I am a Master Procrastinator. There are so many tasks that I procrastinate on. "I'll do it later." Later might be in a few hours, a few days or even a few months and... dare I say it... a few years! But whyyyyy???!!!!
When I look at these tasks... the common denominator seems to be uncertainty which makes me uncomfortable. Maybe I'm not sure how to do it. Or I need to phone someone (I hate talking to people on the phone). Maybe I need more information... or think I need more information. Sometimes I just don't "feel" like it and will choose something "easier". Because some tasks are just "hard"... or rather... I think they are hard - which is an entirely different kettle of fish.
Although some tasks are genuinely hard and unpleasant... like phoning the telephone company (for the xth time to tell them they are still (still!!) overcharging us by $10/month. Or at least... I think it will be hard and unpleasant based on my experience of the previous x number of calls that have been hard and unpleasant... and long!
But I digress...
One of the productivity hacks I've come across is really simple, two words... "Just start"... The idea is that once you get started, you'll build some momentum and then just keep going on whatever it is - a writing project, a home maintenance task... etc.
It sounds soooo simple. And it is really quite simple. But that doesn't mean it's easy. If it was that easy, I wouldn't be writing this blog! And... it's not just me. I am not the only one who looks at "Just Start" and wonders... "but how!!!???"...
Back in 2012, researchers conducted a study on university students and their study habits. What they found was that there are up to nine different executive brain functions that can get in the way of our lofty plans and lead to procrastination...
- self-monitoring
- planning
- activity shifting
- task initiation
- task monitoring
- emotional control
- working memory
- orderliness
All of these can prevent us from getting started on a task. Sooo... that means that a productivity hack that works for one person... might not work for another person because... maybe the hiccup for them is "conscientiousness" while the hiccup for me is "perfectionism".
So... task initiation... that is part of the thing for me. Surely there are some better tips out there than "just start"? And there are...
Hacks to Just Start
So it would appear that my brain is one of the ones that is motivated by things that interest me... not so much by things that are important. I have no trouble starting tasks that I find to be interesting or challenging or new or creative. No problem with those! I can even get my butt in gear if it's ultra urgent. I'm not so good with tasks that are boring... or that take a long time... even if they are important. I like to do tasks that I can finish within a day... so quick and interesting is good for me! It takes a bit more for me to buckle down day after day and work on a long-term project.
So, where does that leave me? Well... I think there are various hacks that might work... but not all of them will work in all situations.
One thing I could do is re-formulate a stuck task into something that involves creativity or a challenge. Can I do it in a new and different way?
One of the reasons why this blog is getting a lot of my attention right now is because I can always write something new and different for each post and it's usually done and written in a hour! It's a bit harder when I am working on a longer document that tends to drag on, day after day, month after month. My little brain gets seriously bored with that! Let's move on to shinier things!
So perhaps the trick is to use one of the standard productivity hacks... chunking... and break up the boring task (write that book) into smaller, much more manageable tasks. Can I work on this section of the chapter for 25 minutes? (Pomodoro technique) Just 25 minutes? Maybe a reward at the end of those 25 minutes? Or maybe I will spend 25 minutes editing what I wrote yesterday? Maybe after 2 Pomodoro sessions, I can reward myself with some decluttering... or a bit more research? Cause research is sooooo much fun!!! Bright and shiny!! New things to discover!!!
Or if that seems too much... maybe it's to just work on it for 10 minutes. Just open the document and find the spot where I left off. Or just re-read the last section... Sometimes it's easier to just start editing something and then that will get me into the space to actually start doing some writing as well.
That's a hack I've come across before - use a start-up routine. Do something super easy that then gets associated with the harder task that you are planning to do. Maybe... I will make myself a mug of chai tea (super easy) and sit down at the computer with it, put on my headphones and open the document. The idea is that the habit of the tea and the music will become associated with the task.
Resistance
I can already here the voice in my head... "open the document... and then what... it's tooooo haaarrdddd"!! Or I think there isn't enough time. It will take me too long to get back into the flow of the document and I'll be wasting my time. Or I think I need a good 4 hour chunk in order to do anything worthwhile.
All of these thoughts are getting in my way. I hear them a LOT! And I'm beginning to wonder... are they actually true? Is it true that it will take me a long time? Is it true that I need a 4 hour chunk to do meaningful work? I already am learning that small 20 minute walks can really add up over the course of a day!
An Experiment
So, let's do an experiment... in minutes...
0:00-0:30 - found the document & opened it
0:30-1:40 - scrolled through document and feel absolutely lost! 432 pages!!!
1:40-3:40 - scrolling some more and remembering what I was working on last time... not so bad...
3:40-4:30 - opened my old task manager to see if I recorded my next task - found a bunch of tasks I haven't yet transferred to the new task manager on this project - part of what is overwhelming is I have soooo many researched sources to handle
4:30-25:20 - moved the tasks to the new task manager
So... one Pomodoro and that wasn't so bad. I have a better sense of what I was working on last time. And I can see many, many spots where I could do a 25 minute session and get something valuable and useful done. I can do this!
Although, now that I look at it... I didn't actually get any "work" done, like writing something new or editing something I had written before. I just spent the 25 minutes organizing myself. Sigh... that is the trap I slip into a lot!!
I am obviously a "work-in-progress"!
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