How to Loose Procastination

You have a deadline looming. However, instead of doing your work, you are fiddling with miscellaneous things like checking email, social media, watching cat videos on youtube and binge-watching the entire season of Stranger Things in one sitting.

You know you should be working, but you just don’t feel like doing anything.

Is this situation familiar to you?

Read on!

Because you need to fix this. Procrastination is a bad habit that comes with a lot of negative consequences:

• It will prevent you from reaching great results in life.
• It will hinder you from living in the moment. There is always something you feel you should do.
• You’ll consider unreliable by others because you never deliver on time.
• It lays the foundation for a life filled with stress, which can lead to depression

Here is my best tips to stop procrastinating.

Tip: When you are reading this answer, take notes on the actionable content. If reading this answer doesn’t result in concrete action for you, then I have wasted my time.

#1: Always have the end in mind

“Begin with the End in Mind means to begin each day, task, or project with a clear vision of your desired direction and destination,. – Franklin Covey

Always, always, always DO THIS!

Everything you do should be done with the end in mind.

Why are you working/studying?

When you are focused on the why, it is easier to do the things required. It’s easier to say no to distractions. You will create a desire to do the hard things that failures don’t dear to try, like resisting distractions and conquering procrastinations.

“The successful person has the habit of doing the things failures don’t like to do, they don’t like doing them either necessarily. But their disliking is subordinated to the strength of their purpose.” - E.M. Gray

First, you need to define your why, learn more about this here.

#2: Make a plan for action

I truly believe that one of the best way to get something done always start with planning to actually do it.

This is so important for procrastinators.

Don’t think you will magically get something done at a convenient time. NO! You need to plan to do it.

Therefore. Start planning your weeks and days.

Follow these steps to set effective to-do lists.

1. At the end of each day. Write down the things you want to accomplish tomorrow.
2. Order your tasks by importance.
3. The next day, concentrate only on the first task. Don’t move on to the second before you are finished with the first one.
4. When the day is over, move unfinished items to tomorrows list. Plan the upcoming day.
5. Eat, sleep, repeat.

TIP: On Sundays create a note for each day in the upcoming week. Whenever you get a task that can be performed better later in the week, write it down on e.g. TODO Friday.

#3: Focus on one thing at the time.

Learning = (Time) x (Intensity of focus)

A productive focused hour of studying is always better than three hours of unfocused studying.

Elon Musk told me that when I was test-driving his Tesla last week.

The ability to focus is an undervalued skill. In today society people are often encouraged to multitask. But believe me, mono-tasking changes everything. Especially for hardcore procrastinators.

The fewer things we try to do in the moment, the more productive we become. When we channel our focus we become more deliberate about what we are working on.

Therefore, don’t try to do your studying while watching the newest episode off Stranger Things. It simply won’t work.

Instead, try working focused on one thing at the time.

Ever heard of the Pomodoro Technique? This amazing time-management technique is great when it comes to focusing on the task at hand and leaving out distractions.

To perform the Pomodoro technique, do the following.

1. Choose your task and total time to work on it.
2. Set a timer to 25 minutes (either with an egg timer or with an app).
3. Work on the task for 25 minutes. Avoid all distractions and urges to multi-task.
4. Take a 5-minute break for energy renewal, start another Pomodoro.
5. Take a 30-minute break after completing four Pomodoros

DO THIS TODAY

Try performing one single Pomodoro and learn the power of focus. Turn on a timer for 25 minutes. Remove all distractions. Turn your mobile phone on "Do not disturb", activate your website blocker, turn on your AI generated consentration empowering music and enjoy real productivity.

Feel free to use this spreadsheet to help you take focused action and read this PDF for more information on the Pomodoro Technique.

#4: Remove ALL possible distractions

Distractions are the number one enemy against personal productivity. They surround us, and it’s so difficult to escape them.

There are way too many distractions that are ruining are productivity. Netflix, facebook, PUSH NOTIFICATIONS, snapchat, web-surfing, incoming emails… Just to name a few…..

Did you know the average office worker gets only 11 minutes in before being interrupted or distracted and it will take an average of 25 minutes to return to their original task. 25 minutes… That’s an insane amount of time.

In a society where everything is trying to grab your attention, it’s hard to stay productive. Smartphones, the internet, and technology have created a culture of distractions which often totally destroys our personal productivity.

To stop procrastinating, you need to eliminate the distractions.

• Put your phone on “do not disturb”. Or simply turn it off.
• Turn off the internet connection on your computer if you do not need it for the task you are doing.
• Activate your website blocker. Make sure you are not allowed inside Netflix during your study hours.
• Eliminate all sound distractions with this dream combo. AI Generated Music + a Noice Cancelling Headset!

#4: Just do it!

Throw caution to the wind and just do it. - Carrie Underwood

Procrastinators typically spend so much time thinking about doing things.

Every time I found myself procrastinating at college it was because I had built up the task in my head. - Typical procrastinator

Let me propose something.

Why not try to think less and do more?

My good friend Arnold Schwarzenegger told me this during our chest workout last week. He said:

“Sindre. Just get up, get on your bicycle, ride the bike, then start thinking. Because as soon as you start thinking, you will have 5000 reasons why you shouldn’t do it.”

Don’t think too much. Just do it!

Thanks for reading this answer. Now go out there and kick some procrastination ass.