How to beat Procrastination (7 tactics)

Mike Mahlkow
Jul 30, 2017 · 7 min read
Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

How to be productive if you don’t feel like it

There are two kinds of people in the world, procrastinators, and liars. I would state the thesis that everyone knows the feeling of not wanting to do the required work from time to time. I certainly do. Actually, writing this article was one of the things I postponed several times before actually sitting down and writing it in one sitting. Therefore, I wanted to reflect on what patterns I noticed in procrastinating and what usually helps me to overcome it. For me, productivity usually moves in cycles. I am either in a super productive mode and can focus on my work every day with a sharp focus for several weeks or I am completely out of sync and cannot even do one simple task a day. The latter is usually triggered by one of two things: Being sick or having a bad hangover. I know many people who can still do extraordinary work when they have a cold. I do not belong to this group of people. When I am ill, I literally do nothing except sleeping, drinking water and taking my meds. Some time ago, I have decided that health is more important than anything else. Therefore, I focus on getting better 100%. I noticed that doing it with only 50% expands the time of being ill and overall decreases both my well-being and my results even further. However, even after recovering fully, I tend to have a transition time in which I am too lazy to start my work. To combat this laziness, I developed some strategies I will share below. My two main triggers for being lazy are fairly specific. You could have the same triggers, but you could potentially have totally different ones. It is important to be aware of yours and avoid them as best as you can.

Sometimes, I am not as productive as I want to be despite not being ill or having a hangover. If you are in one of those situations, try the following strategies. They helped me a lot.

1. Just use enough willpower to start
In most cases, the problem is not the task itself but starting to do the task in the first place. Try to make a deal with yourself. “I will just use enough willpower to start the task right now and maintain it for at least 30 seconds”. Trick yourself into starting and you will notice that the flow of the work actually feels good. In the middle of the process you will not even notice why you did not want to start in the first place. Starting is often more difficult than keeping it up. Use that knowledge.

2. Structured procrastination
Structured procrastination is among my favorite theories in the world. Developed by Stanford professor John Perry and explained in this article it defines the practice of switching the task you dread with other productive tasks you feel more like doing right now. For example, if I do not feel like writing the article, I will simply continue coding the website I am currently working on. If I do not feel like answering my emails right now, I will simply read a book related to my field of work and summarize the chapter in my own words. The gist of it is to exchange one activity with a different one that actually brings you further. It does not directly solve your problem of procrastination but helps you to procrastinate healthily. You cannot do this indefinitely, but it created some of the best opportunities I had over the past year. For example, I applied for a scholarship during an afternoon I dreaded working on my final thesis for some reason. Now, this scholarship does not only help me financially but also in a lot of other ways I could not have imagined before like supporting me in finding my own personality. Combine this strategy with using the “just start strategy” I outlined above and you will have a healthy mix of achieving the tasks you set out to do and creating some random interesting opportunities which you can derive value from.

3. Listen to music/podcasts
A few years ago, I had reached a very low point in my productivity graph. Due to some external circumstances and my own mood, I did not finish anything I set out to do for several weeks. One day, I told myself that I will just listen to an audiobook while working on something I needed to get done. Doing this enabled me to get enough willpower together to start in the first place. It was not the most productive session in itself since the audiobook distracted me a little. However, it was much better than doing nothing. Often you just need to reach the threshold to start doing something. Listening to music, a podcast or an audiobook could be exactly that.

4. Switch the environment
Leave your house and go to the library or a café. Watching Netflix the whole day in your apartment may seem appropriate but the change of environment helps to signal to your brain that you could actually do something right now. Binge-watching a TV show will not feel right for you in the library. Working in a productive environment improves your motivation and focus significantly.

5. Break it into chunks
Your to do list and how you structure your tasks is one of the most important factors, especially in times where you are not at your best. Do not write impossible tasks like “Code the whole website today” or “Read book XY” on the list. Try to break your tasks into smaller chunks like “Finish the signup form for the website” or “read 20 pages in book XY”. This will allow you to finish your tasks, create endorphins in your brain and leave you better positioned for the next task. In my own experience, it is better to write one task too few on the list than one task too many. I am not arguing for unambitious goal setting, I just point out that the rewards system in your brain likes to complete stuff. Start small and continuously increase the scope of your list until you found the right balance between challenging and rewarding. If you have completed your tasks for the day and still have time left, you can always start the next task immediately.

6. Use breaks
“But Mike, Bill Gates did not take a single day of vacation when he founded Microsoft.” Yes, this is true. But are you in the process of founding a new Microsoft right now? If you are, you have the permission to go for it like a fanatic Bill Gates in his 20s. My only assertion is that there are more people suffering from burnout because they never take breaks or chasing vanity metrics than there are Bill Gates in the world. My wisdom is not advanced enough to fully grasp the balance between work and play. I only look at the data that is available to me which says that smart breaks are improving long term performance. What I can tell you though is that breaks have to be filled smartly. Binge-drinking for a weekend may be fun but I do not think it provides you with the rest you need to be fully charged again. A daily meditation practice or a daily workout session may be more effective than a three-week holiday.

7. Surround yourself with the right people
The people around you shape how you live and work. If most of your peers favor drinking a beer and watching reality TV over doing some extra work 100 percent of the time you should potentially rethink the people you hang out with if you want to overcome your laziness. This is often easier said than done. However, surrounding yourself with people who have similar goals and constantly work on achieving those is one of the best ways of fueling your own motivation. If everyone else has a productive lifestyle, you usually do too. I am not an advocate of a 24/7 hustle lifestyle which compromises your health and social life. I am an advocate of a healthy balance.

To keep up the weekly tradition, I will suggest two pieces of content I really enjoyed below.

How to focus and a podcast about internet scams

“The practicing mind” is an awesome book about the satisfying feeling of working on a problem with everything you have. It revolves around the concept of a flow state most people experience when they are fully concentrated on the task at hand. I enjoyed the book very much and took a lot of good advice from it. I reread it every year to remind me of the most important principles in it.

A second content suggestion for this week is the newest podcast episode from “reply all”. It has one of the best user ratings I have ever seen on Breakeraudio and was suggested to me by several of my twitter friends. If you are into podcasts at all you should definitely listen to that one. It tells the story of an internet scamming company and involves some surprising twists. This episode tells the first part of the story, the second part will be published soon.

Feel free to leave your feedback below and hit the heart-button if you found the content interesting. You can also reach out to me via Twitter (@mikemahlkow)

Mike Mahlkow

Written by

On the search for proven ways to happiness, productivity and fun | Stripe, Uber, Sococo

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade