Tips to Help Avoid Procrastination

What’s more fun than writing a blog article on how to avoid procrastination? Apparently everything I did yesterday.

You see, I usually start recording my thoughts in outline form on Monday. But, turns out I didn’t get around to it. So now it’s Tuesday (as of the time of this writing), and I just started this morning. However, this may be the best way to start a blog article like this. After all, it’s a lot easier to talk about the topic while living it. It’s writing about an issue “from the inside.”

Before we start to look at ways to avoid procrastination, I think it’s best that we start by trying to understand why we procrastinate in the first place. And this brings us to looking at the human brain.

The Dynamics of Pleasure and Pain

Human beings are wired to survive. It’s how we have successfully evolved. If we weren’t sensitive to danger as a species, we wouldn’t exist today. Likewise, if we were not able to figure out what promotes survival, we also wouldn’t exist.

In order to facilitate survival, the brain naturally shies away from danger and is attracted to security. When we generalize danger, we are also including such things as pain and discomfort. When we generalize security, we include various forms of pleasure.

Procrastination is ultimately one way we avoid discomfort. It might be something that we are concerned will cause injury. Or, it might be something that we don’t find meaningful. Here are just a few reasons we procrastinate.

It’s something new and you aren’t sure if you can do it right. I’m sure you’ve encountered this one multiple times as a business owner. Dealing with the unknown is always a scary thing. Learning new concepts and tasks requires extra mental effort, which is taxing on the body’s energy reserve.

It’s something you’re not good at. Do you struggle with numbers, but are still responsible for balancing your business’s books? Yeah, that’s definitely going to be uncomfortable.

It’s something you find boring. Maybe you’re extremely good at something, but you’ve done it a thousand times. The challenge is gone. The excitement is gone. And now, you just don’t want to do it anymore.

You would rather be doing something else. Sometimes it’s not that the thing on your plate is distasteful, but you are aware of other opportunities that you want to do more. As a result, the current task becomes a barrier to getting what you want. That can turn a pleasurable thing into a painful thing.

All these scenarios naturally lead to procrastination because your natural tendency is to avoid that which is uncomfortable. It’s not a bad thing, because it’s part of how our species has survived. But it is an unfortunate thing when you’re trying to run a business from time to time.

So, let’s look at some things you can do to help avoid procrastination.

Surround Yourself with Inspiration

Why did you go in business for yourself in the first place? Whatever the reason it is, that is your “Big Why.” When times get tough, your passion to achieve your Big Why is going to be your number one way to get through it. This is your battery for intrinsic motivation (that’s motivation that comes from within).

Okay, procrastination doesn’t exactly qualify as “the tough times,” but getting back in touch with your Big Why can certainly help. Do you want to be in business for yourself so that you can spend more time with family? If so, then you need to get all your work done before you clock out. You don’t want to be working from sunup to sundown.

Or, are you working for yourself because you want to have more free time? Again, you’ve got to get all that work done so that you can have your weekends free.

What about working for yourself so you can make more money for your time? If so, stay focused while you’re on the clock and don’t waste time.

Whatever your Big Why is, surround yourself with symbols that help you to reconnect with it. Place pictures of your family on your desk. Hang pictures of wonderful vacations that you might take thanks to your hard work. Keep objects around—such as baseballs and volleyballs—to remind you of the activities that you can do on the weekend.

In other words, lean on symbols to remind you of your Big Why. That visual inspiration will help you maintain a wider perspective.

Schedule Things so that You Start Them Early

Whenever you have deadlines, set them early. Don’t give yourself the option to wait until the last minute to get them done. If you have a client project that needs to be done on Friday, for you it needs to be done on Wednesday. And I mean it “needs to be done on Wednesday.” It’s early, but still a deadline.

Part of the frustration of procrastination is the unintended negative consequences. These consequences tend to be more emotional than anything. Whenever you feel the stress of waiting until the last minute—or even not getting things done on time—you add unnecessary bad stress to your life.

When you set your deadlines early, you might still feel a bit of the stress. After all it still is a deadline. But somehow, that stress is not quite the same. You know in the back of your mind that you have a buffer built into your system.

On top of that, when you finish before the actual deadline, you feel a ton of relief. And that has a huge emotional effect on the rest of your day.

Now, if we want to make things even better, we can add an extrinsic motivator (motivation that comes from the outside) to the mix. Let’s completely tie that early deadline to something specific you enjoy.

For example, let’s say you completely tie carryout lunch from a favorite restaurant to the early deadline. That means, if you meet your early deadline, then you get to order that carryout for lunch the next day as a reward. And if you don’t meet that deadline, you get to brown-bag it, like any other day.

By the way, did you notice I said to “completely tie” eating from your favorite restaurant to those early deadlines? That means the only way you ever get to eat lunch from there is if you meet those deadlines. It’s something especially unique and rewarding that happens only as a result of meeting your objective. This effectively turns the whole experience into a game.

Break Up the Big Tasks

When faced with larger, unpleasant tasks, try breaking them up into smaller tasks. Sure, they still remain unpleasant, but they become more manageable if they are smaller. For example, if you have to balance your books, don’t do the entire year at once. Do it month by month, or week by week, depending on what works for you.

Once you’ve broken out the smaller tasks, make a list complete with checkboxes. Every time you complete one of the tasks, check it off. Checking a box and moving the task off your plate triggers a sense of accomplishment that motivates you to continue.

If you want to improve on this, reward yourself for checking those boxes. Every time you complete a task, do something you enjoy. Not only will you have a sense of completion, but you also springboard into something fun which helps you feel even better. Again, you’re turning the chore into a game.

Get an Accountability Partner

Why do something alone if you don’t have to? If you’re struggling to stay on task, ask a friend or a teammate to check in from time to time. Having them ask, “Did you get that done yet? No? Then, when are you working on it next?” will go a long way.

On option available to you is our Marketing Accountability Program. It keeps you focused while you grow as a marketer of your business.

Clean Your Plate of the Unpleasantness

Why do something you find unpleasant if you don’t have to? If you have things on your plate you really don’t want to do, you might consider passing them off to team members. They are there to support you. Let them do that. If you don’t have a team, you might consider hiring someone like a Virtual Assistant to take care of such unpleasant things, so you can focus your time and energy on the things that energize you.

Don’t Feel Too Bad About It

Everybody struggles with procrastination from time to time. It’s part of being human. Don’t be too hard on yourself. If you want to avoid procrastination in your own life, try not to think of it as “solving a problem.” Instead, think of it as “an opportunity to explore new, creative ways to make what you do more fun.” After all, you’re more likely to want to engage in something new and exciting (something pleasurable) than you are to deal with a problem (something painful).