From: http://workawesome.com/productivity/3-tactics-battling-procrastination/#more-10978
Basically 3 advices:
Find a good feeling to replace the one of simply postponing what you need to do: Procrastination acts on a good feeling, it is better to procrastinate postpone doing something else (better feeling) than actually working on what you need to do so think about the good benefits of Not Procrastinating
Reduce distrations: Email, facebook, web, etc. are also good feelings that take you away from the main task
Exercise your willpower as a muscle: The more you use it, the stronger it becomes. It will become easier to push past the short term gains of procrastination as you exercise willpower.
Other good advices here:
Recognize your behavior. Take special notice of when and why you are procrastinating. If you can become more self-observant than you can begin to change your behavior. But it is important to be honest with yourself when doing this step. Do not fall into the trap of rationalizing your reasons for delaying work.
Put one foot forward. Too often, we fail to start a big project because we focus on the big picture. It is like trying to run an entire marathon in one giant leap. Instead, quit thinking about the whole task and focus on the first step. Continue putting one foot in front of the other and before you know it you will look back and the job will be finished.
Don’t put off the small stuff. Our lives tend to become inundated with mundane tasks that leave us feeling overwhelmed. Something as simple as sorting through a stack of mail becomes an added stress to our weekly chores. Start completing small task as they present themselves. When you are walking back from the mail box, open that letter – don’t throw it in the corner and wait for it to pile up.
If a project is due later, reward yourself for each hour spent on it now. Make the reward for working now, greater than a simple-immediate reward such as checking your email. How about your favorite snack from the deli that you have been craving all morning? One hour of work and it’s all yours.
Get started now. Stop thinking and start working on the task. You will find that simply starting the task alleviates the anxiety associated with completing the project and boosts your self confidence because you have begun working. It will also give you time for unexpected hurdles that you did not account for while rationalizing your decision to delay work. Worse case scenario: you finish early and have stress-free time to relax.
This article talks about how to beat procrastination on the long run:
Simply knowing “not to procrastinate” is inadequate. How can we learn how to beat procrastination if we don’t understand it? You wouldn’t go into any other battle without studying your opponent, maybe it’s time you got to “know your enemy.”
Which Tasks Do We Procrastinate?
We all know – in a very general, vague sense – when we tend to procrastinate, but a closer look at our least favorite tasks can show us exactly when we are prone to procrastination. Most of us follow certain behavioral patterns, delaying certain types of tasks with specific attributes. Psychologist Edwin Van Hooft theorizes that three task traits cause “task aversiveness,” the catalyst for procrastination:
- Task difficulty. People tend to procrastinate when confronted with “difficult” tasks.
- Task importance. People tend to procrastinate when they deem a task “unimportant.”
- Task efficacy. When people don’t consider themselves “good at” the task at hand, they’re likely to procrastinate.
Structured Procrastination
Structured procrastination involves the reordering of tasks against their true importance. Faced with a particularly aversive (but important) task such as doing your taxes, you might discover less important things to do, like washing your car, finishing your laundry, or exercising. You might even invent tasks that border on the unnecessary, like disinfecting your desk or checking the air pressure on your car tires. It’s all about finding justifiable reasons to avoid the more important work.
It sounds harmless, even semi-productive, but structured procrastination is a serious problem. Your “to do” list is upside-down, reordering your tasks from least to mostimportant. You’re putting off the critical tasks for trivialities that are barely worth your time. Your productivity may be up, but it’s only to hide from yourself the fact that your priorities are completely backwards.
Waiting For The “Spirit to Strike You”
Instead of springing into action like structured procrastinators, some people have the opposite reaction, becoming paralyzed by procrastination. Rather than avoiding the aversive work by turning to small, insignificant, less important tasks, they stay on target, facing the most important work first. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re doingthe work, and procrastinators often feel safe as long as they’re “in position,” even if they’re not actually making progress.
The classic example is the college student with a large paper due the next day. The student sits frozen at the keyboard. They aren’t writing, but they think that if they leave, they’ll miss a moment of perfect inspiration to write. The student feels comfortable and anxiety-free sitting at their desk. They’re not avoiding their work, in fact, they’re facing it… quite literally. But, they still aren’t actually doing it.
Perfectionism
Perfectionism is often portrayed as a positive quality to have, but it’s a frequent catalyst for procrastination. Work simply won’t get started unless the conditions are perfect, and it won’t ever be finished until the results are flawless. This is the kind of behavior that will stop a gym-goer from starting their workout unless they’re fully rested, perfectly hydrated and optimally fueled via a pre-workout diet. Similarly, an author might never finish their book until every word is glimmering with perfection.
How Do We Beat Procrastination?
Understand the flavors of motivation. Internal motivation is a product of your own values and goals. External motivation involves rewards – like a salary – for completing tasks and penalties – like a poor performance review – for failure. As much as we’d love our strongest motivation to come from within, we tend to put externally motivated tasks ahead of internally motivated ones. In other words, you may want very badly to spend the evening with your family, but you feel that you have to finish that externally-motivated project report by midnight.
Practice volitional skills. Psychologically speaking, “volitional skills” is just the scientific term for “willpower,” but there is an important distinction between the terms: People consider willpower to be innate, something you’re born with (or born without). It sounds like an easy avenue for excuses; whenever you want to procrastinate, you can shrug and proclaim “I just don’t have the willpower,” as if there’s no way to summon the initiative to get the job done.
The excuse just isn’t viable: “Willpower” is not a power given at birth. It’s a volitional skill; you can develop it, improve it or neglect it. Consider your volitional skills like muscles; you can strengthen them, but you can also exhaust them. They benefit from rest, so pick your willpower battles carefully.
Stop calling yourself a procrastinator. If you get too comfortable with procrastination, you’ll eventually find yourself neglecting your job, your family and your personal health. Instead of declaring yourself a procrastinator, declare your productive intentions and remind yourself of your goals. As David Campbell said:
“Discipline is remembering what you want”
Now a process for you to exercise your willpower muscle, or as this article mentions:
The principle is simple: it’s easier to increase our concentration by controlling our environment than controlling our attention. By setting the conditions in which we operate on the front end, we spare ourselves the order of having to make moment-to-moment decisions for staying on task. I kept trying to open GReader and Gmail, despite my conscious commitment to the low information diet. The problem isn’t changing a behavior, it’s changing a habit, and a habit is much more deep-seated and has more momentum than a single action.
Back to the process: Use the Pomodoro Technique (named after a Tomato shaped timer):
There are five basic steps to implementing the technique:
- Decide on the task to be done
- Set the pomodoro timer to n minutes (traditionally 25)[1]
- Work on the task until the timer rings; record with an x
- Take a short break (3-5 minutes)
- Every four pomodori take a longer break (15–30 minutes)
The stages of planning, tracking, recording, processing and visualizing are fundamental to the technique. In the planning phase tasks are prioritized by recording them in a "To Do Today" list. This enables users to estimate the effort tasks require. As pomodori are completed, they are recorded, adding to a sense of accomplishment and providing raw data for subsequent self-observation and improvement.[1]
For the purposes of the technique, "pomodoro" refers to the interval of time spent working.[1] After task completion, any time remaining in the pomodoro is devoted to overlearning. Regular breaks are taken, aiding assimilation. A short (3-5 minute) rest separates consecutive pomodori. Four pomodori form a set. A longer (15-30 minute) rest is taken between sets.[1][7]
An essential aim of the technique is to reduce the impact of internal and external interruptions on focus and flow. A pomodoro is indivisible. When interrupted during a pomodoro either the other activity must be recorded and postponed (inform – negotiate – schedule – call back) or the pomodoro must be abandoned.[1][7][8]
This is a Chrome extension for a simple Pomodoro Timer that reduces your temptations (by blocking specific websites) it is called PomoTodo. Another very good one (better interface but do not have the historical statistics is 30/30 app)
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