My Anti-Procrastination methods

This is a list of my seven strategies I consistently use to avoid procrastination on any task. I have developed these methods over the past few years, and they’ve proven to be highly effective for me.

1. Do it Now - Method

2. Opposite Approach

3. Daily Routines

4. Personal Contract

5. Action-to-consequence Method

6. Channeling future you

7. Success Walks

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MY TOP 7 ANTI-PROCRASTINATION METHODS

1.) Do it now - Method

This method was proposed by American motivational speaker Jim Rohn, who emphasized the power of starting your day with the phrase "Do it Now!" By repeating these words to yourself five times each morning, they will manifest into your subconscious mind and implicate a “fight back”-reaction every time you experience the need for procrastination throughout the day. And it works - whenever you feel the urge to lay off a task, your brain immediately goes back to the words you said to yourself, “Do it Now!”. Of course, this does not ensure that you will immediately sit down and do your work. But it makes this much more likely.

Extra tip: you can even write these words on your wrist or hand, forcing yourself to read over them throughout the day. This is also a tool for manifesting - you are constantly confronted with “Do it now”, that you have no other choice but to actually “do it now”.

2.) Fight every urge to quit with the opposite approach

This goes hand in hand with the previous approach. Every time you feel the need to stop working, “do it now” will assist you with continuing. A harsher version of that is instead of trying to beat procrastination, you go against it by doing exactly the opposite of what your brain is telling you to do. You want to sleep? Good, force yourself to work for an extra hour. You want to quit half-way through your run because you’re tired? Good, run an extra 5km.

Yes, this is difficult because you have no reason to do this. Yes, you are tough on yourself for implementing these actions - but, this level of grit will show your procrastination thoughts that they stand no chance.

The important aspect of this method is that you stick with it - don’t make yourself run an extra 5km but an hour later when you said you would work but now you’re tired from running, the next excuses come up: they dont count. If you let yourself slip in one aspect, this will eventually carry through all other aspects of your life. Forget your excuses entirely - remember, you are your personal coach, the most effective mentor you will ever have, the CEO of your life: treat yourself as such. Please be tough on yourself, because being weak and soft will not get you to where you want to be.

3.) Implement daily routines

One thing I have observed with highly successful people is that they have detailed daily routines - a highly flexible schedules that allows them to make adjustments based on their work needs and daily commitments. They have various goals throughout the day, which they complete without a second thought.

My tip to anyone who wants to fight procrastination is: don’t just live into the days. Your time is way too valuable for that. This is my approach to daily routines:

I have 5 main goals every day that point me to the bigger achievements of my life within the following aspects: career success, physical success, emotional success, spiritual success and self-development success. Every day, there is at least one goal within each category that I need to achieve.

Every night just before I sleep, I make a daily routine for the next day on a piece of paper. I write down exactly what I want to achieve, what tasks I need to achieve and what time I will be doing what.

When I go to bed, my clothes are laid out for the next day: my workout clothes are ready, my desk is clean, everything is ready for a fresh start tomorrow. When I wake up that next morning, there is nothing in my way to achieve my goals.

Also, what I have discovered as truly effective is making a checklist with the tasks you need to achieve and putting that checklist on your bedside table with a pen: when your brain is about to switch off just before sleeping, you will think of dozens of more points you previously forgot to put onto that checklist. I urge you to switch on the light if this does happen and write everything down. Also for general ideas - how often have I laid in bed and thought about a new income stream, a business idea, an improvement for myself. Writing this down is truly helpful - don’t think you will remember it the next day!,)

4.) Contract with yourself

What do business partners do when they build a company? They make a contract with each other on the conditions of a successful co-working experience. So, why not make a contract with yourself?

Write down the goal you want to achieve, set a deadline. Write actions that you will do every day to achieve this long-term goal. Treat it like a business contract - make sure that you know you are committing for real to everything written on this piece of paper. When you are ready, sign the contract. You can keep it in a book or frame it to see it every day, but what I have found most effective (especially if you try struggle with procrastination), is re-reading and re-signing this contract every day. This just sets expectations for yourself every day and the urge to achieve your daily task into your subconscious mind.

5.) Implement consequences

Whenever I do let procrastination get to me, I make sure that this will not happen again. I do so by implementing consequences for each time I give up. I have a list of such consequences and I know myself well enough to know that I will actually implement them if I quit. For example, if I have a goal of running 20km, but quit at 10km because I feel tired, I will run double the distance I had as a goal for the following day. If I slack my work, take to many breaks and waste time, I implement methods like not allowing myself to use my phone for a certain number of days or cancelling a plan that I had looked forward to and working instead.

6.) be inspired by future you

Who are you going to be in 5 years? I truly hope you somewhat know the answer to this, because otherwise, you are walking through life pretty aimlessly. Take a few hours without distractions to imagine and illustrate the exact dream version of yourself - be delusional and really go deeply within yourself to imagine this person. On a piece of paper, draw her, write down how she acts, what she does, what she has achieved.

Now, imagine she appears in your room at this moment, seeing you procrastinate your goals. How would she react? Essentially, with every task you procrastinate, you are pushing that version of yourself another day away. And eventually, you will diminish that successful future you forever.

7.) Success walks

If you have tried all of these methods, there is one last piece of advice I can give you: take yourself out of the environment that you are so deeply feeling the urge to quit in and go on a walk. Walk and think about why you are feeling the urge to quit. Evaluate your excuses. Think about your goals. And allow yourself to only return home with a new mindest, a fresh start. Allow yourself to turn around when you are truly ready to continue.

I have used this method many times - sometimes I have walked 50 meters and those 50 meters changed my mind. Other times I walked many kilometers and came back late at night. But each time, I set foot back into my space, I do so with a new level of commitment.