How to beat Procrastination – A Stitch in Time saves Nine

Procrastination is definitely one of the bigger challenges we face when we start any work. We know something needs to be done but we just don’t feel like it, putting it off for another moment which becomes days and sometimes even longer.
The task is usually something that’s seen as less pleasurable like reading about a new technology (oh well, I don’t feel up to it right now, lets read a novel instead) or it could be a household chore or that presentation you need to prepare for office. We keep delaying it till the last moment and then scamper to finish it at the end. Well, they have a very old and true saying for that – ‘a stitch in time saves nine!’ and so what should have taken only a ‘stitch’ before now needs eight more ‘stitches’ to get it right.
So how do you beat it?
I read this great article few years back and it went like this:
– Why do we procrastinate? No, don’t worry, you don’t have to reason it out for every task. The reason is usually same for all and that is we think it’s mundane/boring and there are more pleasurable things to do instead of it. The mind is resisting devoting time to it.
– So, how do you fix it? As stated above we don’t wish to allocate time for it so don’t! Just do it for 5 minutes and stop. Take a break for as long as you want and then come back to it for another 5 minutes and then again take a break. So the initial resistance of allocating time is gone after all we are just going to do it for 5 minutes and usually after a couple of breaks we pick up the momentum and the thing gets done.
One thing to note though – the break truly can be of any duration you want so you are not getting committed to it. If you don’t believe it, your mind won’t believe it either and you’ll only end up procrastinating about breaking procrastination.