The blog

Do you tend to pro­cras­ti­nate the type of tasks you know you ​“should” do now or per­haps even should have done a while ago? I know, some­times it can be seem­ing­ly impos­si­ble to get start­ed with cer­tain tasks.

We feel reluc­tant and avoid the task as much and for as long as we can. But, oppo­site to what we might think, this does not make us feel very good. At the back of our mind we are think­ing mean thoughts about our­selves and our inabil­i­ty to get going with what we know we need to get done.

What if we could make use of a trick in these sit­u­a­tions, a method that jump­starts us imme­di­ate­ly with­out giv­ing us much time to hes­i­tate? If we did, we would have few­er dead­lines lag­ging behind and instead have plen­ty of time for that extra fin­ish­ing touch that does so much for the fin­ished prod­uct or task.

Two kinds of starter cables
Allow me to share two of my best ways to get going when one of my tasks has been put off for much too long (or per­haps has not even been started).

1. Sit down to work on what you have pro­cras­ti­nat­ed, but only for a short while, such as ten min­utes. Then allow your­self a short break. Take anoth­er ten min­utes to con­tin­ue work­ing fol­lowed by anoth­er short break. Repeat this alter­na­tion until you real­ly have got­ten start­ed. When you know you only have to put up with work­ing on the task for ten min­utes, the feel­ing of reluc­tance diminishes.


2. Allow your­self to emp­ty your mind as a first step. If you only need to write down all the thoughts regard­ing the task which are spin­ning around in your mind any­way as a first step, the thresh­old to get­ting start­ed again next time will not be as high as it ini­tial­ly was. You do not have to pro­duce some­thing, only get what is already fill­ing your mind to the brim on paper.

To do or not to do… is no longer a problem
If you make use of a clas­sic and well-tried trick to get start­ed imme­di­ate­ly rather than post­pon­ing some­thing you have both the time and oppor­tu­ni­ty to com­plete today, you will have more time at your dis­pos­al to com­plete the tasks. If you are like me, you will also feel much bet­ter since you are not con­stant­ly remind­ed of the tasks you ​“should” do, but are for some rea­son not doing (at least now, but, prob­a­bly, will do lat­er). Your ideas will be real­ized and imple­ment­ed much quick­er and you will get back to those wait­ing for a response from you faster as well.

What is your trick?
What is your best trick to get start­ed when feel­ing slow and unmo­ti­vat­ed? Tell me and oth­ers in a com­ment below!