Conquer Your To-Do List: A Guide to Finishing Tasks

Procrastination is a challenge we have all faced at one point or another. For as long as humans have been around, we have been struggling with delaying, avoiding, and procrastinating on issues that matter to us.

During our more productive moments, when we temporarily figure out how to stop procrastinating, we feel satisfied and accomplished. Today, we're going to talk about how to make those rare moments of productivity more routine.

We constantly postpone dozens, even hundreds of things every day. It feels like everyone is suffering from an endless “chronic procrastination illness.” I hear so many people say, “If only I didn’t have this procrastination problem, I could achieve so much,” and it amazes me how many people struggle with it.

Like many of you, I am familiar with this situation. Especially during my school years, I had become an expert in procrastination. I would leave my exams and assignments until the last minute, addicted to the rush of adrenaline and stress. Somehow, things would work out at the last moment, but the stress took its toll, leading to chronic stomach pain. Unfortunately, I couldn’t overcome this during my school years.

So, how did I manage to tackle it?

One is by creating what’s sometimes referred to as “an environment of inevitability.” Basically what that means is that you create an environment where it’s more difficult not to do something than to do it.

For example, if you want to lose weight, you can go buy Rp 500.000 worth of personal training and schedule classes for the next 10 weeks. Now the pain of wasting Rp 500.000 and not showing up for the classes will outweigh the pain of getting off your ass and going to the gym.

I basically got through college by forcing myself to go to the library every day. I discovered that if I was there, I would inevitably end up studying. If I just went home, I would procastinate all week.

The Two-Minute Rule states “When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.”

You’ll find that nearly any habit can be scaled down into a two-minute version:

• “Read before bed each night” becomes “Read one page.”
• “Do thirty minutes of yoga” becomes “Take out my yoga mat.”
• “Study for class” becomes “Open my notes.”
• “Fold the laundry” becomes “Fold one pair of socks.”
• “Run three miles” becomes “Tie my running shoes.”

Understand it, and you’re one step closer to defeating it. We can control our emotions. We can choose to sit with discomfort. And we can do hard things.

As we stop procrastinating and do the things we need to do, we also get to experience the slower, deeper rewards procrastinators deprive themselves of: satisfaction, fulfilment, a sense of progress. The pleasure of getting something difficult done – and getting better at it.

We all have our own variations on the song of the procrastinator: I don’t want to; I’m not in the mood; I’ll do it better later.

Here are some of mine:

• I’m tired/stressed/foggy-headed today. I’ll do this tomorrow.
• Let me just check my socials/email/the news for a minute, and then I’ll start.
• I’ll just get this admin out of the way first, then I’ll do this hard thing once I’ve cleared the decks.

Know your red flags, notice when you’re about to procrastinate. And decide in advance what you’ll think or do. The if.. then structure works well for this.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! It’s all about breaking a job down into small, manageable chunks. And always knowing what the next step is. It’s daunting to write a book. To declutter the whole house. Or lose 20 pounds.

Goals like this can seem overwhelming. We don’t know where to begin, so we don’t begin at all. They’re not tied to specific actions we can do right now. You can’t write a book in a day. You won’t get rid of years of accumulated clutter overnight. And you certainly won’t lose 20lb in the next 24 hours.

So start with just one step. Something you can do now. Write a paragraph. Clear a shelf. Replace one unhealthy snack with something better.

If you always procrastinate on a specific task, consider other ways of getting the job done. Can you delegate it, or ask for help? Or can you cut it out completely?

Make sure you limit distractions when you commit to focusing on a task that would usually cause you to procrastinate. Turn off your phone, stay away from social media, and make sure you’re setting yourself up to stay on-task rather than deviating to something new.

Remember that you’re not alone, nearly everyone procrastinates to some extent.