How I'm Beating Procrastination

Recently, from a recommendation from a friend who knew I was considering Uni at the age of 51, I decided to participate in a course inside Coursera called; Learning How To Learn. The biggest take a way I got from learning how to learn was around the topic of procrastination.

Procrastination has felt like a disease for me my entire life. Stealing me away from my productivity and interfering with my desired accomplishments. It has had me feeling down on myself and at times, like a failure in my own life.

Today, I deeply understand that it is a disease as procrastination has similar symptoms to addiction. After finding this out, I felt oddly comforted and I now feel I can finally do something to change my behaviour.

My first step was understanding what triggers my procrastination so I can then begin to construct my time (process) and efforts more effectively and remove the cue's that trigger this self sabotaging behaviour

The structure I learned and am putting to practice now is;

1. Complete weekly task lists
2. Distill this list into daily lists by creating your next day list at the end of each day. This allows space in my brain and I can use the energy for problem solving
3. Set my finishing work time, as this is important as setting up my rewards. I use a google calendar and reference it frequently throughout the day so I am clear on my end of work day.
4. I'll be sure to tackle my more difficult tasks first thing in the morning inside my first 25min pomodoro session. As this is when my will power is at it's peak and I am less likely to procrastinate.
5. I'll need to be intentional to focus on the process and not my output (product) so I don’t launch a cue (location • time • feeling • reaction) that has me look for distractions that prevent me from completing my task that doesn’t feel attractive.
6. I'll make use of the pomodoro technique throughout my day to work through learnings and projects with focused 25mins of attention.
7. Then setting up my delayed rewards of 5 or 10 min breaks to be outside feeling the sun on my face or cuddling with my dog after I have successfully completed a timed pomodoro task.

As I stay consistent with this working structure I will gain trust in myself and embed the belief that this habit has powers to create outcomes I truly desire

Also by ensuring I have periods of relaxation throughout the day to rest my brain and consolidate my learning (diffused thinking or even power naps) to install the learning in my long term memory.

I will also read content related to my interests, work or learning, in bed prior to sleep so I can use the process of rest to allow my brain to piece together and process all the content.

I have made post it notes around my work spaces to remind me to take certain actions inside this new habit I’m creating.

Getting clarity around how to work with my brain to reduce procrastination has me feeling excited about being a person who gets to manage procrastination, rather than procrastination managing me.  Now I can finally be someone who shows up for themselves and others in a more powerful and productive way!