Step-by-Step Guide On How to Stop Procrastination
According to the majority of information available on procrastination, the reason that most people procrastinate is because they have a fear of failure or a fear of success or they are just plain lazy. In contrast, I think it has nothing to do with fear but rather a lack of motivation. We all like to see results, to be able to see that we are making progress, but if we don’t perceive that what we are doing is actually helping us to get to where we want to be in life, we won’t have the motivation to stop putting things off and get what we need to done. Of course we can be motivated by other things like fear, money, and success, but the question for motivation from those sources is: will it keep you from continuing to put things off to the last minute and stop your procrastination? I don’t believe it will. So based on these conclusions here are some practical steps that I believe will help eliminate procrastination.
Step One
Come up with a list of reasons why you put things off. Here is mine:
1. I just don’t feel like doing what I need to.
2. I’m not interested.
3. I want to do something else.
The root of all of these reasons is that I don’t feel like what I need to do will help me get to where I want to go in my life, but it does help to list these reasons so I can figure out how to actually want to do what I need to and how to be interested in it. The only reason for which there is sometimes an exception is reason #3, which I will address a little later. For now, on to step 2.
Step Two
Create a list of long-term tasks and short-term tasks that occur on a regular basis. At the top state your goal or where you would like to be in life and then next to each task state what benefit you will gain from completing it or how it will help you get to where you want to be in life. Here is mine:
Goal: To bring as many people as possible to Christ and a knowledge of salvation, specifically through the realization of my dream to start an educational organization - SPEMFS.
Long-term tasks (things you need to do that you don’t finish in less than a couple weeks)
1. School classes (Benefit: helps me gain knowledge and wisdom for what I want to do in life)*
1. Precalculus
2. Badminton
3. Principles of Accounting 1
4. Intro to Public Speaking
5. Composition 101
6. Business Spreadsheets
2. Work (Benefit: helps me earn money and accomplish different tasks which will help me come to the realization of my dream)
1. Regular job
2. This website
3. SPEMFS
Short-term tasks (things that you need to do that occur on a regular basis)
1. School assignments (Benefit: helps me to learn and finish school faster)
2. Work assignments (Benefit: basically the same as above)
*This is just an illustration of how to list the benefits next to the tasks. I didn’t take the time to properly define the benefits of each task or to list all of the tasks that should be on this list. I will update this as soon as I do a complete list and define the benefits of each task properly. Also in a later article I will present how to find your own goal in life through a step-by-step guide
The reason to do this is because it helps you to realize the exact benefits you gain from each thing you do and thus how your tasks meld into your life purpose. If you cannot come up with a definite benefit from one of the tasks then you should most likely try to find a way to eliminate doing that task. This brings us to reason #3 in step one, if you find that you want to do something else rather than the task that you need to do there is questions that you need to ask yourself: is this task helping me to accomplish my goals? will what I want to do instead benefit me at all in accomplishing my goals? or, if the original task does help me to accomplish my goals, will what I want to do instead provide a greater benefit than what I would be doing originally?
Step Three
Create a to-do list each day. This step is essentially the same as the last one except that the tasks are on a day by day basis. Here is mine as an example:
1. Rough draft - Composition 101 (Benefit:………………….)
2. Homework problems - Precalculus (Benefit:………………….)
3. Read chapter and do problems - Principles of Accounting 1 (Benefit:………………….)
4. Read chapter and appendix - Intro to Public Speaking (Benefit:………………….)
5. Write and send letters and cards (Benefit:………………….)
6. Fix computer (Benefit:………………….)
Check off tasks as you complete them so you will be able to see that you are getting things done. The last paragraph of step two also applies to this to-do list. Also, in case you do put off things that you need to get done or just don’t have time to accomplish everything make sure that you use the time-importance principle. That means that the longer something isn’t done the more importance it gets.
Here are a few free applications that can help you create a to-do list:
* Ta-da list
* Todoist
* Remember the Milk
To find others just do a search for “to do list” and you should come up with plenty of results.
Step Four
To help keep you on track throughout the day, write down every hour what you did for the previous hour so that you can see how well you are using your time. Here is an example:
12pm
* started this article
* chatted with some friends
* researched information for my homework
1pm
* finished this article
* etc.
Step Five
Find a partner to help keep you on track of what you need to do. This step is not exactly necessary, but I do think that it would help a lot for each person to have some other specific person that can help keep them accountable. I am currently looking for a person to help me with this and I will update this when I find one. Ideally, the partner should be someone who you talk to and interact with almost every day so that they will be more familiar with your life and thus be able to give a better assessment of what you need to work on and how you are doing.
Step One
Come up with a list of reasons why you put things off. Here is mine:
1. I just don’t feel like doing what I need to.
2. I’m not interested.
3. I want to do something else.
The root of all of these reasons is that I don’t feel like what I need to do will help me get to where I want to go in my life, but it does help to list these reasons so I can figure out how to actually want to do what I need to and how to be interested in it. The only reason for which there is sometimes an exception is reason #3, which I will address a little later. For now, on to step 2.
Step Two
Create a list of long-term tasks and short-term tasks that occur on a regular basis. At the top state your goal or where you would like to be in life and then next to each task state what benefit you will gain from completing it or how it will help you get to where you want to be in life. Here is mine:
Goal: To bring as many people as possible to Christ and a knowledge of salvation, specifically through the realization of my dream to start an educational organization - SPEMFS.
Long-term tasks (things you need to do that you don’t finish in less than a couple weeks)
1. School classes (Benefit: helps me gain knowledge and wisdom for what I want to do in life)*
1. Precalculus
2. Badminton
3. Principles of Accounting 1
4. Intro to Public Speaking
5. Composition 101
6. Business Spreadsheets
2. Work (Benefit: helps me earn money and accomplish different tasks which will help me come to the realization of my dream)
1. Regular job
2. This website
3. SPEMFS
Short-term tasks (things that you need to do that occur on a regular basis)
1. School assignments (Benefit: helps me to learn and finish school faster)
2. Work assignments (Benefit: basically the same as above)
*This is just an illustration of how to list the benefits next to the tasks. I didn’t take the time to properly define the benefits of each task or to list all of the tasks that should be on this list. I will update this as soon as I do a complete list and define the benefits of each task properly. Also in a later article I will present how to find your own goal in life through a step-by-step guide
The reason to do this is because it helps you to realize the exact benefits you gain from each thing you do and thus how your tasks meld into your life purpose. If you cannot come up with a definite benefit from one of the tasks then you should most likely try to find a way to eliminate doing that task. This brings us to reason #3 in step one, if you find that you want to do something else rather than the task that you need to do there is questions that you need to ask yourself: is this task helping me to accomplish my goals? will what I want to do instead benefit me at all in accomplishing my goals? or, if the original task does help me to accomplish my goals, will what I want to do instead provide a greater benefit than what I would be doing originally?
Step Three
Create a to-do list each day. This step is essentially the same as the last one except that the tasks are on a day by day basis. Here is mine as an example:
1. Rough draft - Composition 101 (Benefit:………………….)
2. Homework problems - Precalculus (Benefit:………………….)
3. Read chapter and do problems - Principles of Accounting 1 (Benefit:………………….)
4. Read chapter and appendix - Intro to Public Speaking (Benefit:………………….)
5. Write and send letters and cards (Benefit:………………….)
6. Fix computer (Benefit:………………….)
Check off tasks as you complete them so you will be able to see that you are getting things done. The last paragraph of step two also applies to this to-do list. Also, in case you do put off things that you need to get done or just don’t have time to accomplish everything make sure that you use the time-importance principle. That means that the longer something isn’t done the more importance it gets.
Here are a few free applications that can help you create a to-do list:
* Ta-da list
* Todoist
* Remember the Milk
To find others just do a search for “to do list” and you should come up with plenty of results.
Step Four
To help keep you on track throughout the day, write down every hour what you did for the previous hour so that you can see how well you are using your time. Here is an example:
12pm
* started this article
* chatted with some friends
* researched information for my homework
1pm
* finished this article
* etc.
Step Five
Find a partner to help keep you on track of what you need to do. This step is not exactly necessary, but I do think that it would help a lot for each person to have some other specific person that can help keep them accountable. I am currently looking for a person to help me with this and I will update this when I find one. Ideally, the partner should be someone who you talk to and interact with almost every day so that they will be more familiar with your life and thus be able to give a better assessment of what you need to work on and how you are doing.
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