How to Stop Procrastinating

Does this sound familiar? It's 7pm and you've just realized that your deadline for the project that you've been working on for the past two weeks is due tomorrow. But you feel like you've still got some time. I mean, you'll just need to pull an all nighter and have everything done by morning. No problem. So maybe you can get started or catch up on those late night emails or with that YouTube video from your favorite creator. Or maybe just a little game before you start. A couple of hours pass and now you are exhausted. Hey, I'm Oge, a designer and content creator and I've spent a lot of my time and years researching about procrastination. So today I'm going to Share with you 5 strategies and tools that can help you beat procrastination anytime. But first, just because you're putting off a certain task doesn't mean that you're procrastinating at that moment. Because sometimes not all tasks have the same level of importance. For instance, clearing out that desk that you said you would may not be as important as turning in that project that's actually due tomorrow morning. The best description of procrastination I've come across says procrastination is when we avoid a task that we said we would do for no reason despite expecting our behavior to bring negative consequences. This often happens because our brain sees that particular task as stressful for a bunch of different reasons, including expecting insanely high results regardless of actually starting the task. So these five tools have actually helped me to procrastinate a lot less. 1. A to do list Tracker One way to simplify a task is by breaking it down into smaller chunks. I personally use todoist and have even created a shortcut on my phone that helps me capture and break down larger ideas into smaller actionable tasks for the day. Taking this whole process to a new level would be realistically time blocking each task as well. A really nice alternative to todoist is things.

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If you love a more minimalistic interface or do not mind using apps that are mainly on the Apple device that then you're going to really love this one. I read once that work would always expand to fill the time slot allocated for it. So if we do not manage our time effectively, we could end up spending an entire day just working on one task alone. 2. A physical or digital timer app like the one natively built into your devices. This might sound so simple, but but hear me out. The principle here comes from one of my favorite productivity books, Atomic Habits by James Clear, which says when you are trying to do something you don't really want to do, simplify the task down to two minutes or less. This will simplify the starting process because the goal here is to limit the time slot to only two minutes or less. Back when I was in school I I was fond of waiting till the last minute to actually do my assignments or even study and this generally increased my stress levels a lot. Then a friend who was a psychology major explained to me that because I already had high expectations of the results I wanted from doing the work, I'd automatically get stuck and eventually abandon that task. Over the years since setting a two minute timer to get started forces me to focus on the task and not overthink anything else, this drastically reduced the stress while helping me to complete my work. Another approach that's similar to this but also very effective is the Pomodoro technique. In this scenario, you're setting your timer for a longer period, about 25 minutes of deep uninterrupted work. After the first timer goes off, you can take a 5 minute break followed by another 25 minute focus session. One thing I love about the Pomodoro technique is that it is progressive, meaning that after about four Pomodoro sessions, you can now start taking longer 15 to 30 minute breaks. The rule here is that you break that complex project into smaller tasks. Which brings us to the next tool. 3. A daily planner now this helps me to visualize my day and stay on top of what needs to be done. Now it's important to always do this a day before to avoid spending time planning when you should be getting things done. While you can totally keep physical planners, I found that those don't really work for me and I've even tried using templates on my iPad. However, I found a digital planner that just works. Sunsama is a digital planner app that allows me integrate all of my work and tasks in one place with integrations to apps like Gmail, Todoist, Google Calendar, Notion, and so much more. Now I can successfully visualize my day and properly plan tasks accordingly. But if you are a fan of digital templates, I found this digital planner from HubSpot and that is perfect. Not only does it help you visualize your day on a daily and monthly basis, but it even has a tab that helps you actually prioritize what needs to get done and when. I don't want to ramble on about this template, so if you are interested I've dropped a link in the description below so you can check it out for yourself. 4. Time blocking time blocking is a time management technique that is so effective because if you struggle with unfocused execution, especially when it comes to your daily tasks, implementing time blocking, which is simply dividing your day into smaller blocks for specific tasks using a calendar will help you focus and achieve more in some way. It's actually more effective than having a to do list because you will achieve more when you divide your day into smaller blocks from for specific tasks. My Go to Calendar app is simply Google Calendar. I don't know, it just works. Plus I love that you can integrate it into different apps as well. Honestly, blocking off certain time periods on your calendar, especially for focused time, helps ensure that you've minimized as much as possible any distractions. The goal isn't to plan every single second of your day, but rather to block time for important activities. At this point it's important to mention and as you can tell, that there isn't one tool or hack to help anyone overcome procrastination, but rather it's a combination of strategies that will help you procrastinate a lot less and hopefully eventually never procrastinate again.

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The final strategy is to find some time to actually do nothing. And I know that sounds really counterproductive, but honestly, cramming every single free time you have with activities will only lead to procrastinating in the future. It's important to take some time to rest, recharge, and even get bored. That weekly reset is so important to helping us maintain a healthy mind and body as well. And if anything I've mentioned sparked your interest, I'll be sure to leave all links in the description below so that you can start beating procrastination as well. Alright, that's it for this video and I'll catch you in the next one.

Sa.