3 Unconventional Strategies to Overcome Procrastination

Note: This article is from blogger DEAN BOKHARI, who talks about ways to overcome procrastination.

How can we overcome procrastination?

This is one of the most frequently asked questions about productivity, and it's likely to remain that way for the next millennium, or until we all become super-productive robots.

We all have reasons for procrastinating, and these reasons pile up until we consciously decide to stop procrastinating. Some of us can jump off the procrastination train and start working immediately. However, more often than not, we end up working on a task that's non-essential, and we completely lose track of what we were supposed to accomplish that day.

In this article, we'll present to you three highly effective unconventional methods to overcome procrastination, including an especially intriguing approach: positive procrastination.

1. Stop Obsessing over Perfection

I've frequently used the following reason to justify my problem with procrastination: "I must be perfect."

Undoubtedly, this was a clever way to evade acknowledging my fear of failure. We both know that there's never a perfect time or place to do something. So, would you like to know how I overcame this issue?

• I realized that the most significant thing holding me back from accomplishing the things I wanted was my fixation on perfection.
• I came to understand that the reason I labeled myself 'perfectionist' was that I was afraid of what might happen if I failed at something.
• I recognized that I can't shield myself from everything in life, but I can be prepared to face anything.

2. The Power of Positive Procrastination

Once, the humorist and writer Robert Benchley wrote an article for The New Yorker magazine in which he explained how he managed to develop self-discipline for everything below in one sitting:

• Reading a scientific article about tropical fish.
• Building a bookshelf.
• Organizing the books on that shelf.
• Responding to a 20-year-old letter from an old friend.

According to Benchley, all he had to do was write a to-do list for the week and place the mentioned tasks above his most important task, which was writing an article.

Benchley wrote, "The secret of my incredible energy and efficiency in getting work done is simple. Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment.”

Procrastinators tend to avoid doing one task by doing another, rarely sitting still.

3. Lack of Alternatives

The novelist Raymond Chandler devised the concept of "no alternatives" as a defense against procrastination. Unlike the writer Anthony Trollope, who disciplined himself to write 250 words every 15 minutes, Chandler couldn't bind himself to such a strict schedule, so he chose to wait for inspiration to strike.

I find that inspiration doesn't come from waiting. Instead, I've discovered that inspiration strikes when I've developed the habit of consistently working, writing, and recording every day.

Initially, work was quite bad, but the more I did it, the better I became at it. However, this isn't the type of waiting that Raymond Chandler used to do. His method of waiting for inspiration involved dedicating four hours every morning and giving himself the ultimatum: “Write or do nothing at all.”

In his own words, Chandler had this to say about writers struggling with procrastination: “The writer doesn’t have to write, and if he doesn’t feel like it, he shouldn’t try. He can look out of the window, stand on his head or writhe on the floor, but he is not to do any other positive thing, not read, write letters, glance at a magazine, or write checks.

So write, or don't do anything at all. It's the same principle as maintaining discipline in school. If you give students the freedom to do as they please, they will learn something just to avoid feeling bored. There are two very simple rules: the first is you don't have to write, and the second is you can't do anything else. The rest will come naturally.”

This is the concept of "no alternatives," and you can apply it to almost any task to make procrastination a thing of the past.

Your work may not be as simple and clearly defined as Chandler's, but you can certainly benefit from the clarity that comes from dedicating time to focus on your most important task.

To experience this for yourself, identify your top priority for tomorrow and allocate 90 minutes to concentrate on that task. Email, smartphones, and even social media have no place during this time; you can even turn off your internet if needed. This is the perfect time for you to elevate your focus.

In Conclusion

In this article, we discussed three unconventional ways to overcome procrastination, which are:

1. Quitting the obsession with perfection.
2. Harnessing the power of positive procrastination.
3. Adopting the "no alternatives" approach.