How to Stop Procrastination
Lie to Yourself
One of the most reliable methods to stop procrastination in its tracks is to simply start work.
You start by telling yourself a lie.
“I’ll only work on this for 20 minutes.”
You can endure anything for 20 minutes — right?
If you can sit in a dentist’s chair while he comes at you with a 4-inch long needle and then puts a power drill into your mouth — then you can do anything for 20 minutes.
Just Get Started
More often than not, after you get started on the thing you’re avoiding you’ll just keep going.
You have momentum.
And — it’s easier to just do a little more work versus stopping in the middle of a task.
If you don’t believe me . . .
Here’s a quote from Tim Pychyl, Ph.D., a procrastination researcher at Carleton University, Ottawa.
I know that once we begin a task, no matter how dreaded, our perceptions of the task change. This research revealed that we “don’t appraise the task as quite so stressful or difficult once we get started.
No more stalling — just get started.
