7 Creative and Effective Ways to Stop Procrastinating

​Likely, your challenge isn’t that you don’t know what to do. Instead, it is the fact that you can’t reliably get yourself to do what you know you should do.
 
If you could get yourself to do the hard things, you could complete every course, finish every project, stick to your exercise plan, keep your desk clean, save money, and always pay your bills on time. You’d never procrastinate.
 
We are all tragically limited by the things we can’t get ourselves to do. We know plenty of stuff, but we have poor self-management skills.
 
It’s hard to think of a skill that could impact your life more.
 
Use these strategies to change your life by getting more control over yourself: 

1. Consider what you have to gain by taking the undesirable action. What are the advantages of getting this task done? What do you have to gain? Make a long list of benefits and use logic to your advantage.
   
   
2. Consider what you have to lose if you don’t. Now, do the opposite. Imagine the worst that can happen if you fail to act. Make a list of everything that could go wrong. What are the disadvantages of putting this task off? Make it painful to procrastinate.
   
   
3. Focus on how great you’ll feel when it’s finished. Visualise completing the task. Focus on how wonderful it feels. Imagine all the benefits you’ll gain. Notice how happy you feel to have this monkey off your back finally.
   
   
   • Now do the opposite. Vividly visualise not doing the task and experience all of the negative consequences. Make yourself feel as horrible as you can. But, don’t worry, it’s in your best interest!
     
     
4. Release the tension. Imagine doing the tasks and notice where you feel the tension in your body. Then, keep thinking about performing the task and relax those uncomfortable areas of your body. When you can think about the task and not experience an adverse reaction, it will be much easier to perform that task.
   
   
5. Start very small. Sometimes, the best way to get yourself to start is to start small. It might be a single phone call, five minutes of work, or cleaning out one closet. Break your task down into bite-sized portions that you can handle with relative ease.
   
   
6. Promise yourself a reward. Bribe yourself. It can be something that you would typically enjoy anyway, such as a movie, an outfit or a new gadget, but commit to hold off until the task is done.
   
   
7. Get a friend to help. Here is an creative way to motivate yourself to do something. First, give a friend an amount of money or item that’s genuinely meaningful to you. It might be $100, your favourite jacket or your stereo system. Now, tell your friend not to give it back to you until you’ve completed the task.
   
   
   • You can turn up the heat on yourself by giving yourself a deadline. Tell your friend they can keep the money or the item if you don’t complete the task on time!

 
If you could get yourself to do everything you knew you should do, your life would be unrecognisable.
 
You already know enough to have a much, much better life! Lack of information is rarely the problem these days. However, we still aren’t any better at managing ourselves.
 
If you can master this one skill, everything is within your grasp. All you really need to do is learn how to get yourself to do the hard things. If you can do that, life is easy!