What to do to NOT procrastinate?

I’m sure there is. I’ll get back to you on that, though.

I’m a huge procrastinator.
One thing I’ve found that helps (aside from realizing if I don’t do it now I will fail a class or have friends walk into a disaster of an apartment) is to set a timer for 10 or 15 minutes. I make myself do whatever activity I’m putting off for that amount of time. It’s doable because there’s a set time limit with no expectation of getting it all done. By the time the timer beeps I’m often so into the activity that I want to keep going.

@Likeradar Dang i never thought of that! It might actually work! excellent. brilliant! i cant beleive im am so awed by that, not saying im unappreciative but wow! i just had my mind blown away

@invic I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not… : /

This is my response to another similar question a bit back. It might not work for you, but it helped me procrastinate less.

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Buy a notebook. Use each page as a todo list for the day. Write down your major task for the day; which should be one concise thing. Nothing broad. One specific, achievable task. Then jot down a couple other minor tasks that you can slot in around that or if you finish your major task before the end of the day.

Reserve a space at the bottom of the page to write down whether or not you completed your major task, and how it went.

Cross through any minor tasks that you complete. If you didn’t complete a minor task, cross it through and then rewrite it on the next day. Always rewrite your todos from day to day; it means you think about them and it doesn’t just become a stupid list.

If you don’t complete the major task, think of something pleasant you like to do in the evenings when you get home from work, and ban yourself from doing it. It might be watching any TV, having a couple beers, or whatever. It sounds silly, and you don’t need to tell anyone you’re punishing yourself, but it genuinely helps provided you can stick to it.

I run a small three-man software development company. It’s super-easy for me to procrastinate because I have nobody to answer to and work from anywhere; usually not anywhere office-like. Following this plan is pretty much the only way I can keep up with everything; I used to procrastinate like crazy, especially during college, and it eventually carried over to my working style.

Coming up with this system helped quite a bit. If it doesn’t quite work for you, tweak it. Writing things down is better than using anything software-based I think; which is probably ironic considering what I do.

Anyway, good luck.

PS: If you do decide to give my method a shot, seriously, don’t make your “major task” anything too major. Make it something manageable. It should still be a bit of a milestone in whatever you need to get done, but nothing big. You’ll find eventually that simply by encouraging yourself to do tasks, you’ll use your leftover time to start doing other productive things and you’ll get a lot more done simply in general.

If it’s specifically about collecting your poetry from scraps of paper and various journals in order to put them online, ultimately publishing them for pleasure and (maybe) profit; one poem a day is the way to go about it. In one year, you’ll have a 365 page book, ready for editing.

This can be taken both literally and metaphorically.

Split up those things you procrastinate on, into two categories: those things that cause you to spend more time overall if you wait… and those things in which waiting will not matter, or maybe even help.

An example of a thing that will cause you to spend more time overall, if you procrastinate… is dishes. They wash 4 times faster if you do them right away, as opposed to washing them later when the food is hard and old. So you will spend so much less energy overall, many hours by the end of the year, just by washing dishes on time and reminding yourself of this undeniable fact, so you can have more lazy time overall.

An example of something that will not hurt to procrastinate on is… a homework or project. By waiting, you tend to rush and do a miraculous job in a short time, if you wait till close to the due date, saving much time.

By extending this logic to all of life’s activities, you will be able to still procrastinate on half the things in life, and save time too.

But if you’re tired, it’s hard to want to do what’s best for yourself. But if you’re not tired, the only thing stopping you would be some sort of denial or something. So just get in practice of never going into denial over anything.

@Kraigmo, I agree about the “miraculous” papers that come from procastinating. If I spend too much time on a paper, I tend to get burned out on it, so the least amount of time possible is the best for me.

Sometimes a reward works for procrastinators. Sometimes not—it depends on the individual. (It can work if it’s something you really want; I remember when I was younger, I wouldn’t clean my room unless I was going to see a friend (then my room had to be clean). The reward (or possible lack of one) helped me complete my task.)

I also like to steal one of Neil Gaiman’s ideas, which he in turn stole from someone else (this is for if you have something that needs writing): sit down at your computer or notebook or whatever. Now, you can write, or you can do nothing. You’re not allowed to do anything else. Don’t check your email, don’t twitter, don’t check Fluther (oh no!), nothing (calm music is okay). If you get bored enough, you’ll start writing. :D

Wait awhile and the urge to do things will go away on its own.

Well, I have an answer, I just don’t feel like typing it right now. I’ll get to it in a bit. Hmm maybe I’ll do it tomorrow. I don’t know I’ll get to it next week

response to original post: say you do not want to do Thing A and really do not want to do Thing B. you can at least get Thing A done as an excuse not to do Thing B. also good to invite someone over at a particular time. as they just hang around in your vicinity that can give you the motivation to get started.

I procrastinate endlessly myself. procrastinating about at least three times at this very moment.

Is there something wrong with procrastination? Is there something wrong with laziness?

I think laziness is the mother of all invention. Procrastination is the mother of all efficient work.

Let’s face it—humans hardly ever do anything without deadlines. Why do negotiations always go down to the last minute, and then past it?

I think the problem is that people think they should be being productive all the time. It’s an American myth. It’s not shared by all the people around the world. If you want my advice…. I’d change my mind about what procrastination is. I’d call it enjoying life, and then there’s no problem whatsoever!

@daloon: I have mentioned at least once before on Fluther that americans (in particular) work themselves for too many hours. it causes a great deal of unhappiness. if more americans realized this then they would embrace psychiatric labels for themselves or dope themselves up on sleeping pills and psychiatric drugs.

regardless, procrastination presents a major setback for me and for others. in does for me. if you want to start a discussion on the hypertrophied american work ethic and the pleasures of doing nothing, please do. I don’ think that belongs on this particular thread.

to put another way, some people eat too much. others don’t have enough to eat. both problems really do exist.

Shoot. I wouldn’t worry about it til tomorrow.

for me, it would be ‘turn off the computer’. but i don’t know if that’s your problem. haha.

@Likeradar Yes, I like that idea (am writing it down). I even have an extra timer. Your idea is so doable and practical. Thanks.

Hmm, good question. ...Let me think about it for a bit.