Beating Procrastination: 10 Foolproof Tips You Need to Try Now

What is the biggest challenge any business owner faces? Is it acquiring new clients? Or getting paid on time? Maybe your skills aren’t good enough? 

Well, actually for even but the most disciplined entrepreneurs, the biggest challenge is procrastination. Starting too late and too half assed on the things that need to be done. Instead you’re spending too much time watching Netflix, playing videogames or going out with your friends.  

Many people would call this problem just plain laziness, but I know from personal experience that it’s somewhat more complicated than that. If you’re procrastinating much, it’s because you’re stuck with thinking with the emotional part of your brain. The part that is responsible for fear, which in turn causes you to postpone all the important work you need to do.

How do you fix this? You switch your brain from the emotional part to the rational part. When you start thinking with the rational part of your brain all the fears you’re experiencing fall to the background and you can focus much easier on working. Achieving this is actually much easier than it sounds and to help you I have 10 tips to stop procrastinating. Try these tips and you will increase your productivity inmensely. And whatever your online business, consulting, blogging or affiliate marketing, you will get the work done.

1 Do short, easy to do chores

Just doing chores around the house that can be done within 5 or 10 minutes will get you more focused and relaxed. For example making your bed or doing the dishes will get your mind more into ‘work’mode and will give you a small sense of accomplishment. Hold on to that feeling and start working on your business

2 Count backwards

Count back from 5 to 0. Or from 10 to 0. This is a very effective trick to get your brain thinking with the rational part. Counting is a very rational activity and counting backwards even more. I my experience this exercise really helps when you have to make a difficult phone call for instance.

3 Start today

And by starting today I mean starting with small tasks. Most people will want to finish what they’ve started. But when you’ve got a whole lot of work to do, even beginning becomes a daunting task. To fix this, start with a small task.  That way you’ll get into work mode much easier and the bigger task won’t seem so daunting anymore.

The 5 minute task

Also called:  the 5 minute miracle. This is a more detailed version of start today. Next to counting backwards, this is also an excellent trick to stop procrastinating. You set a timer for 5 minutes and start a small task that can be done within 5 minutes. Finish it. You’ll notice that more can be achieved in 5 minutes than you would have thought. Repeat this process 4 or 5 times. And look! You’ll have done 5 or 6 tasks that otherwise would have remained undone. Voila! You can now do more!

5 Crushing it for an hour

This also called: The Power Hour. Turn off all distractions, Social Media, smartphone etc. and break an hour into 3 parts of 20 minutes each. Work focused and concentrated for 20 minutes, then take a short 5 or 10 minute break. Then work for 20 minutes again. Repeat the process.

This way you will get the most on how your brain works. A human brain has peaks in concentration and relaxation. It can’t stay focused for hours on end. By working in focused chunks of 20 minutes each you take the most advantage on how your brain functions.

6 create a realistic schedule

Creating a weekly schedule every Sunday will be of great help. By writing or typing down your weekly to do list you’ll also create a piece of mind.

But make it a realistic schedule. A schedule that suits your personality the best. For instance, working with a very detailed schedule is hell for me. It doesn’t work. Instead I make a list of general tasks I need to do every week. I print it and every time I do a task I cross it out with a black marker. In order to feel accomplished that week I must have crossed out at least 75% or more of that list. If I did 100% of the list, great! But if I did at least 75% I’m also very satisfied, because I still got a lot of work done.

And one final tip for your schedule: don’t oversaturate every day with a lot of important tasks you need to do. That way chances will be that you don’t get anything done at all. Instead, only write down 1 or 2 important tasks per day and a couple of smaller ones.

7 Forgive yourself

Start forgiving yourself if you hardly did any work. Stop beating yourself up about it. I know the feeling; you say to yourself ‘Man, I wasted another afternoon on videogames instead of writing a new blog as I had planned. I’m a complete idiot!’ Or you call yourself a looser or slacker. I know, I’ve been there.  But this thought pattern doesn’t do you any good as well. 

Start focusing on the things you did accomplish, even when they were small. And forgive yourself for the things you didn’t do. Let it go. If today you only accomplished one small task say to yourself: ‘at least that is of the list. ‘And do 2 small tasks tomorrow. And 3 the next day, until you’ve got a pattern working. But let the past be the past.

8  Play music that energizes you

The moment you planned on working on your business first play a song that energizes you. For instance a song you play before going out with friends. Your brain will make the connection and you automatically become more focused and full of energy. For me personally 80s synthwave works like a charm. Mostly because I used to play this when I was working at my old  job. My brain would connect the music to sense of focus and concentration.

9 Reward yourself

Have a reward scheduled in ahead for when you’re finished. It can be anything, an hour playing videogames, going out for a beer with friends. You can have a minimum of 5 things done for example then reward yourself with a treat for the work. 

However, reward yourself only if you have actually done the minimum. Don’t use it as an distraction.

10 Write down  the reason you’re avoiding the work

As I’ve said in the intro, the most basic reason for postponing again and again is irrationality and fear. You know this in the back of your head. But fear of what? What’s the worst that could happen, realistically speaking? One way to counter this is to actually write down the reasons you’re not doing the work. Write down for example ‘I’m not doing task A, because … ‘

When you write down the reasons for avoiding your work everything doesn’t seem as bad anymore. All the fears you’ve been experiencing are already written down. Your brain will recognize it is no good to ponder on your fears anymore.