Wellbeing

8 ways to stop procrastinating

Whatever your dreams, stop procrastinating and you’ll feel happier and more balanced, says Julie Penfold

Whatever your dreams, stop procrastinating and you’ll feel happier and more balanced, says Julie Penfold

1 ASK YOURSELF WHY
“Take the time to identify why you are procrastinating,” says life coach Rebekah Fensome. “We often use procrastination as a method of self-protection. Recognising this and asking yourself why will help you to break through the barriers, and uncover what the reasons are behind your reluctance to get something done.”

2 WRITE A LOG
“This is a really useful tip for procrastinators and involves keeping two daily logs, detailing how your days are spent. The first diary page would look at what you are going to fit in every two hours, while the second log would record what you do actually get done over the course of a day. It can really help to increase how much you get done when followed regularly,” says Wendy.

3 USE A TIMER
Caroline Buchanan, author of The 15-Minute Rule, first used this technique herself to get her much loathed tax return completed over a week, and found herself writing a book on the topic! “The 15-minute rule offers space and freedom and helps you to become more interested in what you need to do,” she says.

“Take three periods over the next three days of 15 minutes, without any distractions. For the first and second days, stop the minute the time is up. This gives your brain the message that you can be trusted. From the third day, carry on as long as you like after the 15 minutes are up. The moment you start to lose interest, stop immediately. Sticking to 15 minutes only when you try again will help to get you back into the cycle. Once you start something, even just for 15 minutes every day, it will instantly make you feel better.”

4 MAKE PLANS
It only takes three weeks to form a habit, so setting goals and repeating the process for a short while can help to create a routine. “Instead of having a to-do list, set yourself some goals. Write what you have to get done in the present tense such as ‘I have to go to the gym twice this week’ then write or record when this is going to happen, choosing a day and time.

By doing the planning upfront, you do not need to think about it any more, yet seeing the actions you have planned for yourself can really help to spur you into action,” says Rebekah. “Reinforcing is also important to get things done, so introducing a reward will also help.”

5 FOCUS ON RESULTS
Imagining how we will feel at the end of a task, rather than the process required to get there, can help us to see the finish line more clearly. “Using visualisation, you can go through a mental rehearsal of something you have to do in your mind,” says Martina. “Go through the whole event until you reach the end and have the conclusion you want. Take note of how good this makes you feel when you have achieved what you wanted to do, such as focusing on the exhilaration you will feel after a workout. If you feel your career is stalling, visualisation can also be very effective in helping to regain a sense of what you want to achieve.” This technique will also help you to gravitate towards the actions required to get that something done.

6 BREAK THE HABIT
Distractions are all around us but learning to keep them a little more in check can really help us to achieve more. “Giving your distractions a structure is really important so they do not take over your day,” says Rebekah. “If Twitter or Facebook are your Achilles’ heel at work, use these distractions as your downtime and give yourself ten minutes per day to catch up on social media.” Checking emails only every few hours can also help to increase productivity.

7 CREATE AN ANCHOR
“Recalling past successes, whether from a long time ago, or more recently, can help you to tap into the feelings associated with those moments,” says Martina. “Use those feelings to create an anchor to recall your sense of achievement and how good you felt at that time. This can be very galvanising. By touching two fingers together or clenching your hand into a fist, those movements can become associated with good, positive feelings of success. This is a very useful technique that can help you to get through something you may be putting off.”

8 DO IT DIFFERENTLY
“Procrastinators often mentally forecast how the day is going to pan out and think ahead to what they will be doing, which can lead to a reluctance to start getting things done,” says Wendy. Shaking up your day and doing your tasks the opposite way around actually messes with the change process in the brain. If you usually clear your desk at work to signal the end of the day, do this first thing the next day. Procrastinators do not like order and regularity; it can make them feel fearful. By changing your day and doing things in a different order, you will get more done!”

Article by

Lucy Trevallion

Article by

Lucy Trevallion