This post is a little off my usual subjects, but here’s a pretty interesting USA Today article in this morning’s paper on procrastination.

Here are some strategies I use to get around the specter of procrastination:

1. Set goals. It all starts with what has to be done and when.

2. Make a list. Often, I put stuff off because I don’t even remember I have to do it. It’s easy to do, and I recommend sticking the list of goals in a visible place like a fridge door. I also get a rush from manually crossing things off of a list that’s on my desk.

3. Prioritize in order of urgency. A bill that has to be paid tomorrow should have been in the mail last week.

4. For large, daunting tasks, break them down into discrete steps. We’re planning a possible trip to Japan, but I don’t even have a passport right now. So item 1 on my list is: get some passport photos taken. I still haven’t gotten around to doing it, but that one item is way more digestible than “Plan a trip to Japan.” It is also way easier to track progress towards a goal if it’s broken down into steps that you can cross off once they’re completed.

5. Tasks that you dread sometimes take less time once you’re actively doing them. I put off going to the dentist for all of December. The actual appointment took about two hours. I probably spent eight hours stressing out about the dentist, before each appointment, thinking “I really don’t want to go… should I cancel? If I do, I have to remember to call them 24 hours beforehad…” etc. Now that it’s done, I’m sure I was just stupidly procrastinating.

6. Plan for a task to take twice as long, and plan ahead. Then again, sometimes I procrastinate because I wrongly assume a task will take only five minutes. Saying something won’t take very long is a great reason to put it off. One thing I keep getting bit by is packing lunch. I really should do it more often, but often my excuse is “I can just wake up ten minutes earlier and do it.” But pretty much every morning, it never happens. I find the only way I really am certain to bring lunch from home is to pack it the night before and have it ready to go, in the fridge.

7. Doing a little bit of regular effort over a long period of time is much easier than tons of work all at once (or) take advantage of inherent laziness. As we all know, a huge, impossible goal like saving for retirement is much easier if you sock away small amounts of cash regularly. But an additional tactic is to make the distasteful automatic. We already do retirement savings by just yanking cash out of our accounts monthly and with every paycheck, as well as paying our car insurance with an auto-debit (no pun intended) I’m leaning towards doing the same with our other bills.

8. Set artificial deadlines. When all else fails, sometimes lying to yourself is worth a shot.

Anyhow, despite the strategies, I still find procrastination a difficult monkey to tame. Right now, I have a pile of tasks and to-dos vaguely sorted in order of urgency (both on paper and digital). So I have a “to-do” item to get all my lists organized.

Sometimes the biggest thing that keeps me moving forward is the impending doom of all this stuff piling up, inspiring me to sleep or take a vacation, when what I really should be doing is just getting some of these things done.
So I’m still working on my procrastination problem. I have some other strategies I’d like to try, which I’ll get around to implementing… later.

 Please subscribe to the Webomatica RSS Feed!

Categories: General, Humor :: Tags: :: Trackback URL
Previous Post: Macworld Photos
Next Post: iPhone Unboxed
Related Posts: Bottle Cap-O-Rama Insanity :: Desktop Tower Defense: Addicting Time-Wasting Procrastination Aid :: DVD Player Craps Out, Grey’s Anatomy, Taking Action :: Cautionary Blog Advertising Tales ::