Hi everyone what is your tips to fight procrastination ? Because I’m so used to staying on my phone that it makes me want to do nothing
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You might like the book Digital Minimalism. I’d also recommend the book Atomic Habits. There are some useful techniques mentioned in there.
Some things that got me to stop checking my phone were:
- turn off almost all of the notifications
- uninstall all but the most essential apps (when it doubt, delete it, especially if it’s social media)
- log out of all websites on the phone (I stay logged in to this one though.
) - use Firefox for Android, because it won’t automatically log you in to sites like Google Chrome will. It’s also less invasive than Chrome, and you can install a good ad-blocker in mobile Firefox.
- make the phone as boring and difficult to use as possible — my phone is so difficult to use that it feels like a chore to pick it up, and that frees up my time to do more useful things.
The end result was that there isn’t much to do on my phone, so it doesn’t fill my attention at all.
Two other techniques I’ve been using lately:
If something comes into my mind that I’m supposed to do, I’ll rapidly count down 54321 and then just do it before my mind can come up with an excuse on why I shouldn’t do it right away. I started doing that recently, and it’s working well.
The other method is a 5-minute rule. Pick something on your to-do list and tell yourself that you’re only going to do it for 5 minutes. Once you start doing it, it will often be easier to keep going with it than to stop. Also, even 5 minutes of doing something can be beneficial. Exercise is one example — 5 minutes of push-ups per day for a non-active person should produce good results.
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Pomodoro Technique (Good for Studies)
5 Second Rule (pointed to me by Josh Cohen)(Good for short tasks)
I am also a very chronic procrastinator… but being your fellow-procrastination-victim I would advice you to find a “why” to start a task… a strong enough reason to complete that task will keep you motivated through it
Good Luck
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Yeah It’s the best one… I literally forgot about it… The hardest thing about procrastination is starting the task… this technique makes it easier
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My personal solution:
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Figure out the tiniest possible action you can do in order to work on your goal. Let’s say for example that you want to read a book. A good action would be to read one word.
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Do it. Open the book and read just one single word. You can easily achieve this as it requires minimal effort and willpower.
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Pat yourself on the back mentally, then repeat with the next word (or action).
This way you can work through an entire book. All you need is just enough willpower to read a single word.
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Separate places where you procrastinate/rest and work. If I know that it will be hard for me to focus this day I use timer or forest app.
If it is possible try to remind reasons why task needs to be done, consequences and evoke emotions you will have when work will be over with or without procrastination.
Physical activity and memorable fun during breaks help.
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My potential solution-
Give your teacher a time and give him the freedom to come anywhere between 1 hour late.
At first your teacher may come early but when he will see you not doing your homework he will scold you and will start coming late and after a few days if previously you started doing your homework half an hour before your teacher came then you will start doing your homework 1.5hour before he comes and you will have triple the time to complete your homework which will be from 30 minutes to one and a half hour if he will come an hour late which mist likely he will come and this will work if your teacher will follow up or follow through strictly in the first few days.
And this also works for coming late if your school starts at 8:30 and you are told to come by 8:15 and if after that for a few days you do not come by 8:15 and some action is taken against you then after a few days you wills tart coming around 8:15 for about 85% of the time and this hack works 85% of the time both for procastinating homework and coming late and maybe this hak can be adapted for other things also,
The steps which I think are used in this hacks are-
- Know the time before you have to do some work(Come to school, Start studying).
- Reduce that time significantly.
- Have an accouantablity partner(who can know or not know that she is your accouantablity buddy).
- Have that partner give you displeasure if you are unable to finish that work before that certain time for a few days.
- After you start doing your work set that time back to normal
Result for me-Even if you again start doing your work at a time that is more than your buffer time there is only a small chance that you will do that work after your orginal time and even that should not take more than 5 minutes.
P. S-This technique can be modified to suit you very well and better.
Even when I was late 15% of the time 5% of the time I was only late by a few minutes so if you are rarely allowed to be 4 minutes late this technique will work 90% of the time.
My potential solution for mobile
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Set a time limit for using mobile
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Have someone reduce that time limit
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If that time limit will be crossed you can call 6 people whom you know and who are very close to you and if you will follow step 4 obiouosly it is likely that you wil never use mobile for many days or for a more than a very very very long time.
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Set that time limit back to normal.
Note-That time limit should not be long(obviously)
Warning-Do not use this method more than one or two times.
Sorry for my language but I love the members of the Art of Memory Forum and I had to be rude for your good adn it is a part of the reason why I was rude in this forum post and also because I am facing the same issues or nearly the same issues,
And,
Have a Great Day.
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Do you know a method to see boring activities or something you don’t want to do in a fun way or like a video game?
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Atomic Atoms is a very practical book full of useful tips and tricks, but I think it is a bit shallow. It doesn’t address deeper aspects like meaning, values, or even motivation.
I find it strange because even the author of the book has deeper content in his blog.
In any case I think it is worth reading.
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Caffeine, meditation, getting enough sleep, and moderate exercise can all help with amotivation, akrasia, and impulse control to some extent. The bigger picture solution goes in line with Josh’s strategy of breaking the smartphone. To enjoy or be motivated to accomplish mundane tasks, you need to resensitize your dopamine receptors. By phasing out things like binge consumption of television, social media, gaming, and replacing them with activities like going on walks, reading, practicing. Essentially the more forms of cheap consumption (typically media consumption, but also binge eating) you can remove from your life the better, in terms of maintaining a healthy hedonic and dopaminergic setpoint.
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I like this approach https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52lZmIafep4
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Is it somehow related to my gaming habit.
When I used to gaming, I can’t stop myself and in the end I play game nonstop.
that’s why I uninstalled all games from my phone.
However sometimes I feel like I have to play, that time I download the game again and play nonstop
And after playing nonstop in the end I uninstalled the game again. (however now I am used to it, sometimes game download play 1 day and then uninstalled.)
well, thing is even I don’t know how many times I downloaded the game and uninstalled on that same day after playing nonstop (you can say some insects tell me to download it in my mind, and on that same day my study mind awakes and tell me it’s bad habit lol.
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how I stopped it.
It’s rather simple method, I just thought deeply what I like more than gaming/phone that can be useful someday in my life (well it’s not like I able to quit the habit, I just changed that one with other that is more interesting to me.)
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Check habitica.com IIRC its motto is “Gamify your life”
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There’s no magic pill to be honest, but Mark Forster’s Final version perfected method seemed to address a less talked about but critically important aspect of my procrastination, namely, psychological readiness. Most task management systems focus on the “importance” and “urgency” of tasks, but these can be difficult to start unless I’m convinced that I’m ready to tackle them. Mark’s method handles this by asking a simple question from a list of tasks - “what do I want to do more than task X?” - this feels like a simple but powerful brain hack that helps my resisting brain get on with the tasks at hand.
Here’s the link to the full method with examples:
Something else that’s helped me is, slowing down in general - just being fully aware/present of my unconscious actions and behavioral patterns softens any resistance towards doing what I have to do.
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For me the techniques in his older book “Get everything done and still have time to play” work better, but this is a very YMMV topic.
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Thanks, added the book to my to-read pile after your suggestion.
Just downloaded this book. Thanks!
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other trick I found in the meantime
-Putting your screen in black and white telephone or computer makes it less addictive
-2min rule if you have to go running tell you you have 2 minutes to put on your shoes
-make the task as simple as possible by decomposing it for example you have to read a book you say I read just 1 line and then you just after you say I read 5 you launch you mini challenges always with small challenges never read 100 pages in a day if it is too big/big you will always stop cheating his brain by making him believe that the task and simple and the reward is accessible
-5 second rule 12345 (or vice versa) and go you start
-The 10sec rule: you have to work on your computer for example and count well in your head and as soon as you arrive at the end of time you are already in front of your screen working.
If it stress you too tell you just in 10s I’ll sit before the pc just sit down
-remove all distractions from your phone or computer
-remove all junk food, sugar all that looks like immediate gratification
-when you feel that you really can more limit you feel that your brain is saturated that you have the laziness of all the best is to take a break of 10-30 minutes without touching anything just bored see a walk outside you with yourself.
Often we procrastinate because we have poor mental hygiene.
-If you are distracted by something unproductive waiting 30s before using it you will see that at the end of the 30s you would no longer want it
-rule of 10-30 seconds you say go ahead, man just you ask and you test if you see that it’s boring you stop (even if you know that in real life you have to do it)
-meditating and doing sports that will change you mentally you will be more optimistic and especially have more motivation I strongly advise to do it every day
-talking to oneself about mentally motivating phrases
- Punish yourself if you don’t complete the task first for example, if you don’t allow yourself to eat.
Challenge yourself to become more addicted to the process of your task; it will rekindle your desire to revisit it. It’s like when you play a video game and keep losing at a certain point; you know you want to start over, and you can’t walk away from a defeat. Well, it’s the same thing here.
-when you have to go out to run for example and you do not want to imagine an arrow as in a certain game point and click/rpg with a simple click you see or the character must go you say the same thing except that it is necessary that the place where you want to go be very close to you
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feeling stress and turning it into exitation by telling you motivating things about feeling like “I feel too good to see motivate I feel I can conquer the world” do not take it in a negative but positive way told you that if you feel this is the time to act
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if it really blocks a break with you even without any distractions and ask yourself why I don’t want to do this task and why I’d rather procrastinate than do it? Am I stressed out? angry etc… and change your habits according to the problem you have if you are stressed go to relax, cold shower, sport etc… angry mediter, pray etc…
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone” -Blaise Pascal
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The only really effective one for me is accountability to someone else such as a boss or client and implied financial consequences if I don’t complete the work.
Its nearly impossible for me to avoid procrastinating in my study hobbies like chess and memory as I know they aren’t really important. Even outsiders like coaches I am not really accountable to.
I think in some sense we are all doing this importance calculus. Its not like parents procrastinate feeding their kids or picking them up from daycare often.