The other day one of my coworkers mentioned that March is National Procrastination Month. The comment wasn’t meant kindly—she obviously thought editorial time management wasn’t up to snuff—but I can’t help putting a positive thinking spin on it. In fact, I’m grateful to her for giving me something to blog about.
National Procrastination Month, huh? That reminds me of one of the most helpful articles I edited back when we were publishing Positive Thinking magazine: “Do It Now (Not Later)”—in which writer and self-confessed procrastinator Lisa Marie Rovito gives 17 ways to put procrastination behind you.
Here are three of the techniques I’ve found particularly effective for getting things done.
Give yourself specific directions.
Instead of a vague long-term goal like “This year I’ll get back in shape,” try “Saturday morning I will leave the house at 10 and go to the gym for the 10:30 cardio class.”
Remove distractions.
What do you do when you should be doing something else? Get rid of it—turn off the TV, your phone, whatever pulls your attention away from what needs to get done. When I want to completely focus on writing a story, I turn off all email notifications (no ding, no text alert popping up on my desktop) and close my web browser.
Think progress, not perfection.
So you don’t have time to do it perfectly. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start. For example: No, I won’t be able to do a complete spring cleaning/organizational overhaul of my apartment in a few hours or even a few days. But yes, I can start with organizing the shoes I keep in the foyer (three mornings in a row I wasted time looking for the mates to shoes). Every little step gets me closer to my goal (and every minute saved is a minute more I can spend doing something I actually enjoy).
Check out the rest of the tips—depending on what type of procrastinator you are, some will work better for you than others. As Lisa Marie points out, “Thinking positive when procrastination strikes (or even before!) is the key to beating it.”
