One interesting idea he swears by for curbing procrastination and boosting willpower is called ‘temptation bundling.’
The basic idea is to do something that you love (or at least quite enjoy), while at the same time doing something that you tend to procrastinate on.
Some examples of temptation bundling he suggests include:
- Only listen to audiobooks or podcasts you love while exercising
- Only get a pedicure while processing overdue work emails
- Only binge watch the latest Netflix series while doing household chores
Whatever you choose, the basic format is:
Only do (thing you love) while doing (thing you procrastinate on).
Like to know more about ‘Temptation Bundling’? Have a read of this article, which is an excerpt from ‘Atomic Habits’.
Do one thing
Mel Robbins, who we mentioned earlier, is an author and motivational speaker who is ‘teaching people how to improve their lives one decision at a time’. She suggests the following idea if you find yourself stuck in a procrastination rut at work or during study.
First up, acknowledge the stress
When you catch yourself procrastinating, stop and acknowledge that there is something (or a number of things) that you are stressed about. It doesn’t have to go deeper than purely acknowledging the fact you’re stressed about it.
Count back from 5 to 1
Once you’ve acknowledged the stress, count back: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Mel believes that counting back from 5 to 1 will interrupt the stress habit that is procrastinating.
Then do one thing
Right after counting back from five, choose one thing and work on it for only five minutes. The idea is that you are breaking the habit of avoidance by acknowledging the stress and shifting the focus to work, but only for the super short time of five minutes.
Research suggests that by stopping procrastination in its tracks, admitting to the stress and then working on one thing for just for five minutes, that at least 80% of people will be encouraged to keep going with the activity (as opposed to retreating back into the stress/procrastination cycle).
You can check out more tips and ideas (or as she calls them ‘Pep Talks for Life’) from Mel Robbins on YouTube.
30 day procrastination diet
I don’t know about you, but as soon as I see or hear the word ‘diet’ I am about as far from motivated or excited as I can get.
But this one doesn’t involve ditching my favourite treats (unless, of course, that is something I have been procrastinating about, and well then, it might be included in this following idea after all. Dammit).
Canadian born writer, Robin Sharma, is best known for penning the book series, ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’. He writes and speaks about anything and everything to do with stress management and spirituality.
One of his many tactics to stop fanning the flames of procrastination is the idea of a 30 day procrastination diet. Sharma says that by sticking to the plan for a full 30 days, we will be retraining our subconscious mind, which apparently runs 95% of our life.
He suggests we get started sooner rather than later and just get going (as in, not procrastinate about it…)