Procrastination hits us all sometimes. Try these six proven ways to tackle it in 30 minutes.
If there weren’t deadlines, we would never get anything done.
Even the most productive and most motivated of us succumb to procrastination from time to time. And it’s not about laziness or bad time management – even The New York Times says so.
So throw the guilt and judgement away and use your precious procrastination time by learning more about three proven strategies to get back to a productive flow.
Get Rid of Procrastination – The Boring way
These strategies work very well for people who are meticulous, organized and a tiny bit boring (like me!)
1 – Set up your process
Follow my advice and set up an editorial calendar to organize your ideas. Use 30 minutes to brainstorm and filter your ideas and then get to work. Now that you know exactly what you are working on and why, the content flows more easily to your recorder or document, too.
2 – Get accountability
Another choice that really gets us responsible types to tick is getting an accountability buddy. When you have to report to a friend or colleague at the end of the week that now, you failed again at recording your next video… Well, you just don’t want to end up there. (If you couldn’t care less of other people’s opinions and encouragement, this probably won’t work.)
Get Rid of Procrastination – The Fun Way
3 – Join a virtual coworking session
Working at the same time with others is another form of peer pressure. Join a virtual coworking session or sign up to a coworking space. Less distraction + clear time limit = a lot of work done!
4 – Start from the fun part
When working on a text, for example, the first lines tend to be the most laborious. Don’t start from the beginning, then. Start from anywhere else. The same principle applies to other kinds of tasks as well. If you like creating social media graphics but hate copy, start from the visuals and tackle the writing part later, when you are in the flow already.
Get Rid of Procrastination – The Way That Works
5 – Trick yourself to get started
Sometimes you need to cheat a little bit. If getting started is the hardest part (it usually is), promise yourself you only need to try for 15 or 25 minutes. Set a timer and go! In the best case, the flow finds you – in the worst case, you’ll get at least something done.
6 – Do something completely different
Sometimes forcing and pressure won’t work. Try doing something completely different instead. Go for a walk and record your ideas as you stroll along. Watch a movie, listen to the music, or meet a friend and ask her for the best content ideas you should work on right now.
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