacity to do from today until one year from now. That’s it!
In the notebook that you started using during the previous exercise, write down the answers to these questions:
Is there a medical issue that you’ve been putting off?
What work-related projects are coming up?
What personal projects are coming up?
Is there a vacation that you’d like plan with your family?
What habits would you like to build?
Are there incomplete household tasks that you keep putting off?
What meetings and appointments are coming up?
What goals would you like to accomplish?
Are there any important events coming up for your family members?
Is there an exercise program you’d like to start?
Are there any projects that you know you need to do but you’ve been putting off?
Do you keep ignoring important—but not urgent—daily tasks?
You don’t need to answer all these questions. In fact, you could ignore these prompts and write down whatever pops into your mind.
What’s important here is to list all the unfinished items that have been going through your mind. These are the open loops that take up your mental bandwidth and cause you to feel anxious on a daily basis.
Finally, where you keep this list doesn’t really matter. It could be in a notebook like I suggested in the previous step or in an app like Evernote. The important thing is to store all these tasks in a central place that you’ll have access to every day, because you’ll be referring to this list throughout the rest of the steps in this book.
Exercise #2: Write Down All Your Current Commitments
To recap, I suggest a simple, three-step exercise that will require about 30–60 minutes of your time:
In a notebook (or an app like Evernote), write down all your current commitments and any activities you’d like to do within the next year.
Focus on the immediate future by using these prompts:Is there a medical issue that you’ve been putting off?
What work-related projects are coming up?
What personal projects are coming up?
Is there a vacation that you’d like plan with your family?
What habits would you like to build?
Are there incomplete household tasks that you keep putting off?
What meetings and appointments are coming up?
What goals would you like to accomplish?
Are there any important events coming up for your family members?
Is there an exercise program you’d like to start?
Are there any projects that you know you need to do but you’ve been putting off?
Do you keep ignoring important—but not urgent—daily tasks?
Keep this list handy as you work your way through the rest of the exercises provided in this book.
Step #2: Focus on Five Core Projects
Let me start this section with a short disclaimer: what you’re about to read will be the most mentally challenging step in the entire book. The recommended exercise isn’t hard to do. But staying committed to it will require a level of dedication that most people don’t possess. That said, I gu
arantee if you stay the course, this framework will become your secret weapon to permanently eliminating your procrastination habit.
The typical advice you learn from most time-management books is learning how to cram as many tasks into your schedule as possible. I feel this advice is one of the reasons why many people procrastinate. Their lives are filled with so many tasks and obligations that they simply don’t time to do them all.
In our modern society, it seems like many folks wear their overworked, overbooked, frenetic schedule like a badge of honor. It’s no longer about what you produce, but how many hours you’ve worked each week. Just look on social media and you’ll see lots of humblebrag updates that end with #hustle.
On the other hand, if you study the most successful people in the world, you’ll see that they don’t juggle dozens of projects. Instead, they identify what they’re good at and double down on the handful activities related to what author Gary Keller calls “The ONE Thing” in his book by the same name.
My point? It’s easy to procrastinate if your daily to-do list is filled with dozens of tasks and projects. You’ll feel so overwhelmed that you can’t help but put off many activities. And often the tasks that you procrastinate on are the ones that can have a massive, positive impact on your life.
So how do you fix this?
It’s simple: narrow down your attention to just a handful of core projects. As we’ve discussed, people often procrastinate because they feel overwhelmed by all their obligations. But if you limit your focus to only a few options, then it’s easy to take consistent, productive action. The best example of this strategy is called the 25–5 Rule.
The 25–5 Rule Explained
The 25–5 Rule is a concept that I learned from the Live Your Legend site, where Scott Dinsmore shared a story titled “Warren Buffett’s 5-Step Process for Prioritizing True Success (and Why Most People Never Do It)” about meeting a friend of Warren Buffett’s pilot (whom he calls Steve).