{"id":2930,"date":"2015-08-04T10:55:59","date_gmt":"2015-08-04T15:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/?p=2930"},"modified":"2015-08-04T10:55:59","modified_gmt":"2015-08-04T15:55:59","slug":"7-surprising-tips-for-breaking-out-of-procrastination-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/7-surprising-tips-for-breaking-out-of-procrastination-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Surprising Tips For Breaking Out Of Procrastination Prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Zen Dexter<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Okay, let\u2019s be honest here. There\u2019s probably something else you should be doing right now.<\/p>\n

You should fix that leaky tap, or kick off your Spanish learning project, or start on that university assignment. You know, the one that\u2019s due tomorrow. \u00a0At 9:00 am.<\/p>\n

Heck, I\u2019ve even been procrastinating<\/a> on writing this blog post. \u00a0Pretty ironic, I know.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve probably already tried things like \u201cstarting simple,\u201d<\/em> \u201cbreaking it down,\u201d<\/em> and \u201ckeeping yourself accountable<\/em>\u201d to take down procrastination.<\/p>\n

But what you probably don\u2019t know is that many counterintuitive tricks are out there that are even more effective at fighting the problem. So stay with me and procrastinate just a little while longer.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s review seven surprising ways you can break out of procrastination prison.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Keep your goals top secret<\/b><\/h2>\n

So you\u2019ve decided to start an exciting new project, something that will truly make your life better, and maybe make other people\u2019s lives better too. Maybe you\u2019re taking on Arabic, learning how to code in Java, or setting up a charity.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the very next thing you want to do after making that decision? You want to tell someone about it.<\/p>\n

It seems to make perfect sense. \u00a0You get to share your excitement with somebody else, and having others in on your plan is sure to keep you accountable, right?<\/p>\n

Actually, research has shown that you are less likely to reach your goals <\/a>if you first broadcast your intentions to other people.<\/p>\n

Talking about your goals tricks your brain into thinking that you\u2019ve already accomplished them and reduces the motivation required to actually execute. You get left in a state of procrastination limbo <\/a>where you feel great about your goals but aren\u2019t actually doing anything about them. \u00a0The same thing happens when you try visualizing success in your head too.<\/p>\n

So keep your goals to yourself, put your head down, and get to it!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

2. Don\u2019t make a plan<\/b><\/h2>\n

You\u2019ve probably heard the phrase \u201cfail to plan, plan to fail.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It sounds very logical. \u00a0Draw up a nice big roadmap, and it\u2019ll help you navigate your way to success more easily, right? Not quite. \u00a0Because planning isn\u2019t progress. \u00a0It\u2019s all too easy to get stuck in the planning stage of a project and never actually get anywhere.<\/p>\n

What you want to do instead is simply break into your project. \u00a0Start somewhere, anywhere.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Pick an entry point and decide on the first task for your project. \u00a0Break that task down until you have an action you can do right now in under two minutes. Then do it.<\/p>\n

When I started learning Mandarin Chinese at the end of last year, I spent ages reading various blog posts, trying to discover the perfect way to learn a language. \u00a0I\u2019ve actually done this two or three times over the last few years as I\u2019ve started and stopped different language projects.<\/p>\n

Even though it might seem like I was making progress and moving toward my goal, I was really just procrastinating by avoiding the important work \u2014 actually learning Chinese.<\/p>\n

Once I realized this, I stopped and picked whatever method I happened to have on my screen at the time and ran with it.<\/p>\n

There is no such thing as a perfect plan. \u00a0<\/strong>Luckily, you don\u2019t need one. \u00a0Just find a way in, commit to it, and the rest will follow.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. Begin your day with something unimportant<\/b><\/h2>\n

A common piece of productivity advice is to start your day with your most important, most urgent, or most difficult task. The rationale is that the rest of your day will feel like a breeze once you get the tough stuff out of the way first. But if you\u2019re anything like me, seeing that big hairy task first up on your to-do list is a little, well, frightening.<\/p>\n

So I like to take a different approach.<\/p>\n

First, pick off some of the low-hanging fruit from your to-do list. Maybe start by doing some light fiction reading, vacuuming the house, dashing to the bank, and then taking a break by jumping onto Twitter for ten minutes.<\/p>\n

At this stage, you\u2019ll feel much more energized and accomplished, and you\u2019ll be able to attack that big scary task with more confidence.<\/p>\n

Get some easy wins under your belt first thing. \u00a0It\u2019ll make the difficult stuff much easier to handle.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

4. Focus on having fun first<\/b><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s important to strike a balance in your life where you\u2019re getting stuff done but still having fun. \u00a0After all:<\/p>\n

\u201cAll work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. \u00a0All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an unconventional way to accomplish this.<\/p>\n

First, stick all your leisure and social activities into your to-do list and spread those out throughout your day. \u00a0Then take a break<\/i> from the fun stuff by doing some work in the middle. For example, I check in with my favorite YouTube channels as a daily leisure checkpoint that I work around<\/i> during my day.<\/p>\n

This is an exciting way of rethinking productivity. \u00a0You\u2019re less likely to procrastinate because you know your day contains things you enjoy. In addition, you don\u2019t have to feel guilty about having fun because you\u2019ve carefully structured your day to include both work and play.<\/p>\n

You can even take this a little further and try something you might not have done before: start your day off with a quick leisure activity to get you going (maybe a 15-minute walk at sunrise or 15 minutes of video gaming)<\/em> prior to jumping into something unimportant.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Dream-Motivation-Picture-Quote\"<\/center> <\/p>\n

To read this full article, CLICK HERE!<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Zen Dexter   Okay, let\u2019s be honest here. There\u2019s probably something else you should be doing right now. You should fix that leaky tap, or kick off your Spanish learning project, or start on that university assignment. You know, the one that\u2019s due tomorrow. \u00a0At 9:00 am. Heck, I\u2019ve even been procrastinating on writing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1128],"tags":[1301,1303,1244,1302,68],"class_list":["post-2930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advice-from-the-best","tag-7-surprising-tips-for-breaking-out-of-procrastination-prison","tag-grow-biz","tag-procrastination","tag-start-your-business","tag-startup"],"yoast_head":"\n7 Surprising Tips For Breaking Out Of Procrastination Prison - Biz Women Rock!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/7-surprising-tips-for-breaking-out-of-procrastination-prison\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"7 Surprising Tips For Breaking Out Of Procrastination Prison - Biz Women Rock!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Zen Dexter   Okay, let\u2019s be honest here. 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