How to plan. Execution. Celebrate what you do.

The planning fallacy

Fighting procrastination

Three practices to celebrate your day

The planning fallacy

Link to screenshots: here

Fighting procrastination

Link to Screenshots: here

Three practices to celebrate your day

If you’re a bad procrastinator like myself, likely it’s a quality you vehemently hate about yourself, but also something you can’t let go of. You’ve got homework and assignments and a pile of books in the corner you want to read and hobbies and dreams you never get a chance to work towards. It’s depressing, it feels horrible and unfulfilling, and you’re desperate to break out of it, but you don’t know how to take the first step. 

So here’s my suggestion:

Set this rule for yourself: if you’re not going to be doing homework (or some other unpleasant obligation) you need to be doing something productive. Whether that be cleaning your room, doing the dishes, going for a walk or working on one of your hobbies. 

That way, instead of wasting your afternoon on Youtube and feeling stressed and disappointed in yourself, at least you’ll be doing something pleasant or getting some other sense of accomplishment. 

At the same time, it’s a lot easier to transition from tidying your desk to doing your maths homework than it is from scrolling through Instagram. 

Once you get into this mindset, it’s a lot easier to build self control in this area.

I’m not allowed to watch Youtube, but the thought of starting my English essay fills me with a horrible sense of dread? Okay, then I’m going to reorganise my shelf, then I’m going to get rid of all the rubbish in my room, and then I’m going to vacuum the kitchen. And now that I’m done, hey you know what? That English essay doesn’t feel as impossible to start anymore!

It’s always something that I struggle with because I’m been doing writing “professionally” since 2018 when I started studying creative writing at university. Now, it's 2021 and I'm on the final stretch to completing my Masters degree and it's still affecting me. It will continue to affect me forever. Everyone procrastinates even if they don't realize.

But you’re convinced that it’s a bad thing and you feel guilty about doing it when you should be getting on with whatever it is that you’re doing. You’d be procrastinating even if you were doing a thing that you love and have a passion for. As i’m writing this, I’m occasionally looking up out the window, clicking my fingers and checking my phone.

We have to find time to not focus and to not concentrate because our brains just aren’t as good as you might think and the evidence is there. If you see yourself as being negatively effected by procrastination then it probably is because you possibly have low self-esteem and not enough self-compassion to let yourself off the hook. You have to allow yourself room to be patient with yourself because the worst thing you can be during a creative process is impatient. Really, you just want the results immediately and to skip whatever process it is entirely as opposed to trying to find enjoyment in the development.

Part of development is looking around, clicking your fingers and gratuitously checking your phone. The conclusion is that no-one actually “struggles” with procrastination, you struggle giving yourself the benefit of the doubt. Next time, try being nicer to yourself when you find that you aren’t doing as much as you perhaps could do (if you were superhuman).

Embrace procrastination and be mindful when you work. You might find you’ll enjoy it a bit more.

1) Have multiple tasks of varying difficulty that need to get done in a span of time

2) Pick one and start

3) When you get bored/can’t focus/really want to stop, stop

4) Pick a different task and start it

5) Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you’ve finished

As much as it’s recommended, I’m not the kind of person who can use a schedule for my work. At the same time, as helpful as a to-do list is, I find it pretty daunting. So, a great middle ground to eliminate both issues: 

Write out a to-do list of all the work you need to get done, and then write out an estimate on how long each activity will take you. 

I was freaking out because I had homework from 6 different classes to complete today... but once I ran the numbers, it was really only about 1 1/2 hours of work, which feels a lot more doable. 

I’ve been trying out this method recently, in which I’m trying to approach my To Do lists with a more positive mindset. It seems to be working nicely so far, so I figured I’d share! 

If you write out a daily To Do list, it probably looks something like this:

Clean room

Organise desk

Finish Maths homework

Start on History assignment

Vacuum livingroom 

etc

Though to me, I think that looks pretty impersonal. They’re tasks and obligations, and viewing them as such makes it a lot harder to want to start on them. 

So, instead, start phrasing your tasks and chores as “I Want To Do” lists (it sounds a little cheesy but bear with me)

I want to clean my room

I want to organise my desk

I want to finish my Maths homework

I want to start on my History assignment 

I want to vacuum my living room

(And so on)

This way, you can also tap into your motivation towards completing these tasks.

Why do I want to clean my room? Because the clutter makes me unhappy. Why do I want to finish my Maths homework? Because it’ll improve my skills and I’ll do better on my next test. Why do I want to start on my History assignment? Because if I start it now I won’t have to do it later, and I’ll be able to go to bed early the night before it’s due rather than staying up late. 

Everything in your life needs to feel personal, your daily tasks need to resonate with you and feel meaningful, otherwise everything just ends up feeling mundane. 

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