I’m not gonna lie, I’m writing this blog post to create a writing sample for a job I want (wish me luck!). I’ve been sitting here trying to think of what to write about, that doesn’t require a plethora of citations I need to hunt for. Then it dawned on me: Procrastination.
Why Are You Procrastinating?
Are you procrastinating because you’re lazy? A lot of new studies are coming out saying “probably not” (citation needed). I don’t 100% buy the fact that Procrastinating is a so-called “trauma response” either. There seems to be a lot of buzz coming out that procrastination is just a symptom of perfectionism. For example, I’ve been procrastinating on this job application for the past twenty minutes because even though I have a full body of writing samples, I’m also inspired to write something new, but what if it’s not perfect? What about you? What is something you’ve been wanting to do for a while, yet have talked yourself out of it because you’re worried it won’t be perfect?
Think About When You’re Must Productive
A while back, I had to write a fifty page thesis on glue (no really), but every time I would get out of class and go to the library, I would sit in front of my laptop and just… sit there.
I would write maybe a couple sentences, overthink it, spend time trying to do more research, and just worry it’s not good enough. An hour and a half would go by and maybe I’d have half a paragraph done. I would go back to my apartment every day exhausted with little work to show for it.
One day, I was sitting on my bed just mindlessly on YouTube. My search landed me on a video about how to better articulate your ideas verbally. The advice given was simple: Learn How To Write.
One thing led to another and I found this professors’ syllabus for writing essays. Weirdly enough, the advice wasn’t about grammar, or anything technical (though, by the time you’re taking his class, you should already know all that stuff). Instead, it was about meeting your physical needs first.
Start every morning with breakfast with fat and protein. Write when you first get up in the morning- as studies show that more people are more productive, less hard on themselves, and more focused in the morning. There was other advice on there too, but more on that later.
I thought that was the stupidest thing I ever heard-I’m not a morning person, that would NEVER work on me. Still, I only had one paragraph written out of a fifty page thesis looming over my head. I was desperate to try anything.
The next morning, I woke up at around 6am instead of my usual 9am, ate some yogurt with sliced bananas, then got to work. In an hour, I wrote ten pages!
Ever since then, I’ve been getting up around no later than 6am. I found I was indeed much more productive, my mind was much more focused, and it was though my internal critic was actually just a lazy jerk that liked to sleep in because all that self doubt that would normally plague me when I tried to write after classes was just not there. It opened so many doors for me. I’m able to work remotely even if the job is on the other side of the country thanks to me realizing morning was my peak time.
Of course, you need to eliminate distractions as much as possible.
Put Your Phone Away
I think it goes without saying that Big Tech Companies make their social media platforms as addictive as possible in order to keep you on the platform longer. On average, people spend nine hours hours a day on their phone.
Have a designated place for your phone and keep it there until you’re done doing whatever it is you’re doing (that doesn’t require the phone, of course, if you’re procrastinating calling friends, that’s different, in that case I would say, just call your friends, then immediately put the phone away).
Time is more valuable than money. You can always make more money, but once you waste time, it’s gone forever. I can’t help but dread how many opportunities people are missing out on because
Set A Time Limit
Another way to help eliminate distractions is to set a very short time limit from 15-20 minutes. Things tend to take longer than they should is because of distractions. Here’s a tip: procrastinate on your procrastination.
Say to yourself “If I spend 15 minutes on this task, then I’ll scroll on my phone when the timer goes off.” It puts much less stress on your brain you don’t waste a lot of energy fighting temptations while getting important things done.
Create Microsteps
Some days are better than others. I’ve found there are times when I just feel overwhelmed, not particularly productive, and I don’t even feel like playing video games let alone doing writing or art (heck, I’ve procrastinated writing this blog for many years just because my life got filled with other things).
When I’m feeling like this, what I like to do is create microsteps. Microsteps are tasks broken down into the smallest, dumbest, easiest task you can do. If you made a New Years Resolution to read more books, break it down to “Open the book” then “Read the first word”. Make a promise to yourself like “If I still don’t feel like doing this thing, I can stop”, but really, the hardest thing is always to start something.
It seems like oftentimes tasks just feel too overwhelming no matter how simple they are, so if you can break them down into a smaller task and start, then that’s a good first step.
Human beings need momentum more than anything else.
Create Triggers
When I want to create art, I turn on my computer, then immediately turn on my paint program before anything else, then pick up my stylus. Doing those three things on average help me to spend a minimum of one hour of working on my comics.
When I started meditating every morning, I figured out what place I naturally went to naturally in the morning after getting my coffee (the couch)
A 50% Grade Is Better Than 0
Anything worth doing is worth doing badly (for the most part, obviously not air traffic controlling or neurosurgery, but chances are you’re not doing anything that dire). But yeah, just that line “A 50% Grade Is Better Than 0” has always stuck out to me. Or another one is “You Miss 100% Of The Shots You Don’t Throw” is another one.
It feels much more rewarding to get started and get something done than not at all. Even if you’re procrastinating cleaning your office, just getting your desk clean and nothing else is its own reward.
In Conclusion:
Welp! It’s not even 9:30am and I have this blog post done. Hopefully you too have figured out when your peak productivity time is, put your phone away even for just a little bit, create triggers, and really, just be kind to yourself. It’s better to try and fail than not try at all. Let’s start this 2024 on good note!
