December 2009

Learn to procrastinate better.

I challenge you to think of anyone who doesn’t procrastinate.

Can you think of anyone? I can’t.

Procrastination seems to me to be one of the most ubiquitous traits in human nature. We all do it. So if we can’t get rid of the tendencey to put things off, how can we become better at procrastinating. How can we stay effective at what we do but enjoy… even relish… putting things off?

As I’ve gone through the GTD method lately, I’ve had the chance to try out a lot of different ways to approach procrastination. A lot of people and books will tell you to just do whatever it is you are putting off. But sometimes it’s just not that easy.

So here are 3 tips to being a better procrastinator…

1. Break up your todo list into whatever environment you need to accomplish it in.

This sounds more complicated than it is. Basically my todo list has three different lists. They are:

1. At Computer
2. Telephone
3. Real Life

Since I work on the computer, a lot of my work stuff goes on there. The telephone can basically take place anywhere, and generally the ‘real life’ stuff has to happen outside of the office.

So I found that for myself a lot of what I considered ‘procrastination‘ was just that I wanted a change of envirnoment. I just needed to get away from the computer for a bit. So now when I feel the urge to get away from the computer I can just hit one of the other lists… either telephone or real life.

This way, I’m still getting stuff done even though I’m ‘procrastinating’ on the computer stuff.

2. Brainstorm about the steps needed to do whatever you are resistent to.

A lot of times the things I’m most resistent to are the things I ahven’t brainstormed enough. So take the time to think out whatever project you don’t want to do. A lot of times the details and ideas you come up with when you are brainstorming can give you the motivation to tackle the project.

And the best thing about brainstorming is that you can get out of the office to do it. (See tip #1 above)

3. Clean up your room/office/kitchen/car.

I need a clean space to work. If my office is dirty I keep wanting to clean it. But instead of cleaning it, I stop myself and try to get focused.

Sometimes it’s better to just stop working, take 10 minutes (or an hour) to clean up your space. Getting out of the workflow gives you perspective on your problem and can really clear your mind. In the end your project gets done and you’ve got a clean room.

So I hope these procrastination tips have helped you. If you’ve got some tips of your own, please leave them in the comments below. And if you think your twitter followers might enjoy these tips, then by all means please tweet this post!

(photo by this guy)

Thanks,

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