How do you overcome procrastination?

Hi Derek, happens to me sometimes. When I don't feel like completing a particular task, I work standing up, helps me focusing on my task and I sit down only when I'm done. I know it seems far fetched but it works for me. I also fight procrastination by breaking down my task into small pieces and when I finish one part I reward myself with a small treat 😄 Finally, I think that the best way to fight procrastination is to tackle the task as soon as it pops up! I hope this helps!

I have found that the tasks I put off are often too big. My solution is therefore to cut large tasks into many small ones. I try to roughly estimate the time required for each task. Either 15 minutes, 30 minutes or an hour. If a task is over that, I divide it again into several smaller tasks. I do this with Tweek by @karlplaude1

I break things down into little goals. The smaller the better so it feels like I'm making progress on the overall goal. I also make to-do lists for those things so it's a physical representation of my accomplishments. Sometimes it's as small as, "buy new pens, call dad, etc." I Hope this helps.

I meditate every day and I ... Do lot of stuff I made a video about it on youtube .. 1. Meditaion five min (or more) 2. Yoga 10 min 3. sport. 4. cold shower.... And I am crazy.. Sorry.

Music is the best medicine :)

These are really great 'practical' answers, and most responses have tips that I use to stay organized, but my mind wanders on a regular basis and procrastination is always right behind it. My secret weapon to getting work done is to artificially create a sense of urgency and make myself emotionally invested in getting something done. I like to take a 10 minute shower and let myself give in to temporary relaxation. I'm grateful I can work from home and this is possible. Since I work at the computer nearly all day, having the warm water against my closed eyes feels the same as stretching my legs before a run. Second (and this isn't for everyone) I listen to David Goggins describe what it was like for him to run a 100 mile race in order to qualify for an even tougher race... It's stories of adversity, whether Goggins or another, that help remind me of my own journey to be where I am today. Sitting with those memories in a relaxed environment, with proper music to accentuate the emotion, is a game changer to change your emotional state. The best part for me is that I'm in the shower and literally can't work, and so the urgency of needing to get work done arrives, but there's no panic as tasks return to my mind. If you're like me, then as tasks meet the memories in your journey, suddenly you'll feel as though the hardest thing you'll ever have to do in life- you've already done, and an equalizing perspective will allow you to feel equal to the next tasks ahead. While Goggins isn't always who I choose to listen to, the right music has the same impact; adding -controlled- emotion into my work day is the only solution that's worked for me. I run my own company using our own software, but whichever tools you use to complete your work; procrastination is mainly an issue of your thoughts and your emotions, and so your strategy for procrastination has to influence these areas first, the rest will follow.

I'd love to hear other people's approach to dealing with annoying admin tasks that need to be done, aren't that big & shouldn't take too long. I put 'renew kids passport' into my agenda this morning, but after 3 hours haven't yet started it. Maybe because it's not yet urgent?

Divide and Conquer - break larger tasks into smaller units - thereby eliminating how daunting the task seems.

What I usually do is rewarding myself for any task that I'm struggling to do. Just buying myself a new cloth or the latest video game. Procrastination is just a problem in Benefit/Cost balance, with a reward (that should be certain, you really have to promise yourself that you will get the reward if the task is done) you can change this balance so that the benefits overweight the costs. It can sound childish but it really worked for me 😁

Hi, I just try to fix small goal and daily objectif. Procrastination hit me hard when I've too much work (not necessarily urgent) and can't get over it. So, small goal help me achieve task daily and re-strating a good mood :)

I try to put the task into a reminder list, and look at it from time to time to remind myself the urgency.

Here are a couple of things I do 1) Use a Pomodorro timer to set myself 25 minute chunks where I just have to focus on the problem - it's amazing how much you can do in 25mins without any distractions. 2) Stop giving a fuck. Be okay with less than perfect. The number one blocker is feeling overwhelmed and stuck in perfection paralysis. Just get it done and worry about polishing it up later. Good luck!

From my experience, I procrastinate when I'm either tired or there's a duty/task that I avoid accomplishing. It's important to realize the true reason behind your actions. When I'm tired, I can go to sleep or read some piece of fiction. If I try to avoid a task, I'm laying down on the bed for 15 min and just stare into the ceiling. After doing literally nothing it's easier to get back to action.

I'm a big procrastinator. What works for me is 1. Breaking down the big project into small manageable tasks 2. Pomodoro time (https://pomofocus.io/) 3. Tackling one difficult first and then a few small tasks.

I have a working trick: as @aleksandra_vovchenko you procrastinate when you are tired - this is very true for me, so I give a little shock to my body: just a sudden facewash with cold water or 25 push-ups or get out to the streets for a few minutes. When you lazily procrastinating an activity, your body needs to be awakened. This worked for me wonderfully in the last months.

hey @derek_leiro 👏 congrats on the new app! one of the best way that I battle through procrastination is by committing myself to doing the task 2-3 times (like agile/iteration)! for example, instead of procrastinating and NOT doing the task... i'll commit and do 100% of the task, but only at around 25% level of effort. that gets the first draft out of the way and then i can come back and improve it from there. the other tactic i use is to continue to break down the task into smaller pieces. for example, if i need to research a solution and decide which vendor to go with... i'll break that up into two tasks. first, research. then walk away a bit. when come back a little later, it's much easier decide... our team is launching our product (https://www.producthunt.com/post...) and would love any thoughts or feedback anyone in the community has to share :)

Hi Everyone! I'm New to PH :) First of all, I make sure I get enough sleep! This is Key to being productive, recharged and alert all day. If I don't get 7-8 hours (8 is best), I find that I am less focused and not as enthusiastic about getting tasks done. I tend to turn my phone OFF or put it on MUTE for set periods, otherwise it can be a big distraction. If I start to feel tired or lose a bit of focus, I go and make myself a coffee or cup of tea. That usually helps me to re-focus! For me, ultimately it's all about finding the right balance between the correct amount of sleep, so your mind and body is refreshed the next day, which will ultimately affect your mood and thinking! We are what we think! :)

Hello Derek, That sounds really cool, best of luck! There are two methods I've found helpful (neither is mine but rather a combination of many things I've read and watched on the subject). Firstly, you can have a horrible big task that you don't want to do so much that you end up doing all the other tasks - the idea is for that super-big task to both be very important but not super-urgent. Secondly, and this is more laborious and not straightforward approach, it's really important to cut down tasks to only those one really wants to do - otherwise, brain will never build up motivation to do the task. There's one more thing, which is less of a strategy and more of a small encouragement: there are different ways to track to-dos so I make sure to have one that's satisfying and to change them every now and again. For instance, I went through crossing out, checking the box, colour-coding for physical notes and various ways of marking what still needs to be done on emails.

The best way to overcome proscastination is to become a doer. Follow your words with actions, you might not get it right immediately but it is important to start the journey and continue to iterate until it becomes better. Without consistency and discipline, you will never reach the finish line. Do it now, fail fast, learn from mistakes and move on to the next experiment.

Reading through the other comments and thinking it through-- you've probably already thought about this, but some kind of way to identify the "important, non-urgent" tasks that we NEED to do but also keep putting off-- and then helping users either a) break down those tasks into something more manageable and/or b) set aside time to get them done. Think about the number of people who say "I've been putting off X and stressing about it for months and months and then it really only took me [some small amount of time]"