Strategies to Beat Procrastination

Think through the process – Create some space for yourself each week to consider your upcoming tasks and define the physical actions involved in each one. While having a task like “get better health insurance” on your list is specific, it is just unclear enough that you might not know how to move forward with it. List out the physical actions you will need to take to get better health insurance and then do them.

Set the stage in advance – One great example of this is setting out your workout clothes at night so they are ready for the next morning and you have reduced the number of barriers between yourself and the gym. When you aren’t ready to do the whole task, gather all of the materials you need first and provide yourself with a friction-less jumpstart when you are ready.

Reset your brain – Try one of these techniques for getting your brain back to a clean slate: 10 minutes of cardio exercise, a power nap, a cold shower, or working on the task for 15 minutes and giving yourself a break.

Do a bad job on purpose – Put together the roughest rough draft just to get all of your thoughts out there and all of the content on the table. This gives you a great place to start.

Think out loud – Verbally process with someone else why you don’t want to do this task or what is hindering you. They might have some helpful feedback as someone outside the situation and they can now hold you accountable for getting the task completed.