8 Hacks to End Creative Procrastination...For Real This Time!
The truth is...everyone is a procrastinator. We all want to put off things we don’t want to do... or are too afraid to do. Ending procrastination involves forming the right habits to prevent it from happening. It is all about intention and a willingness to no longer identify with being a procrastinator. As long as you identify as a procrastinator, you can keep using it as an excuse, as if being one is a disease that you can’t cure and thereby must submit to. (Many people treat it this way!) It is more difficult to rise above and decide you can change the story. But a mindset shift can be instantaneous! See? You’re already doing it! After you change your mindset and no longer identify as a procrastinator, there are tools you can use that will ease the transition into forming your new habits. Online Resources One of the biggest perpetrators of procrastination are online distractions. If you’re working online, there are several tools that can help you out: ●
Stayfocusd can be downloaded for free through Chrome and it allows you to set time limits on certain websites. If you max out the time limit, it will shut down that website/program for the rest of the day.
●
Freedom or Go Fucking Work are similar to Stayfocusd, except Freedom will shut the whole internet down for a certain amount of time and Go Fucking Work will block certain sites right away.
●
Apps like Escape or RescueTime w ill track the amount of time that you use certain programs so you can see how you are spending your time.
●
Forest is my favorite productivity app. It is a game that uses the Pomodoro technique to help you section off a short chunk of time to work and while you’re working it will plant a tree for you. Then it lets you take a break. While you work, you can’t use your phone or your tree will die. At the end of the day, you get to see how many trees are planted and it feels like you are being rewarded. Highly recommended for my fellow gamers.
●
One Big Thing is exactly what it sounds like. You type in the one major thing you want to have accomplished that day and it can serve as a reminder.
20 Second Method The 20 second method eliminates distractions by making the perpetrators of your laziness physically 20 seconds farther away from you. The things you need to get done will be placed 20 seconds closer to you. This little trick makes the productive option feel like the lazy option. For instance, say you’re a visual artist. Your biggest distraction is that you turn on the TV as soon as you get home. So, with this method, you can take the batteries out of the remote and put them in your closet. Then, have some paper and a charcoal pencil on the coffee table. That way, your art material is literally right there, but you have to go into the closet, get the batteries, and put them in the remote if you want to watch TV.
This provides an incentive for you to draw instead. 5 Minute Rule: If you feel overwhelmed by the thought of doing the thing, just take the pressure off by starting really small with your tasks. Only commit to five minutes. Sit down and paint for 5 minutes. Usually, after 5 minutes, the worry dissolves, the artist takes over, and you end up painting for longer. If not, 5 minutes is better than nothing at all. Incentivize With Bad Alternatives Basically, you give yourself the option of either working on your art or doing something even less favorable. My go-to is doing nothing. The key is to make yourself so ridiculously bored that you would prefer to work on art instead of doing nothing. If you’re just sitting there, for example, you might opt to make art instead. Task/Reward System For the brain that is just looking for a little dopamine, this works really well.
You can break your stuff down into tiny little tasks and reward yourself after each task is finished. For instance, you can practice guitar for fifteen minutes and then watch a show. You can put together one page of a short story and then read a chapter of a book - whatever serves a positive personal incentive for you. Even if this means you spend more time on reward tasks, it is still getting you to focus on your creative projects, which will help you access your natural workflow over time. End Complacency Complacency is a negative mindset that can be changed. Check out the article, Why Complacency and Arrogance are Ruining Your Artistic Career. Make a List Sometimes procrastination can be a result of suffering from organizational distress. Take some time to break things down. Make a list and cross things off as you go along - even if you don’t finish the list. Crossing one thing off is better than doing nothing at all. Set Deadlines I know, I know, you hate deadlines…but they work. They keep you accountable and they turn your “someday” into “today.”
If you never actually set a precedent for when you will accomplish things, you never will. These tools are great aids, but the most important thing is a real desire and enthusiasm to triumph over your procrastination tendencies. It is not something any outside source can give you. Just take it one step at a time, breathe, and go do it! If you ever need a little inspiration, don’t neglect to consume some inspiring or motivational content (like this one!)