Productivity is moving forward every day and not thinking of moving forward every day.
In my experience, I’ve had many days where I worked all day and then many days where I didn’t work at all.
Anything of passion becomes boring after a deadline gets placed on top of it. At that stage, it all comes down to discipline, consistency, and responsibility.
When I started to procrastinate a lot, what I did was I started my research on procrastination, mental health, and productivity. In that study, I found a few tips that have helped me overcome my urge to be lazy all day and do nothing.
Tips I learned to overcome procrastination:
1. Make it easy to start the work:
What does it mean to make the work easy to start? It means that if you want to go to the gym, you don’t have to change your dress, wear the attire that works best in the gym environment, brush your hair, grab a water bottle, fill it up, put on your best shoes, get a towel, drive the best vehicle to the gym and enter the gym with a happy bouncy mood.
This is too much work and it is not an easy way to start exercising. What I learned from this tip is that the work should be so easy that doing it doesn’t require any prior preparation. For example, if I have to go to the gym, I never look at myself in the mirror or change my shoes or clothes. I get up from my PC and start walking towards the gym. No preparation, no nothing. So easy, right?
Now because of this attitude, I’ve never skipped gym in months and ultimately my physique is getting better and better.
2. Make a mental image of what to do:
Some people prefer writing down the to-do list for the coming day/task but I like to make a plan in my mind for what to do before I start the work. The work could be studying, freelancing, learning different skills, giving a lecture, making a tutorial, writing a blog post, going on a meeting with clients, going out with friends/family, etc.
Once I have a mental image of what to do and how to do the first step then all of a sudden it becomes easier to get started and with the first tip combined, I can just hop on to that task without any further hassle and overcome my laziness or procrastination.
3. Talk to a mentor:
The world is filled with all kinds of people and whatever you are doing the chances are someone else has done it already. That person who has done it already knows more about that field/thing than you. You can learn from that person, you can ask about what to avoid and what to do in order to reach where he/she has reached.
Once you find that person, always try to ask questions and learn from that person. That person is a blessing from Allah and that person will help you achieve something in 1 year that you would have achieved in 10 years otherwise.
A mentor can kill your procrastination by giving you motivation, discipline, and a reason to think big and think positive.
4. Have a bigger picture in mind:
Responsibility is the greatest discipline in the world. You must have a vision, a reason to get up in the morning, and a reason to work.
If you don’t have a burning desire, the chances of you losing interest are 100%.
Find your why!
