The Wonderfully Destructive Habit of Procrastination

How often have you decided to do something & then pushed back with excuses like:

- I'll do it over the weekend

- Let me address this after lunch; a smoke; coffee; post work; in the night; at home.

- X is the start of the week or month; I will do it then (exercising)

98% of these tasks get sucked into the whirlpool of indefinite delay & land up never getting done at all.

The feeling of missing tasks is gut-wrenching. It leaves you feeling under accomplished, weak, unprepared & compromised.

Yet, we constantly continue to procrastinate even after suffering bitter regret.

What can we do to make us stop delaying? These work for me:

- Start something immediately. The action of "Starting" is 98% of the mental BLOCK you need to overcome.

- Make the work snacky and bite-sized. Write 3 slides of a 30 slide PPT. Exercise just 10 mins if you are starting new/after a gap. Watch just 1 Ted Video or read 2 industry articles a day. Do things that don't seem burdensome so that the brain doesn't resist it straight away.

- Treat yourself to tasks done. 1 hour of Netflix for a completed task. Bribe your brain with potential gain before suffering pain.

What works for you?