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Written by Tony Teegarden 114 Comments

3 Steps You Can Use Right Now To Pulverize Procrastination

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3 Steps to Pulverize Procrastination

So here is a quick and simple life hack that allows you to move ahead with whatever you’ve been procrastinating on, with quickness.

I know procrastination has always been a nasty issues for myself and I’m betting it is for many people. (Maybe even you?) So if procrastination pisses you off and you’d like to whip it to the point where it’s running away with it’s tail between it’s legs then get ready.

I’ve got a reason I’m doing this myself and I’m walking the talk. I’ll tell you what that’s about here in just a minute.

Ok so on with it right?

Step 1 Of Punishing Procrastination

First you have to have your eye on the prize and give yourself a Deadline of when you’re going to accomplish said thing you’ve been putting off.

That’s right, a sense of urgency comes with deadline. The challenge is most people are given dead lines by someone else outside of themselves before they commit their full resources and become resourceful. Why not give yourself a self imposed deadline??

Have you ever given yourself one and not followed through? We’ll handle that one in Step 3.

I’ll give you a great example of a deadline you’ve had and happily met. Think about vacation or a trip you’ve been reeeeally been looking forward to! You took this exact formula and applied it! You had a deadline, you planned everything out and told everyone you were going.

So this brings up a great point. One of the keys here is to give yourself a reward for hitting the deadline. That’s right, reward yourself for reaching your objective!

On the other hand give yourself a price to pay if you don’t hit it! We’re going to talk about how to measure these in Step 2.

Step 2 of Pulverizing Procrastination

Now that you know when the deadline is and you know what the promise looks like you’re willing to pay the price of making it happen.

But wait!

You have to know what needs to be done and know how to measure your success along the way.

So here is step 2. Make a list of everything that needs to happen in order to make the deadline a reality. The good thing about this is that it’s always given me something to look at and remind me of what has to happen. However that’s not the biggest reason I enjoy step 2.

The real reason this is so powerful is that it allows you to visually measure your progress along the way! You can SEE your getting closer to your deadline! This is extremely motivating!

So if you have 10 steps that are required to reach your objective check them off as you go and celebrate each time you check something off! (I love white boards for this)

Step 3 of Paralyzing Procrastination

Step 3 is probably the scariest part but the most crucial.

You have to share your deadline and your desire with either someone you look up to or a group of your piers. The old saying goes Character is doing the thing when no one else is watching right?

Yeah well I’m not afraid of putting a little retainer on the fact that it gets done and a little self imposed leverage doesn’t hurt. It can only make you better! Not to mention you open yourself up to a lot more resources to pull from when others know what you have on the line.

You’d be surprised at the folks who will seriously support you in accomplishing your said deadline if you include them!

Don’t try and do steps 1 and 2 with out doing 3. I know, I know it’s scary. I get that but tell your ego to take a hike!

You’re ego flairs up and says, “but what if you don’t make it. You’ll look like a fool and you don’t want to look stupid do you??”

Tell the ego to screw off. (That’s after you told it to take a hike too. It tends to be hard headed)

You can’t spend ego at the grocery store and with the kind of project I’m working on could buy a lot of groceries. Which leads me to my point. 😉

In Conclusion

I believe I hear procrastination yelping out loud and running off into the sunset with it’s tail between it’s legs as we speak. How about you?

The bottom line is I’m sharing not only this little life hack with you but using it myself very soon and including you.

  1. I’m creating a deadline
  2. I’m listing out what needs to be done in order for it to be accomplished
  3. I’ll be sharing it amongst my piers so you can bomb this blog with comments to make sure I’ve done it

So there you have it.

Three Steps to Pulverize, Punish and Paralyze Procrastination.

Use this hack TODAY on something you’ve been putting off and share with me your success. More importantly I want to hear about what tried to get in your way that you found a way around, through or over!

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Comments

  5. Marie says

    Hi, Tony –

    Whenever I find myself procrastinating, I ask myself, “Why I am requiring myself to do this?” Sometimes, I don’t have a good reason (like because I’m trying to impress someone) or it is really not a priority to me.

    If I ask that question, I get clearer about what is important to me — I find I am more excited about getting stuff done when I know I’m doing stuff that is truly important.

    Great post! Thank you!

    – Marie (Coming Out of the Trees)

  6. Marie says

    Hi, Tony –

    Whenever I find myself procrastinating, I ask myself, “Why I am requiring myself to do this?” Sometimes, I don’t have a good reason (like because I’m trying to impress someone) or it is really not a priority to me.

    If I ask that question, I get clearer about what is important to me — I find I am more excited about getting stuff done when I know I’m doing stuff that is truly important.

    Great post! Thank you!

    – Marie (Coming Out of the Trees)

  7. tony says

    Marie,
    Thank you for your input. You’re so right. What a fresh perspective that needed to be shared. (Exactly why I love input from the community!) Thank you again!

  8. tony says

    Marie,
    Thank you for your input. You’re so right. What a fresh perspective that needed to be shared. (Exactly why I love input from the community!) Thank you again!

  9. Buzzlord says

    Good article.

    I’ll have to apply some of these techniques… currently I use last minute panic to combat procrastination — sort of the last line of defense there…

  10. Buzzlord says

    Good article.

    I’ll have to apply some of these techniques… currently I use last minute panic to combat procrastination — sort of the last line of defense there…

  11. tony says

    Glad you dig the post Buzz. That panic thing seems a little stressful lol. Definitely use the tools outlined and let me know if that feels a little better! Thanks again for participating!

  12. tony says

    Glad you dig the post Buzz. That panic thing seems a little stressful lol. Definitely use the tools outlined and let me know if that feels a little better! Thanks again for participating!

  19. Bas Grasmayer says

    #3 might be false. http://sivers.org/zipit

    “Tests done since 1933 show that people who talk about their intentions are less likely to make them happen.

    Announcing your plans to others satisfies your self-identity just enough that you're less motivated to do the hard work needed.”

  22. kimbuck says

    Great! Can't get enough positive reinforcement to battle the distractions!
    Love the Busy Mom book suggestion – thank you!
    The absolute bible on this topic is still, IMO, David Allen's “Getting Things Done.” Book, classes, Web site, all fantastic.

  27. Tony Teegarden says

    Thanks for the insight Bas,
    I tend to totally agree with you actually. (I read Dereks blog as well and
    love his insight)

    I even noticed someone quoted on his blog “Secrecy is the first law of
    Magic” – from Julia Cameron's Artist's Way. I love the her book having gone
    through the 12 week process more than once. I do agree.

    I'm not sure that #3 is exactly false, (Not all the time anyway) although I
    do agree it's not something one would want to make a steady diet of, hence
    it works for many of the individuals I've worked with in the past in order
    for them to stair step themselves into more personal responsibility.

    I work with a lot of people who are making their way into the
    entrepreneurial life style that aren't used to holding themselves
    accountable. Coaching them deeper into the process eventually allows a
    higher consciousness of interdependence and more self reliance.

    Stair stepping them into more and more personal responsibility and
    accountability is is a process. This was but one tool.

    I do agree that I should be more careful when framing the context of what
    I'm sharing.

    Thank you much my friend!

  51. Sanket says

    Shouldn't step 1 and 2 be the other way round? I think having a break down of what needs to be done will help in setting a realistic deadline. Apart from that, all 3 points make sense, I am implementing this partly but will try to do all 3 points now

  86. Peter says

    Hi There – here are some of the processes I use to overcome procrastination:
    1. Quickly assess whether I want to reject, delegate or accept any requests that come in.
    2. If I accept, then I ask myself – when will I do it? There is no real benefit in saying, I will find the time… define it then and there. It's almost more helpful to define when you will do something, than determining when it is due… almost.
    3. If I am in a mood for distraction, then I will fully immerse myself in the distraction – accept that I am distracted and come back to the task when I have run my course.
    4. Lists – get those things down and tick them off as you go… very helpful.
    5. If you can't get a particular thing done… ask yourself why? Be curious and see what comes up.

  91. Tony Teegarden says

    Peter,
    Fantastic feedback! I actually like the quickly assess whether I want to
    reject, delegate or accept any requests that come in. (Sounds like the 4
    Hour Work Week!)

    Thanks for sharing!

  92. Tony Teegarden says

    Sanket,

    Thank you for the question:
    The reason this hack worked for me in the past is because I had already
    procrastinated past the “realistic deadline” point.

    Normally I'd say yes, the reverse would make more sense however when behind
    the gun on something the exact opposite worked for me better.

    It's my hack and it's worked for me in the past. Definitely make sure you
    test which one works best for you!

    Let me know your results please!

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