How do you overcome procrastination?

# How do you overcome procrastination?

Maybe the question isn't how to stop putting things off. It's what gets you going when you don't feel like it yet.

You opened the file at nine. By nine twenty you'd already checked your email, tidied your desk and answered a message that could have waited. The document is still there, the cursor blinking, and you hear yourself say:

“I'll do it after lunch, when my head is in the right place.”

How many times has that “after” actually arrived?

Why do you put off even what you really want to do?

Many call it laziness. But laziness doesn't explain one thing.

It doesn't explain why the same person, the night before the deadline, works three hours straight without getting up. The ability was there in the morning too. What changed between nine a.m. and ten p.m.?

The person didn't change. What changed was what, in that moment, was pushing them to move.

What if the problem isn't a lack of willpower, but the way you try to activate it?

Why does the urge always come tomorrow?

In NLP there's a distinction called the “Away From / Toward” metaprogram. Sometimes we move to get away from something we don't want. Other times, to get closer to something we desire.

In the model I propose in the Premium, these two drives can serve different functions. The prospect of an undesired consequence can encourage immediate action. The desire to reach a result can help you keep your direction.

It's not a required sequence. It's a way of observing what motivates us and learning to use it.

And this is exactly where the start can get stuck. You wait until you feel like it, while perhaps you haven't yet identified what, for you, would be enough to begin.

Listen to the difference between these two sentences:

“If I don't hand it in, on Monday I'll look bad.”

“I want to see it done and spend the weekend free.”

The first evokes a consequence to avoid. The second, a result to achieve.

Which of the two would get you started today? And which could help you keep going?

You can explore this distinction further on the page about metaprograms.

What do you get, every time you put things off?

Putting things off isn't necessarily a system error. It can be a strategy, and in part it works.

When you close the file, the discomfort you felt facing the task can decrease. Relief comes, right away.

The work is still there, but for a few minutes you don't have to face it.

And this can make it more likely that you'll choose to put it off next time too.

The point isn't to eliminate that relief. The point is to find out whether there's another way to get it, without giving up what you want to achieve.

Try asking yourself:

“What am I avoiding, right now, if I don't start?”

“What am I trying to protect?”

“In what other way could I get what I need, without putting it off?”

Maybe you want to avoid the feeling of not being up to it. Maybe you're looking for peace, clarity or simply a break.

Or the answer might be different.

You don't have to guess it. You have to start observing.

Recognizing a possible function of putting things off doesn't mean justifying it. It means widening the possibilities available to you.

If, however, procrastination has been compromising your work, your studies or your daily life for some time, it may be useful to consult a qualified professional to understand its causes.

Can you start without feeling like it?

Often we expect the mind to get going on its own.

But have you ever noticed how your way of facing a situation changes when your physical state changes?

Posture, breathing and movement can influence how you feel and how you prepare for action.

Before asking yourself to concentrate, try then to work on something you can change right away.

Plant your feet firmly on the floor. Straighten your back without stiffening. Lift your gaze.

Then try to breathe slowly: inhale counting to four, exhale counting to four, without forcing. If you feel comfortable, you can also experiment with brief pauses between the phases of the breath.

What do you notice after a few cycles?

You don't have to suddenly feel motivated. It's enough to check whether something has changed and whether you can now make the first move toward what you want to do.

I also talk about this on the page on physiology and mood.

What happens if you sit down and do nothing?

There's a simple experiment you can try when you really can't start.

Sit on a chair, with no phone, no music, nothing to look at. And do absolutely nothing.

No messages. No small alternative activities. No productive excuses.

Stay there for a few minutes.

You might notice that the mind looks for something to do. That the urge to move, to busy yourself with something, to interrupt that inactivity, grows.

Perhaps a thought will arrive:

“Enough, I have to do something.”

If it happens, observe that push. And instead of using it to look for another distraction, direct it toward what you had put off.

At that moment the task might seem lighter than before.

And if it doesn't happen?

It's not a problem. The exercise isn't meant to force you to feel a certain sensation. It's meant to interrupt, even if only for a few minutes, the automatic sequence that takes you from one activity to another just to avoid starting.

You can still choose to take a first step.

You'll find other tools on the page on concentration techniques.

How do you make the start so small you can't put it off?

A vague sentence like “I have to start writing” leaves too many decisions open.

When? Where? Which part do I start from?

And every decision left pending can become another chance to postpone.

Try turning it into a precise action:

“Tomorrow at eight thirty, at the kitchen table, I'll open the file and write the title of the first paragraph.”

Now you know when, where and what you'll do.

You can make the intention even clearer:

“If it's eight thirty and I sit down at the kitchen table, then I open the file and write the first title.”

Then reduce the start to the minimum.

The “two-minute rule” suggests beginning with a version of the activity that takes less than two minutes.

You don't have to write the whole report. You have to open the file and write one line.

You don't have to complete the project. You have to identify the first step.

You don't have to find the solution right away. You have to formulate the first question.

And while you do it, move away whatever might pull you elsewhere: phone in another room, notifications off, unnecessary tabs closed.

You've reduced the size of the first step and prepared the conditions to take it.

Two minutes can be enough to begin. Not because they solve everything, but because they let you move from intention to action.

I go into these principles on the page on atomic habits.

Who do you become, every time you start?

Every time you begin, you're not just carrying out a task.

You're also gathering a new experience of yourself.

Until a few minutes earlier you could tell yourself:

“I can never start.”

Now you have a different fact to observe: you started.

Maybe only for two minutes. Maybe without enthusiasm. Maybe with some difficulty.

But you did it.

And what if you repeated this experience? What if, instead of waiting to feel ready, you learned to recognize the conditions that help you get going?

Little by little, actions can help change the way you represent yourself.

No longer just a person who puts things off, but also a person capable of starting what matters to them.

There will be days when you'll put things off again. They don't erase what you've learned.

The useful question, then, isn't how long you'll manage never to put things off again.

It's: “How quickly can I recognize what's happening and choose to start again?”

On how to consolidate what changes, you'll find the page how to make change last.

A small exercise

Choose something you've been putting off for a few days. Not necessarily the most important task. Choose the one you want to start experimenting with.

1. Recognize the sentence. Write down the sentence you use to put it off, exactly as you tell it to yourself. “I'll do it tomorrow,” “It's not the time,” “First I have to sort out other things.”

1. Identify the two drives. Ask yourself: “What am I avoiding if I don't start now?” and “What do I want to achieve when I'm done?” Notice which of the two answers gives you a useful push.

1. Prepare the conditions. If you like, try the few-minute experiment of doing nothing. Or change your posture, your breathing and your environment.

1. Start. Decide when and where you'll take the first step. Make it so small that it takes less than two minutes. Then do it.

1. Notice what changes. Ask yourself: “What changed? What did I discover about myself the moment I started, even without feeling like it?”

Don't look for a perfect answer.

Look for a concrete experience.

The next time the cursor blinks, don't necessarily wait for the urge.

Ask yourself what gets you going. And try to make it happen.

To go deeper

If you've recognized the way you put things off, you already have something different to work on.

Not just the task you keep postponing, but the process that comes before your choice.

In the the Premium Edition of Strategic NLP – The Invisible Blade I explore in more depth the “Away From / Toward” metaprogram, the questions for recognizing your own strategies, the four laws of habits and how to invert them, along with the breathing, centering and change tools the method offers.

Because it isn't simply about forcing yourself to do something.

It's about learning to recognize how your way of acting works and discovering what possibilities you can build from what you observe.

You can start with the very sentence you used to put it off today.

To explore further:

• How do you recognize and overcome self-sabotage?
• How to manage internal dialogue
• Changing beliefs and habits