The 8-Step Guide On
How To Stop Procrastinating
Procrastination is a very common problem.
The good news is… you can beat your procrastination when
you apply the simple eight-step process below.
STEP 1: Catch Yourself In The Act Of Procrastinating
Catch yourself in the act of pursuing something other than the goal you have stated. Procrastination is the result of other processes at work. Therefore your procrastination habit will have clues, contexts and times when you always procrastinate and when you never procrastinate.
Think of something you frequently procrastinate but wish you didn’t.
Ask yourself:
- How am I doing this procrastination?
- What’s going on in my environment just before I procrastinate?
- What’s going on in my mind, body and emotions when I tend to procrastinate the most often?
- What events or situations seems to be present when I procrastinate?
- How can I set a ‘flag’ that lets me know when I’m about to procrastinate or entering the ‘danger zone’ when I know I’m likely to procrastinate?
Write down your answers to the questions above.
STEP 2: Identify The Intention Behind Your Procrastination
All behaviour is purposive or adaptive in a given context. Therefore when you procrastinate you do so for at least one of two broad reasons:
- To gain pleasure
- To avoid some form of perceived pain
Think about what the thing you procrastinate about from Step 1.
Ask yourself:
What end is this behavior seeking?
What reward do I get or pain do I get to avoid by procrastinating?
Detail your answers on paper. The better the understanding of what ends the behavior of procrastinating is serving in a given context, the more options you have for disrupting it.
STEP 3: Map Out Which Procrastination Tactics You Use The Most And Which Rewards You Receive From Them
Everyone has some “tried and tested” tactics they use to put off what they don’t want to do.
Map out your best/most used ones below and the reward you get.
Here's an example below:
What I Say I Want | What I Actually Do Instead | Tactic(s) Used | Reward I Enjoy & Perceived Pain I Avoid |
|---|---|---|---|
Exercise 3 times a week | Watch T.V. for 6 hours every night | Turn on Netflix to watch my favorite show and lie to myself when I say, "I'll work later". Then time passes buy and suddenly it's "too late to go". | Get the emotional pleasure of watching my favorite show and avoid the perceived pain of working out. |
STEP 4: Map Out What Perceived Pain You Avoid By Procrastinating
Capture what perceived pain points you avoid by putting off the desired action you say you want.
What I Say I Want | What I Actually Do Instead | Tactic(s) Used | Perceived Pain I Avoid |
|---|---|---|---|
Exercise 3 times a week | Watch T.V. for 6 hours every night | Turn on Netflix to watch my favorite show. | The perceived pain of working out, of going out in the "cold & wet". |
STEP 5: Get Clear On What You Really Want Instead...
Clarity has power.
When you are clear on what you truly want, your brain can begin to sort and filter for more of that. Without clarity about what you want instead of the procrastinating behavior, your brain will continue to cruise on auto-pilot and repeat more of the procrastination habit you don’t want!
What I really want to do instead of (procrastination pattern) is…
E.g. Walk 1k, three times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 8AM so that I can enjoy a greater sense of being healthy and fit and drop 6lbs to fit in to my jeans!
Define what you want in sensory-based words that a camera could see you do. Then write it down in as a simple action plan. The more compelling and vivid your description the better.
Make sure you describe it in sufficient detail that your brain can go “I’ve got it. When this event occurs (e.g. it’s Monday 8AM), it’s time for this programme (Walk) to run.”
The brain is event-driven, so the more you can clearly mark out the what, where, when etc. in sensory rich terms the easier it will be for your brain to ‘trigger’ and start doing the new behavior that you want.
And once you have done the new pattern a number of times, the easier it becomes for you to repeat the new pattern because your nervous-system has literally received new instructions to start building a new thought-feeling-action loop that eliminates the old procrastination pattern that used operate.
STEP 6: Define What You Are Willing To Trade
You have defined what you want instead, it is now time to decide what are you willing to trade to get it?
For example above, if the person wants to exercise 3 mornings a week, are they willing to cut back the amount of time they spend watching TV by two hours so they go to bed by 10:30pm?
There are always trade-offs that need to be made.
What they are will be different for different people. It is up to you to figure out what you are willing to trade to achieve the new behavior?
It helps to ask:
What resources do I need to invoke to create the desired behaviour?
What CONDITIONS can I create in my life that will make the NEW way of acting (practically) inevitable?
This shifts your thinking to a higher order and creates higher order cause which compels the lower order result to occur. For example, if the person who wants to exercise 3 mornings a week enrolled a buddy to workout with her, she is far more likely to show up on time and without fail. If she entered a 5K walkathon and told her friends and family, again most people are far more likely to exercise when the know there is a meaningful goal they are committed on.
Combine the three conditions (enroll a friend, sign up for a 5K walkathon and make a public commitment by telling family and friends) and the person is far more likely to follow through and exercise 3 times a week.
There are many ways to get your body-mind to habituate to a new behavior. Something we cover in much more detail inside Habit Hacking.
STEP 7: Create Compelling Reason To Start Today
Think about the desired change you want to create.
Ask yourself:
What will make it worthwhile?
What kind of future do I want to create right now?
How will acting in this new way benefit my life?
Take some time to think through all the different areas of your life that will benefit when you start to act in the new way you want.
How will you life be better when you stop procrastinating about [fill in the blank] and start acting in [new desired way]?
What kinds of problems or issues won’t be present anymore when your procrastination is firmly in your past?
The more connections you create and the more visceral and impactful on your nervous system you make it, the quicker your brain and body will start to do the new behavior.
STEP 7: Intentionally Practice Doing The New Response
Your body learns by doing.
So practice doing the new behaviour at every opportunity you can.
Use the following framework to help keep things simple:
What I Want
What I Need To Do Different
My Game Plan (Contexts/Events & My Desired Responses)
My Why (What will make it worthwhile)
To learn more about how to change your habits, be sure to check out Habit Hacking, our complete 30 day program designed to help you break bad habits and form good ones.
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You can download this 8-Step Guide To Stop Procrastinating for offline referencing.
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