How to Unblock Yourself

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What is Procrastination and, it’s close cousin, perfectionism?

Procrastination is a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision.

So what can you do?

How to Unblock Yourself

Below are six ways to unblock yourself and get moving in the right direction that I’ve found helpful:

Overcome your fear of embarrassment, failure, or success. This is a critical step, primarily because fear drives so much of what we do (or don’t do). If we knew we couldn’t fail, what would we do? The single biggest take-away from fear management is this: picture the worst thing imaginable, the thing you’re most scared of, if you were to complete your task. This could be embarrassment, loss of money, or even loss of anonymity if you’re successful. Then picture it happening, develop your own coping strategies, and accept it. Once you realize that it won’t actually be as bad as you think it’d be, you’re free to start.

Allocate “fun time” in advance of starting. One of the reasons so many people can’t get moving is because they think they’re doing something “unfun” in place of something fun. There’s a nagging feeling that instead of studying, writing, or working there’s a dozen things that they’d have more fun doing. It’s partially a present-hedonistic desire – solving for right now instead of the future. Here’s one way to help: give yourself as much time as you need to fulfill those desires on a regular basis. If you’d rather be reading than writing, before you sit to start writing, block off time later in the day when you know you can focus 100% on reading.

Reduce all distractions. All of them. Distractions of any sort give you excuses to stop, and require you to regain your momentum in order to get going again. If you really want to get something done, you’re better off setting yourself up with a distraction-free environment (no kids, no dogs, no Internet) for a length of time long enough to get into a flow state. Two hours of dedicated focus is always better than six twenty-minute blips.

Prep your environment. Get comfortable in your surroundings, creating mini-rituals that put you in the right mindset. This could mean putting on the right music, lighting candles, cleaning off your desk, putting on comfortable clothing, or even just doing some physical warm-up (stretching, yoga, jumping jacks) before getting into it. This tip isn’t a common one, but I find it to be pretty important if you’re going to hit that flow state frequently.

Set a deadline with someone else. It isn’t enough for many of you to just make a promise to yourself. It isn’t real if it’s inside your own mind. So tell other people when you plan to get something done – use Facebook, Twitter, email, or do it the old fashioned way: tell them in person. Broadcast your plan to get something done and you might find yourself even more motivated to keep from letting others down.

Most importantly, lower your standards! Too many people get tripped up trying to make things perfect instead of just getting something done. Think about whatever you’re doing as a “first draft” of whatever it is you want to create, not the final thing. And think of yourself as a perennial “starter”, as it’s usually easier to start something of low quality than it is to finish something of high quality. Changing your internal monologue to be more like “I want to start that project” vs. “I have to slog through it” can help reignite the senses.

[Mike Torres'ten ALINTIDIR]