The next Get it Done Week, starting September 7th, is called “Tame your procrastination monster”. I wondered what would happen if you apply the wisdom of taming dogs to procrastination. Here’s the result, with thanks to http://www.wikihow.com/Tame-a-Dog. There’s some serious wisdom in there. It’s natural and healthy for procrastination monsters to be energetic and alert. It’s not natural for them … Read More
Procrastination is (not) a habit
Often when you read about procrastination, the writer will say it’s a habit. I tend to disagree. I believe the tendency to procrastinate is (partly) innate. The part of giving in to the tendency, THAT’s the habit. Procrastination often functions as a flight mechanism. It takes us away from things we don’t like or things we (unknowingly) fear. An unpleasant task lights up the same part … Read More
My most boring tip against procrastination
Are you ready for the most boring anti-procrastination tip I can give? Here it comes…. Get enough sleep! It won’t help against ALL forms of procrastination. But it helps against the type of procrastination when both your body and your mind tell you they want you to take it easy. This type of procrastination is often disguised as task aversiveness: not wanting … Read More
I’ll do anything to avoid planning
This week I have public accountability going on with a lovely visitor of my Facebook page. We were talking about how difficult it can be to keep the focus, and how planning helps. But that it can be SO difficult to keep to your planning. So we agreed to observe ourselves, to find out what was going on at the moments … Read More
Irritate yourself into productivity
Most days I prefer a gentle approach to procrastination. Going to the core of what’s goin on, and taking it from there. But some days I just want action and progress, without too much thinking. When you notice it’s one of those days, you may want to try this technique. Irritating yourself into productivity. I don’t mean by beating yourself up or … Read More
A procrastinator’s trap when eating frogs…
Well, I guess I should’ve seen it coming. Maybe you’re smarter than me and notice it straight away. Here’s how it went. We were doing great on our productivity experiments. I’d eaten several frogs the day before, and was ready for a big one. This is what I wrote on the Facebook page: “Mine’s a biggie, it’s been growing for … Read More
Rewards stop procrastination
A typical reaction to eating a frog is this: I’m STUPID. I could have done this ages ago. I SHOULD have done this ages ago! It looks like internal shouting. And it is. A punitive voice that tells you you’re no good. Again.. Criticism doesn’t work Emotion lies behind every almost form of procrastination. Fear of failure and fear of … Read More
Eat the frog
I’m having loads of fun with my new Facebook group, called htts://www.facebook.com/groups/productivityexperiments/ I started the group because each time I saw an interesting method, my response was the same: interesting, I should try that out one time. But I never did… So now the group is experimenting with a classic called Eat the frog. It comes down to identifying the thing … Read More