6 Ways To Overcome Procrastination (From Someone Who Knows It Too Well)

 

Procrastination keeps you in a chokehold. And if I’m being honest, this article almost didn’t get written, not because I didn’t care, but because procrastination held me in a bad position. Procrastinating on writing about procrastination—I know, too ironic. 

But here’s the truth: procrastination isn’t because you’re lazy or unmotivated; it’s often because you’re overwhelmed, you fear failure, or you’re unsure of how to start. Sometimes it’s also because we’re waiting for the perfect time, but really there’s no such thing as a perfect time. It’s just fear getting the best of us. 

We often delay the very things we do not want to fail at. If you’ve ever stared at a deadline like it’s a wall or know you’ve got a pile of work waiting to be done, but somehow you can’t just get started, you’re definitely not alone. If you’ve ever found yourself saying, “I’ll do it later,” or “Let's leave it for tomorrow,” I found a solution for us. These six strategies help you take back control, gently and effectively. 

Recognise procrastination

The first step to overcoming procrastination is being aware of it. To solve a problem, you must be able to recognise it. You need to identify the patterns in which you procrastinate. Procrastination doesn’t always show up as just lying in bed doing nothing. 

Sometimes it’s avoiding a particular task while doing others, maybe because you fear failure, or you find the work boring and difficult, or you just don’t know how to start. Sometimes, the problem comes from overplanning. You’ve drawn a perfect schedule, and there’s just a lot to do. It’s okay to have a schedule, but overcrowding it with tasks reduces your ability to be very productive. If you wish to overcome procrastination, you need to understand its different facades. 

Procrastination comes in subtle forms; it can be the habitual “I’ll do it later,” frequent postponement with “Tomorrow will be the best day,” or the subconscious discouragement that whispers, “This task is too much for me.” Or the intentional use of social media or any other activity to delay tasks. 

For some, it may be waiting till deadlines to do a task or the struggle to begin even when they are aware of its necessity. People would always say, “Find a problem and remove it from its root.” You need to be honest with yourself and ask, “What makes me procrastinate?” “Am I truly not ready, or am I scared to start?” Your ability to recognise the problem you have is your free ticket to overcoming procrastination.

A productive morning routine.

A routine as a whole does something different to your lifestyle and to the rate of your productivity. It helps you manage your daily activities. But a productive morning routine sets the stage for a great day. Your mornings play a huge part in determining if your day will be good or bad. If you start your day with chaos, it affects your whole day. 

Even if you have a list of activities for the day and the first thing you do when you wake up is to scroll through your phone, you’ll either miss out on some routine, or you’re not going to do any of them at all. Simple morning habits like praying, stretching, journaling or daily affirmations, and avoiding screens help you carry out other tasks efficiently. 

If you wake up in the morning and you pray immediately or you stand up to stretch, you won’t want to go back and lie down; you’ll rather want to follow it up with other tasks. If you’re intentional about your mornings, you’re not just beating procrastination; you’re building consistency and resilience.

To increase productivity and reduce procrastination, you should prioritise consistency over complexity. Creating a simple routine is enough. A complex routine can be like this:

Wake up by 5am, pray for an hour, meditate for 30 minutes, journal three pages, do a thorough clean, prepare a smoothie… and an endless list of tasks.

But a simple routine is more realistic;

Wake up by 6am, pray for 30 minutes, stretch for 5 minutes, drink water, and write your top three goals for the day.

And that’s it.

Guess which one would be easier to repeat every day? The second one, of course. It’s not about having a lot to do; it’s about starting out small and keeping steady.

Reduce the Number of Tasks

Sometimes you don’t feel lazy because you chose to; it’s because you’re overwhelmed. When you remember you have a pile of tasks to complete, your brain goes into total disorientation. You’re anxious and thinking about how and when you would complete these tasks. 

You find yourself saying things like “24 hours is too small for everything I plan to do today,” and at the end of the day, you end up doing just one or nothing out of the loads of tasks you’ve assigned yourself. All that stress is unnecessary for your brain. Fewer tasks equal less stress, so why not do things the easy way and choose only the most important task? 

There are frameworks that help you prioritise tasks and maintain focus. Tools like, 

The ABCDE Method is used to rank tasks by their importance.

The MoSCoW Method helps you prioritise tasks in your daily plans.

The MITs (Most Important Tasks), which help you focus on 2-3 high-priority tasks and avoid being overwhelmed.

The Pareto Principle (80/20 rule) helps you focus on 20% of tasks that produce 80% of results.

Reducing the number of tasks and prioritising important tasks helps you kill chaos and maintain clarity.

Set Deadlines

The deadline you give yourself has a special way of forcing you into action. Setting deadlines isn’t about the ones given to you by your clients or others; it’s the one you give yourself. If you need to submit a project in four days, set a deadline for the task two days before the actual deadline. 

If you have exams in two weeks time, set a deadline and endeavour to cover all topics a week before. Doing things earlier gives you a sense of accomplishment and reduces pressure or anxiety. You know what kills our zeal and productivity? Thinking that we have enough time. The only time you have enough time is when you complete your task ahead of the deadline. 

I know it’s very hard to maintain your own deadline, but here are ways to do it.

• Break down big tasks and set deadlines for each task. If your self-imposed deadline is in five days, divide tasks for each day before that day. Research on the first day, draft on the second day, edit on the third, and finalise everything on the fourth. That way you avoid feeling overwhelmed by tasks while meeting your deadlines.

• While breaking down goals is important, it’s also necessary to use a technique to maintain balance and avoid burnout. Techniques such as timeboxing. This means setting a specific time to carry out certain tasks. Let’s say you need to do research on a project. All you need to do is schedule the research within a certain timeframe, maybe from 2pm to 4pm; once it’s 2pm, every other task needs to be abandoned for that particular research, and once it’s 4pm, you stop, even if the task isn’t completed. This creates a sense of urgency and helps you complete work while meeting deadlines.

Keep Yourself Accountable

Accountability works hand in hand with deadlines. Share your schedule and plans with a trusted friend and ask them to help you keep track of your progress. You need a friend that can keep you on your feet and make sure that every deadline is met. 

You can also use self-tracking tools like habit apps, sticky notes, or even journaling to keep track of your daily goals. Cultivate the habit of reflecting weekly; ask yourself what worked, what didn’t, and what needs to be improved on or changed. Keeping yourself accountable reinforces your identity and improves your confidence in your ability to handle tasks.

Reward yourself after every task.

For every goal or deadline you achieve, always reward yourself. If you treat yourself to a meal after a deadline, trust me, you’ll be excited to meet the next one. Every small win deserves a corresponding reward, no matter how little. 

The brain has a way of associating efforts with reward. It loves pleasure more than pressure, so give it something to look forward to. Also, use a checklist and check off each task on your list; this helps you release dopamine. Accomplishing tasks is not a punishment that needs to be suffered; rather, it’s something you get to do.

Procrastination might seem like an unbeatable force, but you just need to remember one thing, “For every time you choose to start, it becomes powerless.”