How to Not Procrastination Procrast-I-Nation

Here are nine strategies-

1.Calculate probabilities in modern terms

When determining whether to complete a task / procrastinate, your brain runs a cost-benefit analysis that incorporates an estimate of the probability that you won’t ever need to complete the task. Where there was a more significant probability that we wouldn’t need to complete the task, and if you overestimate the probability that you won’t need to complete the task, you won’t be energized to complete it until the last minute.
So, make a more accurate estimate of the probability that you won’t need to complete the task based on modern times and modern individual expectations. Be conservative and take into account that things often take longer than expected.
Here are four action steps for re-calculating the probability of your obligation:

• Estimate the probability that you’re not going to be obligated to do whatever it is you need to do. Take into account your brain’s tendency to perceive the probability as being lower than it actually is.
• Differentiate between what you’re going to have to do and what you might not have to do
• If there’s a high probability that you’re going to need to complete the task, complete that task sooner rather than later.
• If there’s a low probability that you’ll need to complete a given task, or if there’s a chance the probability will change based on upcoming events, feel free to procrastinate.

2. Develop a better plan

If your ego believes you may fail at your goal, it will try to protect you to avoid losing status with yourself or your peers. This effort manifests itself as a lack of motivation, and, therefore, procrastination. In some cases, you may need to adjust your goal, such as starting a business so you can quit your job. In other cases, you just need a better plan. The importance of having a viable strategy:

“The error perspective on procrastination, by contrast, says we delay because our frontal lobe doesn’t see a convincing plan behind our aspiration. The solution, therefore, is not to muster the courage to blindly charge ahead, but to instead accept what our brain is telling us: our plans need more hard work invested before they’re ready.”

Here are six ways you can upgrade your plan to start a business and quit your job:

• Study entrepreneurship to learn best practices for product development, marketing, etc.
• Run some low-risk experiments. This will give you some evidence about which of your ideas are good and which are bad, without putting your bank account at risk.
• Find mentors who can share what they’ve learned from their own experiences.
• Think critically about your strategy and develop alternatives.
• Save more money before investing too heavily in your business or quitting your job.
• Break a big goal into a series of smaller goals that won’t scare your ego.

3. Bring future consequences and benefits into the present

Our brains prefer not think, "long-term." We prefer immediate rewards. Bringing the future consequences of procrastinating and the future benefits of beating procrastinating into the present can counter that. The future consequences need to become present consequences and the future benefits need to become present benefits.
For example, if in a year, you still haven’t started blogging, the consequence is that you won’t be any closer to your goals. You won’t see an immediate benefit from blogging, but if you do start, you can grow a large reader base within a year if you do it right.
Furthermore, according to Thinking of lofty goals is more likely to trigger the ego into protecting itself. If you start and fail, your ego will be crushed. If you don’t start at all, your ego can still believe that you’re capable of succeeding.
Here are six ways to counteract your brain’s tendency to miscalculate long-term costs and benefits:

• Set deadlines.
• Break big projects into small pieces. Small pieces are easier to start and provide more immediate rewards.
• Reward yourself for small wins. A candy bar every time you finish a blog post, or something equivalent.
• Recognize smaller benefits: every article, every reader counts.
• Recognize smaller consequences: missed revenue or missed learning.
• Remind yourself of the benefits of abstract concepts. A college degree is not just a piece of paper, it’s a ticket to higher status.

4. Make it easier to start and harder to procrastinate

Humans seek pleasure and avoid pain. We seek the path of least resistance to accomplish these ends. “The Motivational Triad.” We want the most possible for the least possible because there’s a limited amount of time in the day and we have a limited amount of energy to spend.
This knowledge yields four strategies for beating procrastination and getting work done:

• Increase the benefits of doing the work
• Reduce the costs of doing the work
• Increase the costs of procrastinating
• Reduce the benefits of procrastinating

Here are some ways to execute on those strategies:

• Do work that you generally enjoy so that the costs of doing it are minimal.
• Minimize dependence on willpower. Make it easier to complete desired actions. Reduce the energy that’s required to start working.
• Focus on activities that will yield great results and are therefore worth the energy expenditure.
• Give yourself small but tangible rewards for doing work.
• Remind yourself that the short-term benefits of procrastinating are outweighed by the costs of procrastinating.
• Remind yourself of the benefit of simply pushing yourself to do work that will help you over the long-run.
• Affirm confidence in your ability to succeed (that the energy expenditure will pay off).
• Start small. Identify a tiny piece of a big project to get started on for a lower energy expenditure. Build on the momentum.

5. Work less

Overworking can have many negative consequences. In the context of procrastination, allocating too much of your time to work throws your life out of balance with your values. You won’t have as much time for your friends or interests outside of work which are likely more important to you. How overworking can lead to resentment and procrastination:  

“If you want to cure deep procrastination you have to remove the source of resentment. And this means doing less; much less. …The light schedule takes away their fatigue, and a true interest in their work blossoms again.”

Counterintuitively, working less can help your productivity over the long-term. But it’s surprisingly hard to work less. It’s hard, in part, because we haven’t evolved to know exactly how much we need to work or to think. We just want to survive and reproduce, and being anxious about work is more likely to help us achieve those ends.
Here are four ways to start the simple but hard process of working less:

• Take inventory of your values and priorities in life. Where does work fall on the list?
• Consider whether there are anxieties or problems in your life that you are working to run away from.
• Delegate work that you don’t need to do yourself.
• Stop doing work that isn’t worth your time.  

6. Lower your expectations for being comfortable

Costs and benefits are partially subjective. A 9 - 5 job would probably feel like hell to someone who recently failed at starting a business. However, to someone in jail, working a 9-5 job would probably be a dream come true. It all comes down to expectations.
To expect that life will always be comfortable and easy is wishful thinking. If you expect life to always be comfortable and easy, you will inevitably be disappointed. If you expect life to be hard, you have the opportunity to be pleasantly surprised.
We didn’t evolve to always be happy and comfortable. A little anxiety and hard work is a natural part of life.
Working is hard. Life is full of hard stuff. Setting expectations accordingly makes pushing through it anyways a lot less painful — potentially even enjoyable.

7. Find meaning in the work

We used to get status from hunting and gathering. Now we get status from graduating from college. It’s far more challenging for our brains to understand the importance of the latter than it is the former.
To counter your brain’s challenges comprehending abstract ideas and to stay motivated to do work that you’re not intrinsically motivated to do, think deeply about the real meaning of the work. Think about the long-term career, financial, or altruistic goal that you’re trying to achieve.
You’re not just chopping wood, you’re chopping wood so that you can provide for your family. You’re not just bookkeeping, you’re saving up money so you can start a business or donate to charity. You’re not just starting a business to make money, you’re doing it to help your customers or solve an important problem in the world.
In addition to the big picture rewards, remind yourself of some of the smaller rewards, such as learning from experience and growing stronger from exercising willpower. Whatever it is you’re trying to get yourself to do, there must be some small aspect that has meaning. When in doubt, be grateful.

8. Meditate

Meditation helps you become aware of your thoughts. Becoming aware of your thoughts is an essential step to ignoring the thoughts that aren’t useful.
You don’t have to go on a big fancy retreat in order to mediate. You can start with just 5-10 minutes per day. You can also make a habit of being mindful throughout your day. Simply complete the steps below when you find yourself procrastinating:

• Focus your attention on your breath.
• Be aware of the thoughts that are flowing in your head that lead you to procrastination.

Don’t try to make the thoughts go away. Don’t feel guilty for having them. Just acknowledge that they are present in your mind. Say “hello” to the thoughts. Then, choose the best course of action. Do the work.

9. Live in line with your values

Doing something that is not in line with, or even opposite to, your values can be emotionally challenging, which leads to procrastination. In this case, your desire to procrastinate may be a good sign that you shouldn’t do it and instead should find something to do that’s in line with your values.
Here are a few ways to discover your values:

• Experiment with different lines of work.
• Meditate and be mindful of your reaction to your actions.
• Write down a list of characteristics of your ideal life.
• Write down a list of behavioral traits that you aspire to.

Your values will probably change over time as you learn and grow. I cared a lot more about novelty and excitement in my twenties than I do in my thirties. Consider your values on an ongoing basis. Never be afraid to reassess.
Living in line with your values will keep you happy, motivated, and productive.

Conclusion

Stop waiting until the last minute to do what you need to do. Procrastination adds stress and leads to lower-quality work.
Start doing the things that you know you need to do in order to achieve your long-term goals. You’ll be glad you did years from now.
But remember, sometimes procrastinating is a rational strategy. Sometimes, it’s best to do more than just wait. When you’re not living in line with your values or you’re taking on too much risk on a project that’s likely to fail, it’s best not to do it at all.
Be aware of how our brains and how that can lead to thinking that’s not appropriate for our modern environment. Think critically about whether you should procrastinate, do what you need to do, or develop a new plan. Motivation is not a viable alternative to living within your values or doing something that has a reasonable chance of succeeding. Overcoming procrastination is not helpful if what you’re procrastinating is going to do more harm than good.
When you’re living your values and doing something that’s actually beneficial to you, make harder to procrastinate and easier to start and finish. Find meaning in the work, even the mundane, and take pride in exercising willpower and moving through your desire to procrastinate.