How to Accomplish Anything (a General Process)

Get into the habit

In my experience, it is best practice to start a habit by doing a small amount of work, in fact a laughably small amount of work as an every day minimum.   For example, to start back writing, I started with the goal of writing one sentence a day.  That's it.  And you know what?  I still sometimes was fighting myself to start.   But once you have started, you have made a giant leap.  As is pointed out on All Japanese All the Time (AJATT), "1 isn’t just slightly bigger than 0. 1 is infinitely bigger than 0. "

You've got to start somewhere.  

Track.  

Next, engineer follow-up and follow-through.  One method is Seinfield's trick where you take a calendar and mark each day you follow your goal, eventually forming a chain.  You get a little attached to the chain, and a little more so the longer it grows.

I don't print out a calendar, however. I simply make my own chart by turning a piece of lined paper on it's side.  Each line becomes a day, and in this way I can make a chart tracking as many habits as I'd like. It looks a little like this:

Here's a sample chart of the goals I tracked over a 10-day span. I must admit it was the best 10-day span I have had as of the time of this writing; I have never had a perfect week, nor have I needed one in order to watch this improve my life greatly.

If you have some burning life-focus that you just can't seem to get started I would use the Seinfield trick.  I find a chart is better for tracking several goals in a general course of self-improvement.

Procrastinate Your Evaluation, Not Your Action

When I was a speech coach, one of the keys to my success was to take the pressure off the novices.  Specifically in the event extemporaneous speaking, I instituted a rule that a student wasn't allowed to say whether or not they thought they were good at the event until they had given 20 practice speeches.

You can apply some version of this to whatever it is you are working on.  At first, your focus should be on building the habit.  You could set a time in the future that you will allow yourself to evaluate (this Ted Talk is an illustration of why 20 hours is usually sufficient.  But even better is to allow yourself the luxury of growing slowly while maintaining faith in the knowledge that you will improve.  

When Inspiration Strikes, Do More

This step more or less will probably happen on it's own, but it might be worth a few words to encourage it further.  

Before you started you project, you were still filling your days somehow.  While, yes, it is possible to squeeze more out of time, at some point you will eventually have to push something away.  That's your real test.  Once you've allowed inspiration to guide you past some distraction, you can safely say that you have formed a habit.  Keep going, keep tracking, and one day you may look up and notice you're where you wanted to be when you started dreaming and setting goals.

Everything Else is Optimization

There are a lot of bloggers who gain eyeballs (and ad revenue/book sales) by in effect saying "Look how great I am, and look how fast I can learn anything!"  From my own experience I can say that it can be very discouraging to consume too much of that.   It's a kind of pornography of other people's productivity.  I would look to them when my passion was at its highest, but then as my passion waned, their examples would only lead me to see my efforts as a failure. Eventually I realized that these amazing, better-than-you-and-me life-hackers are really only talking about optimization.  Oh . . . they can learn a language in 3 months?  Cool. However, I probably can't do that because 1) I don't want to move to another country, 2) I don't want to study 8 hours a day and 3) I'm probably not as talented as them (also, read the fine print, so to speak, about what they are willing to count as a "successful mission").

Another example is exercise.  I have at times only lifted one day a week. On the plus side, this protocol allowed me to optimize for muscle growth and cycling my diet. However, it made it too easy to get out of the exercise habit. When I wanted to start back exercising, I set up my tracking for every day and broke up exercises so it was possible to exercise everyday without soreness.  Optimal?  I don't care; I'm building back up a habit.

It is certainly good to read up from time to time about techniques for things you are working on.  It can show a healthy interest in the subject.  But my advice is to not give up on the system you are tracking while you are experimenting with new techniques.  For example, if you have been learning a foreign language by going through a certain number of flashcards a day and then you learn about a whole new philosophy of language learning involving just talking to natives (ie wasting their time so that you may benefit), I would recommend that you keep up with your flashcard discipline and experiment with the new moves.  In this way you absolutely prevent being a wannabe. Whether acting optimally or not, you are always a work in progress. Which is what you should be.

Procrastination Chronicles #13 : Tax Papers

On the path to greatness, there will be 100 overcomings.

I will chronicle my attempts to overcome procrastination.  My technique is to start small, really small.

My favorite post in the series is #3 Dealing with a Bunch of Crap.

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Since I have started paying taxes, I do not believe I have ever paid them this late.  

If the taxes get as far as spring break, I usually end up dealing with it during the break.  This year we went on a vacation to New York on spring break, so that pushed takes all the way into April.  

If my papers and other affairs were in any way organized this probably would not be much of a problem.  As it was, the fear of the papers grew in my mind.  And dread works best when it is ill-defined.  So . . . What was I afraid of?  Missing the paper on how much interest I've paid on the rental? Having to have my W-2 reprinted in the administrative center?  Being audited and thrown in jail?  Looking like an idiot to my wife at the tax place?  I had not really thought through what I was afraid of or even that I was afraid.  It just moved out of my mind quickly, but grew stronger with every time I realized that "Oh shoot, we need to do our taxes."  

I imagine that everyone has a kind of force field that makes it hard to get tasks done that they have already procrastinated, and the rub is that with each time the task comes to mind and yet doesn't get done . . . the force field . . . just . . .gets . . . stronger.  (This conception of a force field is based on Aaron Swartz's essay on productivity.)  

So my force field was strong and after staying up late to avoid the task, sleeping in to avoid the task, making eggs to avoid the task and even doing the dishes to avoid the task, I turned to the task near panic, promising myself that I would get cream soda later in the day (much better if I had some pre-warding materials on hand, but, alas, we were low).  I set a timer for 20 minutes, just picturing my entire day wasted looking through papers, and then -- oh gosh -- I'd never get to all the other things I needed to do . . . and some of those things flooded my mind.

With the timer going, I made a few hesitant steps, setting up different piles for what I was going through, clearing the space on a tv tray to make room for one pile, pacing a bit in another room for a bit because it was too much for me.  I couldn't believe I had set up an appointment with the accountant for 2:00 pm.  I just knew I wasn,t going to be ready by then, or if I ended up being ready, it would be nothing but a day of torture.  

Of course by the end of 20 minutes I had found all the papers I needed.  The rest of the day went smoothly and I got many things done.  

Procrastination Chronicles #12 : Improvised Workout

On the path to greatness, there will be 100 overcomings.

I will chronicle my attempts to overcome procrastination.  My technique is to start small, really small.

My favorite post in the series is #3 Dealing with a Bunch of Crap.

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My diet and workouts have been stacked together thus:  5 days a week I do light exercise (walking or garden-work) and eat 1,200 calories (no breakfast, a very light lunch, and then a pretty substantial snack-and-dinner block), on the 6th day I do my weight training and then eat like crazy for two days.

Well, that's the plan, at least.  Yesterday I was eating a bunch before I worked out, which went against my protocol, then, when I thought was going to be able to work out stuff came up . . .  and kept coming up.

Then it became Sunday, which means it was time for family, starting with visiting my grandmother, and with that meant more offers of food.  What to do?

I am proud of my solution:  I improvised a workout.  I snuck away and did a set of push-ups.  Then I came and chatted a bit while watching tennis (the French Open final).  After a bit, I snuck away again and tried to work my arms by lifting the bed in the guest room, but noticed that in the stance I needed to be in my legs got the bulk of the workout, so I switched to a chair, but the necessary grip worked my abs.  Finally, I found a chair that I was able to lift using a row motion and thus got some decent reps for my biceps.  I wasn't able to figure anything (which after all wasn't mine to mess with) that I could use for a kettle bell swing motion, but other than that, it was a pretty good workout.  While grandma made lunch, I also did some air squats, bringing back memories of when I did them for an earlier fitness challenge.

The workout might not have been perfect, but at least it got done, which is one of the most powerful anti-procrastination tactics.  And maybe the workout helped work things in a new, helpful way.

I'm going to do some kettlebell swings now.

Procrastination Chronicles # 11: A Paper (Zuuuummba!)

On the path to greatness, there will be 100 overcomings.

I will chronicle my attempts to overcome procrastination.  My technique is to start small, really small.

My favorite post in the series is #3 Dealing with a Bunch of Crap.

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To help my students have the motivation to write there final papers in English, I committed to writing one as well.  I had a reasonable plan of action: I would stay late on Friday and start the paper.  Or failing that, I would go eat an early dinner and start the paper.

So . . .  of course . . . there I was midnight on Sunday, feeling really pissed off and not at all wanting to start a paper. . . "What kind of madness is this", I thought, "I'm a grown up, I retired from being a student.  I wrote all the paper I need to write." It felt in that moment as though it were the most uninteresting task in the world. (All of this should help me feel sympathy for my students -- which was part of the point of the exercise).

So I busted out pretty much all of my techniques, including a new one.  I want to first explain that new technique.

I read about it in Poder Sin Limites por Tony Robbins (ie it was Tony Robbin's Unlimited Power, which I'm reading in Spanish (go million word challenge!)  Anyway, I'm hazy on it, because, you know, other language, but I reckon Robbins was pointing out that your imagination uses all of your senses, and that you have the power to do some really cool manipulation.  For example, you can take any image and just make it brighter in your mind's eye.  You can make it louder.  Try it.

So, when you feel that dread toward working you are seeing something.  Take that image, which is probably already a dull image, and dim the heck out of it, and in your imagination implode it, kind of like crumbling a piece of paper.  Shove that imagine off to the side.  Replace it with a bright, vivid image of you doing the first step of the task, or even better yet, of you being in a flow state doing the work. . .  Repeat this about 6 times in rapid succession.  Crush the old image, push it to the side, see the vibrant image that you know the work can be.   And for some reason, Tony Robbins wants to you say something dorky while you do this.  In the Spanish translation it's Zuuumbaaa!  (Yeah, I didn't really do that step; my wife was sleeping.)

Still, that was the initial push I needed, even though I was already tired and cranky.  I also pre-warded myself the way I do, playing some music, eating some ice cream while doing the first step (my weekend are my free days again -- and I did not live up to the no sugar challenge).

After that, predictably, the work got done, and it turned out to be really fun work.

The Dvorak Countdown

Today being my reverse Sabbath day, I had to see if Dvorak was on my computer already, something I had been avoiding because of a vague dread that somehow all the websites were wrong and my computer somehow uniquely did not have it.  It's not something I stopped and thought about; it just flitting in and then out of my mind, as do so many of blocks that cause us to procrastinate -- many, many are just phantoms of the mind.

Well, it's there.

I have been doing lessons on this site, focusing just on the home row (which accounts for 70% of all the strokes I'll be making in the system).  On the first day of the summer, I am making the switch . . . total cold turkey at that point.  

Cold turkey is going to be necessary because now that I am over the initial feeling of terrible discomfort (something that really only lasted 30 minutes), I am on to a type of intermediate hell where it's not what I'm learning that is the problem, but instead my old habits.  Since I am doing so much of my typing in regular 'ol qwerty, I keep retrenching where the "s" and "d" keys are in qwerty. I can tell that a very large part of my mastery of Dvorak will be un-learning those key keys (and key key combinations).  Also, I will just have practice, practice, practice until the new keys become a matter of muscle memory.  

This step is perhaps the most important in developing compassion.  After all, this step means that intellectually know what you should be doing, but your old habits keep zapping you.  So, let's take the case of a young person trying to be responsible, or even ethical.  Just because they "know better" really isn't enough.  I need to give someone trying at least as long as it takes me to get my key strokes right on this new typing system.  

And probably longer.

Reverse Sabbath

Ever since writing about an idea I had read, I have been experimenting with what I am calling now "a reverse Sabbath."  This doesn't mean I work only day and completely rest the other days (I wish).  Instead, I concentrate into one day a week every thing I have not been working on, especially what I have been feeling guilty about not doing.  

Yet Another Take on Beating Procrastination

This one has cartoons and more colorful language.

Part 1: Causes of Procrastination

Part 2: How to beat Procrastination

I think the advice is solid, but I would tweek the following passage:

No one “builds a house.” They lay one brick again and again and again and the end result is a house. Procrastinators are great visionaries—they love to fantasize about the beautiful mansion they will one day have built—but what they need to be are gritty construction workers, who methodically lay one brick after the other, day after day, without giving up, until a house is built.

Nearly every big undertaking can be boiled down to a core unit of progress—its brick. A 45-minute gym visit is the brick of getting in great shape. A 30-minute practice session is the brick of becoming a great guitarist.

As sad as it might be, sometimes 30 minutes can be too daunting of a block.  Maybe that was just me when I was depressed, but depressed people need the help the most.  So, 30 minutes is a good block when you're rolling, but when completely starting, cut the task down into as small a piece as it takes to get self-compliance.

The piece sorta misses an important point: it is possible to make the task such a small piece that it doesn't even feel bad at all to do.  And then, most of the time, you can associate something you like with that small piece, getting you through the crucial first step in an enjoyable fashion.  After that, momentum often will carry you through.

Still, overall, I think it was a great post.  If you are having problems with procrastination, you should do 5 sit ups and then read the post, and then do another small productive task, and then work on planning to follow its advice.

Another Take on Beating Procrastination

This is one is from the site One Hundred Dollars a Month. 

It looks pretty basic, but that might reach someone.  One potentially new idea worth experimenting with:

Set aside one non-procrastination day.  It’s the day you don’t get to do any procrastinating.  Period.  If you get enough done in that one day, you may be able to slack off guilt-free for the rest of the week.

I like it.   I think that in one day a person can clean up a lot of little "mosquito tasks."  A nice, general rule taken from the Getting Things Done universe is to work on any item that comes to your attention that would take five minutes or less to do. 

Another winkle to experiment with: work for five minutes on anything that comes to your attention.  If a monster projects comes up, even just to your mind, work on a 5 minute slice of it.

Here's the rub: this process would have to be exhausting.  I find all time management to be susceptible to this problem.  But that's the beauty of limiting this kind of procedure to only one day.  I like the set-up of 1 day for no-procrastination, 5 days for a more normal balance of work and play and 1 day of rest.

Update
I now call doing this a "reverse Sabbath."

Procrastination Chronicles # 10: Reading Walden

On the path to greatness, there will be 100 overcomings.

I will chronicle my attempts to overcome procrastination.  My technique is to start small, really small.

My favorite post in the series is #3 Dealing with a Bunch of Crap.

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I think I now have a process for reading books I have been putting off: skip ahead and read various parts until something captures my attention.

This gets over one of the great principles of procrastination: the inertia of it; an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion.  When I start at a book a few times, each time I don't get past the current page sets up more resistance to ever getting off that page.  It  emphatically does not help that I have good reasons to read the book.  Thoreau is to American Nature Writing as Socrates is to Western Philosophy; you may disagree, but you must answer to him.  It is embarrassing that I have not read Walden.  Embarrassing!  If that is not enough, one of the only people who actually reads this blog, the best man at my wedding, is a big fan of the book, so I should read it.  But still, each time you abandon a step of a project, even if it is the first step -- read page 1 -- you will encounter more psychic resistance the next time you try again.

I even know what my problem with the first page of Walden has always been: it just comes off sanctimonious.  When reading it, I kept having the intrusion of all the criticisms of Thoreau I have heard from people who may or may not have read him, but need to let people know he didn't rough it as much as he claimed.

So I skipped that page and ran into a charming mediation on heat, life and how much shelter and clothes we really need.  I fell in love with this passage and have no doubt I'll be able to enjoy Walden and make Thoreau a friend of mine.

I may be able to formulate this into an anti-procrastination principal for reading a classic: try skipping ahead.  A book is usually deemed a classic for a reason, so give it more than one chance to show you its value.

Also, remember if you are reading for yourself (and there is really no other good reason for someone past school to be reading) then feel free to skim portions, or skip portions, of books, yes, even classics.  So once you realize a book is worth your time, and you find something you like -- which in my case is the philosophical "digressions" -- skip things you are not interested in -- which in my case is most physical descriptions; I can see things in the real world, after all.

Update:

Thoreau in less than a year has grown to be one of my favorite authors.  I have plans to read everything he wrote, including looking into purchasing a copy of his journals.

This just goes to show that you, fair reader, you may very well be procrastinating on something that might turn out profoundly changing your life.  I clearly was.

Procrastination Chronicles # 9: Dishes, Always Dishes

On the path to greatness, there will be 100 overcomings.

I will chronicle my attempts to overcome procrastination.  My technique is to start small, really small.

My favorite post in the series is #3 Dealing with a Bunch of Crap.

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When I got married, I was so happy to get rid of the task of doing laundry that I conceded lawn work, the litter box, and doing dishes.  However, due to this, dishes have become the scourge of my existence.

I had purchased a dish rack, and ideally I would use it every day for the dishes made that day (or perhaps the previous day).  I had a rhythm like that going for a while.  I would come home, put on Pandora, and do a few dishes, let them air dry and put them up . . . neat and tidy.  Great theory.

But sometimes life gets away from me.  When this happens, the dishes pile up more and more, and I am still susceptible to same feelings as pretty much everyone else.

The answer is still the same: find a small enough slice that I engineer my own compliance, and then go ahead and start Pandora.  This is just simply how I get crap done.

This time my tiny slice was soaking two dishes.  Also, I *gasp* let myself use the dish washing machine to get the big batch done.

My wife doesn't believe me when I say I will be able to do all our dishes by hand when our dish washer breaks (as all dish washers everywhere, along with all other machines, will eventually).  Only time will tell, but I am optimistic in my ability to change.

But for this time, I will go ahead and use the luxury of the machine to move past procrastination.

Procrastination Chronicles #8: Cleaning the Front of the House

On the path to greatness, there will be 100 overcomings.

I will chronicle my attempts to overcome procrastination.  My technique is to start small, really small.

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The path to a clean front of the house starts with a single twig.

From there and a quick break all things are possible.

Nested Time Box Games

My default time management system is the pomodoro method.  This is because my normal blend of work is quite a bit of mental tasks to do with some routine physical things.

But like all good procrastinators, at some point routine tasks of all sorts pile up.  At this point I turn to the idea of a nested time-box, something I found on the All Japanese All-the-Time (AJATT) blog (which is now just a big advertisement . . . oh well, I still felt obligated to cite where I got the idea).

I made one additional tweak to the nested time box, and that is to make it a formal game.  The rules are simple: 1.) write down my tasks, 2.) estimate how long those tasks should take 3.) set my longer timer (30 minutes, 45 minutes, an hour) and 4.) use another timer to see if I can make my time goals for the tasks.  I have a video on the process:






I only bust out this routine when I am buried by a lot of little things, but when I do, I get amazing results, and have good fun while doing it.

Learn about other systems with a timer.

Procrastination Chronicles #7: Programming Via Poker

On the path to greatness, there will be 100 overcomings.

I will chronicle my attempts to overcome procrastination.  My technique is to start small, really small.

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I really have been negligent toward developing my programming skills.  And to be honest, it's emotional.  Programming, once you get past the basics, gives me a panic of feeling overwhelmed.  I can solve problems via code, I can "think like a computer," but the pure range of 3rd party software and documentations gets me.  Especially the documentations.  Nothing makes you feel stupid quicker than trying to code with something that has bad documentation.

It's not really the amount of 3rd party stuff that is the problem, it is the suspicion that you are always using the wrong stuff.  That you're some obsolete idiot.  Not helping things, is the fact that there are certainly flame wars where people are more than happy to confirm these thoughts.  This has lead me to a paralysis where I can't work on anything.  And that is not going to help me get any closer to making a piece of software that 10,000 people use.

The answer is still the same to all other places where I procrastinate: start small, and keep working every day toward small things. Also, I should just make it fun.

During the summer, I was playing a lot of poker.  Though, I like backgammon better, it is safe to say that any game with randomness is an interest of mine.  So, projects with poker are the kinds of projects I can code with easily and then make things that I could gain some enjoyment out of.  I can work on graphics and displays.  I can make algorithms to analyze hands.  I can do projects like closed Chinese Poker and give myself some fake opponent to play more low-ball poker with.

Doing poker-related projects gives me a real purpose when I am coding and that is far more motivated than anything that reeks of meaningless exercise.

Now that I am done with debate tournaments for a bit, I can start on these poker projects.  A few think slices at a time, and probably by the time tournament season rolls around, I can at least have a new toy or two for my own enjoyment, and possibly some further skills (or a series of projects that I could use to gain skills in other programming languages) that help me toward my big 10,000 people goal.

Procrastination Chronicles #6: Cleaning out the Car

On the path to greatness, there will be 100 overcomings.

I will chronicle my attempts to overcome procrastination.  My technique is to start small, really small.

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Today I will talk about another task that has been sitting there for months, actually closer to a year.

On my to-do list I only had "clean 4 items out of car," because I have discovered with dishes that 4 is the tipping point for which I can get myself to comply 100% of the time.

Still, I felt a little drowsy today even after taking a walk.

First, I let myself play a game of backgammon.  That was a few minutes.  But then I went over to my to-do list.  I sighed when I saw the item about cleaning 4 items, but then I could feel a huge smile come onto my face as I realized I could listen to a song as I did the work (which it now seems is my way of handling all of my crap work).

I pulled the recycling bin to one side, the trash can to the other, and I just cleared the entire car out.  I ended up feeling so great about it, I ended up doing some of my mowing, making tomorrow easier.

Heck, I felt sooo great about it, that I played a game of backgammon, and then wrote this post.

Procrastination Chronicles #5: War and Peace

On the path to greatness, there will be 100 overcomings.

I will chronicle my attempts to overcome procrastination.  My technique is to start small, really small.

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The human mind hates assigned tasks, even they are assigned for perfectly good reasons.  Even if they are assigned by yourself for perfectly good reasons.

I absolutely agree with Nassim Taleb that

Procrastination is the soul rebelling against entrapment.

Somehow I managed to turn reading one of the finest books in human literature, War and Peace, into a chore, and so I put it off for nearly whole summer, only picking it up again in late August.  The way I got around this block was a rather odd one, and not at all by design . . .

It started with Heinlein's book Starship Troopers.  I hadn't been reading much of anything lately besides blogs.  But I started trying to go to bed at a more normal time, and so I started a habit of not looking at computer screens after 9:00.  One night, I had insomnia, but I knew going online or playing a game on the computer would make the situation worse, so I went to my book shelve, and grabbed Heinlein's book.

Reading it activated some interest in matters military and the sweep of force in history.  It was all tied together in an idle moment, when I flipped through War and Peace and came to Book 14.  It had one of those long reflections on history that I had heard about, mostly by literary people bemoaning them taking away from the novel.  But I found myself enthralled by it..  I see just from that how the book can be said to "capture the Russian soul."  Furthermore, the passage is far removed from what came off on my first reading as tedious elitism in Book 1.

There are two types of people: those who have read War and Peace and those who haven't.  I now have the motivation to be someone who will.

Procrastination Chronicles #4: Mowing the Lawn

On the path to greatness, there will be 100 overcomings.

I will chronicle my attempts to overcome procrastination.  My technique is to start small, really small.

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One way to beat procrastination is to make it like a song, or a page-turning novel.  If you play a song, you don't want to just cut it off at any point.  You want to hear that last note, and if the musician holds that note, you don't skip the track when the last note starts; you wait it out.  Like-wise, a great novelist will often leave you with every chapter with some kind of cliff-hanger.

A partially started task can be the same way.  I wanted to start mowing, but all I put on my to-do list was "mow one strip on the side of the house."  So, I mowed that strip and then made myself go back into the house, and cross that item off the list.  Before I did that, I already "cheated" and mowed an extra strip.

The result?  I wasn't going to leave one (or, rather two) strips mowed.  I needed to finish that pattern out.  It went from a task I was putting off to one I felt compelled to finish.

Procrastination Chronicles #3: Dealing with a Bunch of Crap

On the path to greatness, there will be 100 overcomings.

I will chronicle my attempts to overcome procrastination.  My technique is to start small, really small.

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The cat-box got out of control.  So . .. I had a lot of crap to deal with.  (Ha ha.  I kill me.)

Anyway, it still holds true that once started, a task is 95% finished, but starting here was more problematic than usual. . .  It had become a gross problem, okay? Okay!?!

So I was procrastinating even the tiniest step of starting.  So . . . I got some music, and started playing it.  Common sense, sure, but the key is to make it a systematic go-to step every time.

I am reminded of this "Big Think" video on procrastination.



I want to elaborate some here.  You shouldn't reward yourself after you do something.  If you do that, you risk destroying any motivation to do it at all.  This has been demonstrated in psychological literature, which is summarized in Alfie Kohn's book Punished by Rewards.  Instead, use something you enjoy to help you get started.  That way you can associate the beginning of the task with something you enjoy.  I call this "pre-warding" myself.

The difference is subtle, but important.  So instead of rewarding yourself, I'd say the mind hack is to associate good beginnings with things you like already.  You can probably make it even better by only giving yourself that thing you like (such as a certain song) when you are trying to use it as a momentum builder.  However, that might require more self-discipline and thus fail.  Experiment.

Update: I now pretty much only listen to music as a "momentum builder," or maybe "starter fluid,." if you will.  But that fits into a life that alternates between weeks of putting a lot of hours and now giving myself quite a bit of quiet reflection time, and long-hand writing as my main hobby.  I'm not judging if this mix doesn't work for others.  Experiment.

Procrastination Chronicles #2: E-mail.

On the path to greatness, there will be 100 overcomings.

I will chronicle my attempts to overcome procrastination.  My technique is to start small, really small.

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I recently answered an e-mail that I let sit unanswered for over a month.  I file efficiently organize my e-mails, and so I had this e-mail front and centered and starred every time I opened my e-mail.  It seemed important enough to leave is that spot each time I finished working with my e-mail, too.

In my head, I kept thinking of the apology for how long it took to reply.  My excuse was that it was the summer, but that is no real excuse.

How did I answer the e-mail finally?  Simple.  I made the first sentence one item on a to-do list.  Then I made working on the whole thing for 25 minutes another item.  And, of course, it didn't take anywhere near 25 minutes.

It also helps to have other things to work on, though. There is a time for laser focus and basically strapping yourself down to finish something, but this didn't feel like it.  I would write a bit and then do some push-ups, or work on some dishes.  This let me clear my head, deal with nervousness, and have my sub-conscious mind churn out each next little bit.

And the e-mail got done, leaving me wondering why that was so difficult.

Procrastination Chronicles #1: Weed Eater

To attempt to be poetic:

On the path to greatness, there will be 100 overcomings.

I will chronicle my attempts to overcome procrastination.  My technique is to start small, really small.

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Why have I not weed-eated (weed-ate?) any portion of the lawn all summer?  Is it a moral failing that means I will never, ever *really* be an adult?  Only a few years ago, I would have looked at it that way.  And that's a darn shame.



In reality, the first problem is that I had the wrong tool.  For some reason, in one of the rare occasions I have ever talked to a sales clerk, I was convinced to buy an extremely heavy brush weed-eater.  I used it a few times last summer, and it is just pure torture.  I would hurt for days afterward.

I thought about it for a while, and bought a more light-weight weed-eater.  Which ended up sitting in its box for a week.

A few of the days it rained, but ultimately the reason I waited was a small bit of trepidation about looking though new stuff and putting it together.  At some point I realize this wait was becoming some serious procrastination, so I went my favorite tool: the to-do list.

item one: open the box
item two: work 3 minutes to see if you can understand the wires, etc. 

The result?  In 2 minutes and 30 seconds I had the battery plugged in an decent notion of where everything should go.  Now that the project is started, I can be up and weed-eating in the cool of the evening or tomorrow morning.

And perhaps never again (or at least not for years) will I let our lawn areas look so unruly.  (Whether or not someone should even have a lawn is another question, one my wife, alas, has answered in the affirmative).

Beat Procrastination by . . . Starting

To beat procrastination, 90% percent of the battle is tricking yourself into starting.

One of my favorite techniques is to "half until you laugh," which means breaking the size of your "initial commitment" to a project in half, and then half again, and so on until at some point your initial commitment seems laughably small.  For example, I find myself procrastinating on something as tiny putting up dishes.  So, the mental game begins . . . Can I put up half the dishes?  Okay, half of half the dishes?   . . .  The lowest my "laugh point" gets is four.  How on earth can I not put up four dishes?  Over 75% of the time, I then up end up putting up all the dishes right after doing the four, but even if not, at least the project is started.

From the Getting Things Done (GTD) community, there is the notion of "next actions" (here is a longer explanation on a forum thread).

If I'm really dragging my feet on a project, I'll hack my to-do list by first putting the smallest step I can think of.  I'm talking "open box" or "turn on computer," things that small.  That lets me cross one thing off my list.  Yay!  Then, I put on the list some other absurdly small slice of the task.  I get to cross that off quickly, too.  Yay!  After that point, I can nearly always have something broader on a list, like "work half an hour."

I find you only need to baby yourself at the very start.  After that, you're rolling.