Hi everybody, this is Mondays with Mike, a weekly video series where I answer questions from people just like you. Usually they’re just like you.
Dear Mike, I’m a procrastinator, what can I do to stop it?
I’ll tell you later. Next question.
Just kidding! Alright, so you’re a procrastinator and you need to stop procrastinating. Well, I guarantee you that you don’t procrastinate on things that you love to do. Guaranteed. If you like laying by the pool, you don’t procrastinate that. So you probably only procrastinate on the things you don’t like. So, just like your grandma taught you, eat your vegetables first.
The best way to overcome procrastination is to set up a reward that happens after the accomplishment of the activity. So, if you’ve gotta do X, but you love Y, like I love riding Harleys, and I need to finish a chapter in a book, then I just don’t allow myself to go for a ride on my Harley until I’ve finished at least one chapter in the book. That’s the way you do it.
You can set up a punishment for when you procrastinate, but that’s nowhere near as fun, and its painful, and you know… then I get in trouble for that.
So some reward that you get after completing the task. That’s one thing. The second thing you can do is something incremental. If you hate doing X, just do a little bit of it and then put it off. Usually what happens is that momentum gets built after that.
That’s my best advice for that. Hope it’s helpful. Send me your questions, I’d love to hear from you! Take care.
