The Procrastination Cure - 7 steps
from the YouTube video Procrastination-7 Steps to a cure
by Med School Insiders.
1. Break down the steps.
- smaller tasks seem easier to accomplish than larger projects.
- use hyper specific timelines
Take 5 minutes to decide what you need to accomplish each day.
High levels of structure increases your ability to achieve your reward.
(This doesn't work for everyone)
2. Keep the task small.
Hardest part of getting a task done is getting started.
Example: Your have 5 chapters to read, plus lectures, and other things. This can be overwhelming so your put it off.
-Decide to work in 25 minutes blocks followed by a 5 min break. This makes the task less daunting.
3. Set the bar low
If you set the bar lower than what you are capable of your will almost always achieve the goal and often surpass it.
Example: You want to write every morning for 2 hours but your just can't get started. Instead decide to write for 20 minutes. Chances are you will meet your 20 minute goal and surpass it. If not, you only needed to write for 20 minutes.
As days go by, this 20 minute goal may increase a little daily or weekly. By the time your goal is again 20 minutes, you will have developed the habit of getting started and reaching your goal.
4. Hack pleasure from the experience.
-Give yourself a reward for completing a task. (have a snack, a cup of tea, call a friend for 15 minutes, go for a walk, etc.)
-Listen to music while you work. Find something without words while you write. (The theme from Rocky, or John Tesh, Live at Red Rock, etc.)
5. Use Parkinson's Law to your advantage:
Work expands to meet the time allotted to it.
If you have 30 minutes of work to do and have 2 hours to do it, you will expand the work to take up 2 hours.
- Make artificial deadlines to help force yourself to get things done more efficiently.
- This will decrease the delay in the motivation equation and decreases the likelihood of procrastination.
- Don't be too aggressive with your timelines, that can lead to unnecessary stress. Example: You usually complete a task in 15 minutes but you are going to set the goal to 5 minutes. It's going to be hard to meet that goal and therefore you are causing stress that can lead to procrastination.
-With time you will get more accurate with gauging how much time a task will take.
6. Be deliberate with your writing environment.
-The biggest killer to our productivity are distractions
-Avoiding distractions through sheer will-power is unlikely to be fruitful long term.
-Approach it by crafting a work environment that minimizes distractions.
- In doing so we are decreasing impulsivity from our motivation equation.
Suggestions for getting rid of distractions while your writing:
-Put your phone on airplane more, or turn off the ringer.
-Ignore emails
-Go to full screen with the work at hand.
-If working at home distracts you - go to the library or a coffee shop to work instead.
7. Understand your personality type
Some people do well with strict time limits, or word counts, or page goals. For others these limits would cause stress. They do better to decide to write a chapter or another page.
Big part of optimizing your own life whether it's productivity, study habits, diet, exercise, or anything else, is understanding one's self.
