How to start working on the idea you were putting off

// 6 min read //

I am a procrastinator. All of us are. Procrastination is something I struggled with for a long period of my life. After self-observation and introspection, I’ve ended up with tips that I’ll share with you in a moment. These tips helped me overcome procrastination, and they can help you too.

I’m not saying I’ve reached the level where I can do whatever my mind dictates without postponing it for another day, or never doing it. But I keep getting better.

What is procrastination

By definition, it’s the action of delaying or postponing something. Many people confuse procrastination with laziness. The truth is that we procrastinate because we feel lazy, but this happens only a few times, not repeatedly. Procrastination is a bad habit, and if we follow specific steps, we can break that habit and replace it with a good one.

Procrastination is a symptom

What causes procrastination

1. Instant gratification

We’re looking for instant gratification rather than long-term results. Because we feel pain when we think about what we have to do, that leads us to inaction. Imagine your future self; that gives you motivation and the fuel you need to take action.

2. Low self-esteem and self-confidence

Lowering your expectations makes you more confident. If you feel confident, you’ll develop self-esteem. You’ll be more likely to start working on your idea.

3. Fear of failure

Embrace failure. It’s impossible to succeed without failure. It’s a stepping stone to your success. Nothing more, nothing less.

4. Paralysis

Nowadays, we get a flood of information daily. We feel overwhelmed with what we have to do, dealing with a flood of decisions. When you over-analyze something, it paralyzes you and kills your motivation.

5. Perfectionism

Nothing is perfect. If you pursue creating something flawless, you’ll never achieve it. Procrastinators often avoid doing a task they don’t feel they have the skills to do, rather than do it “imperfectly”.

Doing something is always better than doing nothing

6. Compare ourselves to others.

If you compare yourself to others, you only bring pain in your life. Each one follows their own journey. Compare yourself only with your past self. Full stop.

7. Energy levels

This is the most important factor responsible for procrastination.

These steps look basic, but they work when you do them daily. Here lies the trick.

When you want to achieve anything in your life, you must have the appropriate energy. If all your goal-setting systems are falling apart, it’s because you lack energy. And if you lack energy, you procrastinate!

1. Sleep

Most of us set aside our sleep, believing it’s not important for our body to cope with. That’s a huge mistake. Sleep drives how your body and brain work. We need 8-9 hours of sleep according to scientific research. Google is your friend.

2. Eat healthy

Avoid processed food. Increase your protein intake. Take supplements like omega-3 with fish oil, B-12, and multivitamin.

3. Exercise

Not further explanation needed. It’s vital for our life. Even 20’ walking every day is good enough.

4. Psychology

If you feel stressed or any negative sentiment, it’s reasonable not to be in the mood to do anything. My advice for this situation is to embrace meditation and put it into your daily routine.

How to overcome procrastination

1. Be mindful and observe that you’re procrastinating

This advice works because you notice the pattern. It’s easy to do and it applies to anything. When we perceive that something is happening, we’re in a powerful state. If you find yourself doing one of the following, you know now.

  • Your to-do list has unexpectedly grown
  • Start a high-priority task and then go off to make a coffee (that’s probably me)
  • Doing tasks that you try to convince yourself that are more important than the tasks already on your list
  • Wait to be in “right mood,” or wait for the “right time” to tackle a task

2. Try to identify why you’re procrastinating

You need to understand the reasons why you are procrastinating before you can begin to tackle it.

For instance, are you avoiding a particular task because you find it boring or unpleasant? If so, take steps to get it out of the way quickly, so that you can focus on the aspects of your job that you find more enjoyable.

Many of us believe that when we do something we love, we never face tasks that we don’t want to do. This is a huge lie. Of course, you’ll encounter issues that you don’t feel like doing or, even worse, have no clue how to do them.

Some people fear success as much as failure. They think that success will lead to them being bombarded with requests to take on more tasks.

Another major cause of procrastination is poor decision-making. If you can’t decide what to do, you’ll likely put off taking action in case you do the wrong thing.

3. Track your progress

Write down your tasks. Use both online and offline tools. Pen and paper is better for clearing your mind. Use digital tools for better tracking and prioritizing. Keep your to-do lists as simple as you can.

For each task, I recommend using the pomodoro technique: 25 minutes of focused work, 5 minutes break, 25 minutes of work, 5 minutes break, and so on. Sometimes I modify this to 45 minutes of focused work and 15 minutes break. It’s up to you. I use this app to track my pomodoros and extract useful insights.

4. Accountability

Accountability starts with you. Keep yourself accountable. Set goals, achieve them and reward yourself afterwards. Then repeat. If you’d like you can gamify your accountability with your friends by keeping score. Make it fun!

5. Put deadlines

If you take yourself seriously, you should set deadlines. Make them actionable and meaningful, and you’ll never miss them. But if you do miss them, it’s not the end of the world. Don’t punish yourself; continue your hard work.

6. Take breaks

Taking breaks is good for your productivity. Taking regular breaks will help you make better decisions. Besides that, they’ll help you stay focused over long periods of time, and focus is the key to success.

I’ll finish this article with the following phrase:

We procrastinate until the pain of not doing it becomes greater than the pain of doing it.

If you can relate to that and you don’t do anything, now is your time to start. You got this.