How to Beat Procrastination

Beat the age-old problem of mankind

A problem that has existed since the beginning of time. It seems that humans were always designed to be “last minuters”, finding any which way to extend that dreaded due date. However, while it may be impossible to completely get rid of this trait, knowing why we do it and some strategies can help us at least improve this habit, even just a little.

First, it’s important to know why people procrastinate. Procrastination isn’t entirely due to laziness, but is usually due to how our brains function and what stimulates us. Brains have evolved to think about the short term and the gratification that something will bring us soon rather than later. This was very effective during hunter gatherer days, as focusing on the short term allowed us to survive even a little longer and long term problems, even if they were important, were set in the back-burner. For short term gratification, our brains like to push away any long term tasks in replacement for the completion of short term tasks and short term happiness. This was true back then and this is true now with the new fear of failing a task.

On top of this, our brains need a constant stream of satisfaction, whether that be feeling accomplished finishing your chores for the day, or spending more time doing things you actually want. This is why we tend to push away large projects and are able to finish short term assignments. Working on say a short worksheet for a few minutes gives us that rush of accomplishment and instant feedback. On the other hand, working on your year long thesis paper isn’t something you complete in one session, it’s something you chip away at throughout the year. Tasks such as these are lacking that short term stream of accomplishment your brain is looking for and thus decrease your motivation to work on them.

So what strategies can help you work on it? Well, first and foremost, knowing why you procrastinate can help you come up with your methods best suited for you. But usually the most successful techniques help satiate the brain for what it’s looking for.

Strategy 1: Give What the Brain is Looking for

The brain wants to be stimulated, whether that be from a dopamine rush of doing tasks you enjoy, or from the feeling of accomplishment from finishing a difficult task. The easiest thing you can do is not fight those urges, instead try to manipulate yourself into being productive. When you set your mind to finish something, many people have a burst of motivation at the beginning, but aren’t able to keep it up for very long. Techniques such as the Pomodoro give you a 5 minute break for 25 minutes of work. While this has worked for many people, others say that it doesn’t work for them because they end up extending that 5 minute break as it really isn’t a lot. They also tend to find themselves being unproductive for the 25 minutes after a period of time and just waiting for the break. If this is you then another approach might work.

Give yourself a schedule of working and breaks, say 40 minutes of working and a the rest a break for every hour. Now, instead of working for the 40 minutes, set a short term goal you believe will take you 40 minutes and work on that. Even if the task ends up taking more or less than 40 minutes, you are allowed to take your break at the end. Being task oriented instead of time oriented will allow you to get a lot more done without it feeling repetitive. Let’s say the task only took you 25 minutes, then that’s great! You get a 35 minute break. If the task took you longer, say 50 minutes, it won’t have felt like 50 minutes since you were task oriented and were focused on completing a task rather than waiting for a timer. Doing this gives you the constant feeling of accomplishment, while knowing you have been productive. It also allows you to better plan out your assignment since you have a clear idea of how many tasks are left.

Strategy 2: Just Get Started

The hardest part of project is usually to get started and have an idea of what to do, especially if you are given an open ended project where you could do anything to show off your learning. Ironically, this freedom can cause less creativity as creativity comes from constraints and how you bend the rules of the constraints. This can make it really difficult to even get started on the project since the freedom can feel overwhelming. This is why it’s so important to get started, set up a day for yourself to get started and even if you don’t get much done, as long as you’ve done progress, that’s good progress.

It might feel pointless to spend a couple of hours on starting the project and not having done much. However, what’s important is that you have a clear idea of where to go next and the rest of the project will seem to flow by quickly. It’s really important to begin this as early as possible because you’ll have more time to accurately judge how long the project will take you and you can plan accordingly.

Strategy 3: It’s a Marathon, not a Race

You’ve probably heard this many time. People telling you to work on the task consistently for a long time, rather than working intensely for a short period time. And, ya, it’s true. Even setting aside 20–30 minutes a day to work on something will yield better results and a more enjoyable time than pulling all-nighters in the last week. Working on it everyday allows you to plan other activities around it more easily, it helps look at your work with a fresh pair of eyes every day, and will ultimately result in a better finished product.

The reason why so many people find this difficult to do is because they are trying to fit their project around their schedule when they should be scheduling around their task. It’s easy to make excuses and say that you don’t have much time to work on it and that you’ll work on it next week. For some people they might have legitimate reasons, however for the vast majority of people they have much more free time than they realize. Write out your actual daily schedule, and you’ll find that you have much more time on your hands. Make working on your project a priority and schedule your other activities around it. This might take a bit of time to get used to, but after a couple of days it’ll be hard to imagine your schedule without it.

These strategies can help you greatly if you struggle with procrastination. If they don’t entirely work for you, then knowing why you procrastinate can help you come up with your own methods that work for you. If this isn’t really a problem you have then good for you, I guess.