I first wrote about the Procrastination Diet in 2015, and my need to stay on top of things has increased since then for a variety of reasons. People don’t realize I actually have a propensity for procrastination because I’m organized. I’m a great juggler, adept at prioritizing and meeting deadlines, but that can be a stressful way to exist on a daily basis.
I just re-watched a video by Robin Sharma, an internationally-known life and business coach titled “How I Beat Procrastination.” I was probably avoiding one thing or another when I originally found the link; the irony of not doing what I should’ve been doing in order to watch something on procrastination is not completely lost on me. I highly recommend checking out the entire video, but to summarize, his five tips for beating procrastination are:
- Create a vision board / dream collage and a “Big Dream” statement
- Go on a 30-day procrastination diet
- Exercise with a focus on a second-wind workout later in the day
- Create a distraction-free environment (Mess Creates Stress!)
- Release your self sabotage (self-limiting beliefs) and rewire your brain
For the 30-day procrastination diet, he suggests taking a calendar and on each day for a month, write one thing you’ve been resisting doing and then… do it.
It’s time for me to re-commit to this, but I tweak it a titch: rather than using a calendar and trying to determine which thing to write on which day, I format mine as a list titled, “30 Things in 30 Days.” That way, I can do any thing on any given day in any order I choose. The flexibility works better for me.
This weekend, I will compile my list, and my procrastination diet officially begins on Monday, February 3rd. Pfft, I don’t need it to start on the first day of a 30-day month, any old day will do. I like Monday. It will be a mixture of business and personal items I have been avoiding, ignoring, fearing, or pushing to the back burner for too long.
For my lists, I now use Google’s Keep Notes because I can access it on my laptop or smartphone, allowing me to review or update my list from either device. I like that I can set it up so there’s a little check box to click on and, upon completion, it draws a line through the item and moves it to the bottom of the list. There’s a psychological benefit, seeing the growing list of “done” things and viewing the shortened list of to-do items. I prefer this to a paper list that I’d forget to carry around with me, but many of you probably have daily planners you use… whatever works is fine!
At the end of 30 days, I’ll report on my progress. Anyone interested in joining me? You don’t have to share your list, but please share your intention to accomplish 30 things in 30 days with a comment! There’s strength in numbers… let’s do this thing.
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Great suggestions, Jamie. I need to stop procrastinating too and prioritize my to-do list. I also need to stay off social media more and stop scrolling through emails that don’t really matter. Thanks for the motivation.
Thanks, Sally – I appreciate that you read my post AND feel motivated by it. Bravo!
I just opened the google list app and made my first list. Oops. Was a quite a bit longer than 30. Overwhelming myself. Will make a shorter list that’s able to be tackled reasonably. Baby steps, as you’ve taught me! Thanks, Jamie!
No worries, it can be as long as you want, maybe it’s your 60-day procrastination diet! I’ve been working on mine, some things are major, some are minor…it’s a good mix.
This is so great Jamie! In January I started using a calendar to schedule out my bigger projects/to-do’s since it was too easy to procrastinate and ignore my to-do list. I’m going to add my smaller to-do’s to my calendar based on your 30-day challenge.
That’s great, Cheryl, thanks for reading and commenting!
Love all of your suggestions Jamie! Might you consider posting sometime a list of places where we can donate stuff? Right now I drop books at the library and everything else at Goodwill because they make it so easy. Are there better ideas of where to drop off?
Thanks, Janet! I understand how helpful a list would be. But – parameters are constantly changing, some locations of a national organization take certain items when other locations do not. What I typically advise people to do is a basic google search of “Where to donate ______ near me” and see what comes up. I love taking books to local libraries. Goodwill does make donating very easy, but so does the Salvation Army, and local St. Vincent DePaul Society sites. Also, Habitat for Humanity ReStore takes a LOT of stuff. Ok, now you’ve got me thinking this could be a new blog post. Thanks!