Preface
How often do you watch another video on YouTube, take a rest, choose another “very urgent” thing instead of getting down to important/new/routine/unknown/complicated tasks? I don’t know any person who hasn’t suffered from such a vicious habit at least sometimes. I’m no exception, too.
For instance, it took about 5 years between the first time I had come up with an idea of a personal blog and the moment it was actually started. My excuses were:
- Work overload.
- Family chores.
- Laziness.
- Physical fatigue.
- Lack of time.
- Lack of inspiration.
- Not the right time of the day.
Moreover, a similar behavior pattern was applied to other “big” ideas: launch an online shop, speak at the public conference, run startup company, etc.
Then I didn’t know such a word as “procrastination”…
Opening
The next two books made me reflect on the real causes of the inaction:
- “Managing The Mental Game”, by Jeff Boss, tells about how to understand your mind, processes of thinking, how to change bad habits.
- “The war of art”, by Steven Pressfield is dedicated to the essence of procrastination, which the author calls Resistance.
The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.
Steven Pressfield, “The war of art”
I wasn’t alone, the problem is not unique, there are a lot of methodologies to solve it. That’s how the struggle began.
Further – it is more. I bought Medium account to read uncountable articles about personal growth. Purchased several ”How to do something/become someone in N days” books. Trainings. Courses. I was progressing and moving in the right direction (I thought so, at least). But there was still a small (but deep nagging) problem:
I didn’t even start implementing a single idea! None, Carl!
None of the methodologies worked!
Culmination
At the very beginning of 2020, as many of us, I got to setting goals for the coming year. It was lazy, I was forcing myself. Hence I decided to watch YouTube to “gather strength”. The service recommended a video by Igor Rybakov (Russian entrepreneur and billionaire) with a very provocative title “Do not fear Laziness! Willpower hinders Success” (one shudders to think, how much Google knows about us). This video changed a lot.
Igor Rybakov
“It doesn’t matter where to start. Start with something. Hammer the first nail. Make the first step. Get out of hanging. Out of state, when you have to think. Thinking is harmful.”
Kaboom!!! Eureka!!!
All this time I was seeking a solution to the problem, seeking the most effective, ideal methodology to beat procrastination once and for all. I was seeking a pill, which would cure all ”illnesses”. But in the meantime, I wasn’t taking any real actions. The fight against procrastination itself became procrastination. It would seem so obvious…
Conclusion (ака. key rule):
The only workable methodology – Start Doing. Start doing at least something.
Ichak Adizes in my interpretation.
“It’s better to do at least something wrong than to do nothing perfectly”.
No methodologies will work until you do take this very first step.
Why?
Because all known methodologies are focused on the form, not function.
Let me explain what the form and the function are:
For a shop to make a profit, at first you must start selling goods [the function], but not setting up business processes [the form].
The form is focused on the optimization of the function. If the function = 0, then optimization = 0. Only having something that can be optimized, it makes sense to pay attention to optimization.
Again, it’s so obvious, but many (if not most) of us make the same mistake again and again.
Denouement
I’m very sorry to say, but I’m convinced, that procrastination can’t be defeated completely. You can fight it, but you can’t win once and for all.
So, what do I use to tackle procrastination? My method consists of two constituents: Permanent and Specific.
Permanent
Since fighting procrastination requires significant physical and emotional strengths, the Permanent constituent is aimed at keeping them at a constant and sufficient level (without it, it’s virtually impossible to succeed). These are every day “exercises” including:
- High-quality sleep
At least 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep per day (in case of monophasic sleep). - Regular physical exercises.
Morning exercises every day, active workout (e.g. boxing, basketball) 2-3 times a week. - Balanced diet.
60-70% of plant food, minimum of coffee, salt, and sugar. - No smoking and alcohol.
The list may vary from person to person (it depends on your energy sources). The challenge is that most of the above are usually created overcoming procrastination too.
Anyway, I would recommend starting with high-quality sleep.
Specific
I’m sure, that each case of procrastination is unique (perhaps with different real causes behind that). That’s why Specific constituent is focused directly on the fighting process and its steps depend on the context. Thus they are not clearly defined. Steps:
- Choose one (ideally) goal in the near future.
E.g. For example, “I’m going to start working out” or “I’m going to start a blog”.
One goal allows me to be concentrated and better understand myself and my feelings.
- Define that one “Very First Step” and begin right away, and not “tomorrow”.
E.g. blog -> choose post topic.
E.g. workout -> choose a gym.
- Try various “forms” (methodologies) for process optimization and speeding up (often, nothing specific is needed at all; just start doing something and process begins)
Different “forms” help in different cases.
E.g. to write the blog I use goal setting with strict deadlines. If I fail any deadline, then I pay my wife 🙂
E.g. to fight internet surfing at work I try to understand the essence of the behavior (“Managing The Mental Game” helps here), that is, for what reason I surf. Just for fun? Or the task is too boring? Or I’m afraid of the task complexity? etc.
- Set milestones and track the status every day.
E.g. for the blog I use Habitify mobile app.
E.g. for fighting internet surfing at work I use journaling.
- Retrospective after each milestone.
If I failed it, then I try to find out what didn’t work, maybe it makes sense to change “the form” etc.
- Repeat step 1) if it came to nothing 🙂
Conclusion
There is no silver bullet. My personal technique may not work for others.
What exactly is true for each and every one is
Start Doing.
It’s obvious, but how many of us do not see that.