How to not procrastinate?

loro929

I have a deadline next week (Wednesday to be exact, i.e. 1 week from today).

I need to prepare and deliver a pretty important presentation.

I have known about this for about 2 weeks and I have begun to prepare the structure of the talk, some slides, etc.

However, this past week I cannot get myself to focus. At All. I have been knotting, planning Thanksgiving dinner, thinking of Christmas presents, thinking of non-important wedding details, planning outing with friends, googling anything and everything until my eyes can't see anymore, looking up volunteering organizations, googling 5K runs that I will not participate in, I mean it is getting bad. I am THE WORST procrastinator - I suppose because I know I still have a week to finish. But 2-days before I will pull an all-nighter to get it done. I hate that about myself.

Question here: When you find yourself procrastinating, how do you snap out of it? I need help!

anjemon

I am also a really terrible procrastinator, so I don't have a lot of advice. But the most effective thing I've found is breaking your task out into smaller tasks. I write a list of all of the parts of the thing I need to do. So it's not "write your whole presentation", it's "write intro" or "research xxx". Those things I can do with less pressure and more quickly. 

novella1186

lol you sound so much like me. I'm procrastinating so hard right now on getting our house ready for our Halloween party this weekend. Pretty much the entire house needs to be cleaned. I was going to vacuum last night and instead I drank 2 cocktails and watched Face-off on Syfy. 

Also procrastinating pretty good on wedding stuff I should be doing. I got a ton done right off the bat and then the lull came, and now I can't get back into gear. 

Usually what helps me is making mini to-do lists. Like a realistic amount of stuff I need to) do each day. I write it on a neon pink post-it and stick it somewhere where I have to look at it all the time (like my desk or computer). I make one for each day of the week and then when I've finished the stuff on it, I get to tear that post-it off and throw it away which is oddly satisfying.  

So for the house-cleaning nonsense I'll do something like 

"Wednesday: vacuum hallway and bedrooms, put laundry away"

"Thursday: sweep and mop kitchen floor"  

and so on. (Sometimes I just hand the post-its over to FI and say "ok you do this part" lol). I'm lucky cuz he's actually really good about helping with cleaning! 

jenna8984

I'm kind of the opposite. I love being able to F around with my time...so if I have something due at work on Friday then I will do it on Wednesay because then I'm like "Yay, now I can sit here and F around doing nothing Thursday & Friday!" So I guess I use that as my reward for getting it done. Maybe think of it that way?

loro929

Yeah, I think I need to start implementing a personal reward system or something.

Like finish X parts and you get a special starbucks latte after lunch. LoL. I feel like a child who doesn't want to do her homework and looks for every excuse in the book before starting to do it.

lacqueredlover

Small tasks and rewards.  Like Get X part of presentation done, then you can come on here for half an hour.

theartistformerlyknownas

I don't know; I'll figure it out later.

Maybe after I start preparing for my 10:30 meeting (25 minutes from now) that I've had scheduled for 2 weeks and don't have materials ready for.

futuremrsr2015

I'm terrible at procrastinating when I'm not excited to do something.  I moved in with FI over 2 years ago and the basement finally got cleaned completley (except his man room) last weekend.  It was finally at the point where he was angry almost every day at how messy the house is and that my stuff was everywhere so I aim for 1 room a weekend, I had to skip hunting last weekend to get it done and he was sad I didn't go but soooo much happier when he came home to a clean basement.  I just get to the point where it's like okay this is ridonkulous and it has to get done NOW.

larrygaga

lolo883 said:

I don't know; I'll figure it out later.

Maybe after I start preparing for my 10:30 meeting (25 minutes from now) that I've had scheduled for 2 weeks and don't have materials ready for.

I was totally going to post that I would give her advice later!!!!

My anxiety keeps me on the ball. Probably not the best motivation.

cafarrie

I tend to procrastinate like CRAZY and I've been very unmotivated lately as well.  I'm usually the total opposite of @Jenna8984 in that I know something will only take me an hour so I F around until I absolutely HAVE to finish it? 

That being said, when I get super overwhelmed I do what @anjemon suggested and make a giant list of small things I can get done more quickly.  It's so satisfying to check them off!!!  I just keep doing that until I'm back on track. 

beethery

The only way I can make myself hammer down and do shit is to put on high-tempo music and ingest a lot of caffeine. I have to strike the right balance or I become a cracked-out mess, but I can get a LOT of shit done if I am just short of unhinged.

loro929

beethery said:

The only way I can make myself hammer down and do shit is to put on high-tempo music and ingest a lot of caffeine. I have to strike the right balance or I become a cracked-out mess, but I can get a LOT of shit done if I am just short of unhinged.

I usually (last minute of course), end up doing something very similiar. Once I get into a groove, I am good to go until the end - it's just getting into that groove is so. damn. difficult.

VulgarGirl

I have to break things out into smaller tasks or shit just won't get done. 

Whats really shitty is I'll take my ADD meds to focus better so I can get shit done, but before I start working on the thing I actually need to do I do something else and then I get focused on that. I have like a 5 minute window to focus on the right thing or else I'm overly focused on the wrong thing and shit that needs to get done does not get done.

Inkdancer

I like the pomodoro method--you work for 20-25 minutes at a time. It's pretty easy for me to get overwhelmed by all the things I have to do, but I can definitely buckle down for 20 minutes. Just "okay, I will research for 20" or "I will make an outline" makes a big difference to my productivity.

DanikaMarie0227

anjemon said:

I am also a really terrible procrastinator, so I don't have a lot of advice. But the most effective thing I've found is breaking your task out into smaller tasks. I write a list of all of the parts of the thing I need to do. So it's not "write your whole presentation", it's "write intro" or "research xxx". Those things I can do with less pressure and more quickly. 

Another procrastinator here! I like this idea. Also, something that helps me is not working at home. Go anywhere else that you can get work done - library, Barnes & Noble, Starbucks - anywhere but home. The change of scenery helps me. Also, at home I can procrastinate forever because there is ALWAYS something else to do. At another location, I can procrastinate initially but then I basically realize I have to buckle down and accomplish something (plus there's no TV, FI, puppy, etc to help me procrastinate further). Good luck! 

penguin44

DanikaMarie0227 said:

anjemon said:

I am also a really terrible procrastinator, so I don't have a lot of advice. But the most effective thing I've found is breaking your task out into smaller tasks. I write a list of all of the parts of the thing I need to do. So it's not "write your whole presentation", it's "write intro" or "research xxx". Those things I can do with less pressure and more quickly. 

Another procrastinator here! I like this idea. Also, something that helps me is not working at home. Go anywhere else that you can get work done - library, Barnes & Noble, Starbucks - anywhere but home. The change of scenery helps me. Also, at home I can procrastinate forever because there is ALWAYS something else to do. At another location, I can procrastinate initially but then I basically realize I have to buckle down and accomplish something (plus there's no TV, FI, puppy, etc to help me procrastinate further). Good luck! 

I did this when I was at college. I would go to a building on campus or library to get things done. Works every time.

I also makes lists with everything broken down. I love the feeling of checking things off of a list!

Viczaesar

loro929 said:

I have a deadline next week (Wednesday to be exact, i.e. 1 week from today).

I need to prepare and deliver a pretty important presentation.

I have known about this for about 2 weeks and I have begun to prepare the structure of the talk, some slides, etc.

However, this past week I cannot get myself to focus. At All. I have been knotting, planning Thanksgiving dinner, thinking of Christmas presents, thinking of non-important wedding details, planning outing with friends, googling anything and everything until my eyes can't see anymore, looking up volunteering organizations, googling 5K runs that I will not participate in, I mean it is getting bad. I am THE WORST procrastinator - I suppose because I know I still have a week to finish. But 2-days before I will pull an all-nighter to get it done. I hate that about myself.

Question here: When you find yourself procrastinating, how do you snap out of it? I need help!

IVY.  I have a conference paper due tomorrow.  Am I working on it?  No, I'm knotting.