A simple trick to beat procrastination

I have tried and tested so many productivity systems touted on the internet. The Pomodoro technique? Check. Seinfeld calendar system? Check. Eat that frog? Check. Check. Check.

Do they work? You bet they do. They have helped me improve my workflow tremendously, but I always felt like something was missing.

As I continue to maneuver through my most productive life, I have come to accept that procrastinating is only human nature. Having said that, we should not let it control us.

There are days we get up on the right side of the bed, and we are miraculously energized with a go-go-go attitude. Our body, mind, and soul are together with us on this journey to complete all the tasks we have planned for the day.

And yet these days may be few and far between.

Hence, it is all the more important that we do not rely on the “right” day to do the right things.

This brings me to the most important message in this article. My one simple trick is to…

Start small. Just do a tiny bit every day, even on the “wrong” days.

I find that creating a cliffhanger, no matter how small, drives me insane enough to complete the story.

Maybe it’s the perfectionist in me. It could be a writing assignment for example, where I will create a document for it online and write down a title and the first sentence — let it simmer, adding in sentences day by day.

Want to exercise? Start from a brisk walk, be it 2 miles or five, and increase the distance and speed day by day.

Have a nasty email to reply to? Create a draft for it and write something today. Continue it tomorrow.

Creating a cliffhanger in our task makes us uncomfortable and our brain hates it. We want to see closure; we want to see a task done. So, when we have a pesky task that is screaming for us to get it done, try to conquer it by doing just a little of it and proceed to leave it alone. Our brain may subconsciously compel us to complete it. Somehow this process stimulates those necessary chemicals we need to be motivated.

This simple trick has helped me to escape the draconian black hole of procrastination (on most days. Read — procrastinating is only human). I hope it does the same for you too. Even if it does not, continue to experiment with different systems to find out which one suits you best, and work with it. Heck, I am still a work-in-progress myself and I am writing an article on it. Oh, and it all began with a draft titled ‘Procrastination’.