“I’ll Just Do It Tomorrow” How You’re Holding Yourself Back | A Pep Talk

Procrastination. We’ve all fallen victim to it haven’t we?

Whether you need to get on with an essay, some revision or even your own personal projects it can be really difficult to get started. I know your struggle! Whenever I go to sit at my desk to get on with some work – either professionally or personally – suddenly everything else in the room seems so interesting.

Instead of doing research or writing, I suddenly want to clear out that drawer that’s been messy for years or watch twenty of those pointless ‘top ten’ YouTube videos in a row.

I will do literally anything to prevent myself from being productive.

procrastination

noun

“the action of delaying or postponing something.”

I will say now that I am quite lucky – I am fairly self-motivated, naturally so I try to not let myself fall victim to procrastination that often. But I still know how much of a struggle it can be.

In light of this, I wanted to take some time today to give us all a little pep talk about getting shit done.

PLAN AND PREPARE

A good way to prevent procrastination is to plan. No matter what it is you have to do, whether it’s a personal project, some paid work or an assignment, writing yourself a detailed to-do list can be so helpful.

If you have an assignment to do, make sure you have all of your research and sources ready; write a list that details every single thing you need to do – even the smallest tasks like writing the title or waking up at a certain time should be on this list. Once you’ve started ticking off tasks, you’ll feel so motivated to keep going.

I just think it makes things a hell of a lot easier if you’ve got everything ready to go, so you’ve got no excuses to start!

REWARD YOURSELF

Bribery isn’t the best option, I know, but if you’re really struggling to get motivated it can be so helpful. If I have a lot of work to do and I can’t find the motivation to get through it, I like to bribe myself.

For example, I promise myself that if I get this article finished I can spent the rest of the evening eating cookies and reading. Or when I was at school, I bribed myself to get through all my exams by promising myself a little shopping trip once they were done.

It doesn’t even have to be something that costs money. You can bribe yourself by promising an hour long bath, a walk in the park or even making yourself a nice coffee once you’ve gotten everything done.

TURN OF NOTIFICATIONS/WIFI

Our phones are the biggest sources of distraction. If you’re already struggling to get started on whatever you need to do, you’re looking for something to distract you. And we have these brilliant devices called smart phones that’ll do just that!

When you really do have to get on with something – when that deadline is approaching – turn off all notifications on your phone so you can’t be distracted. If you really need to, turn off the WiFi whenever you can so you’re not tempted to fall into a YouTube black hole (I’m so guilty of this one!)

GET GOING

No matter what advice I or anyone else can give you, the only thing that is going to make the difference is you doing the work.

I know it’s such an annoyingly simple thing to say, but you truly do have the control over yourself. You can force yourself to get through some work and I know that you’ll do it. It may take time, but don’t worry it’ll be worth it in the end.

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Just a little post for today. I really didn’t want to miss my own deadline for this site, but I have been very busy recently. Hopefully I’ll get more settled into a routine once again soon.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given with regards to work?

Speak soon,

Rachael.