Lifestyle

<h2>&quot;A day can really slip by when you&rsquo;re deliberately avoiding what you&rsquo;re supposed to do.&quot; -Bill Watterson</h2><p>We all know procrastination is bad. It causes anxiety, stress, and panic, but for some reason, a lot of us can&#39;t seem to stop putting off until tomorrow what could be done today. Procrastination is a hard habit to break, but luckily there are tons of tips and tricks out there to make accomplishing tasks a little easier. One thing that helped me was getting an app that lets you check off your daily tasks. For some reason ticking those little boxes and seeing my progress feels rewarding and helps motivate me to get even more stuff done.</p><h2>Someone <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/v78ks5/former_procrastinators_how_did_you_stop/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=ios_app&amp;utm_name=iossmf">asked, </a>&quot;Former procrastinators, how did you stop procrastinating?&quot; The replies just might change your life. At the very least, you can read these tips while you procrastinate on your latest to-do list.</h2><p>1.<a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/beatissima/">beatissima</a></p><blockquote> <p>I tell myself I only have to complete the first step of whatever task it is.</p> </blockquote><p>2. <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/meltingintoice/" style="font-family: BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, &quot;Segoe UI&quot;, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, &quot;Fira Sans&quot;, &quot;Droid Sans&quot;, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1rem; letter-spacing: -0.01em;">meltingintoice</a></p><blockquote> <p>One thing that has helped me is trying to expand my tolerance for just going ahead and doing a shitty job of something.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>Not up for writing a thank-you note? Don&#39;t wait until I feel in the mood to write a really good one; just write a shitty one and send it. I know that&#39;s better than waiting longer to do it and then setting an even higher standard that I&#39;ll only delay sending.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>Not up for going to the gym? Just tell myself that I only have to show up and do one set -- not my entire routine. Usually, once I get in the door I wind up doing way more than one set. But I only commit to doing the one set so I don&#39;t psych myself out of going at all.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>Just trying to force myself to be comfortable with DOING something half-assed instead of NOT DOING anything while I wait to be in the mood. I get tons more done, and actually more often than not it doesn&#39;t turn out any worse than if I&#39;d waited.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>3.<a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/joyfulnoises/">joyfulnoises</a></p><blockquote> <p>Start a timer for five minutes, and work the entire time. Use every ounce of your willpower to make it five minutes. Get comfortable, brew some tea, light a candle, cry if you need to, but get through five minutes.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>After that, it starts gnawing at you more and the guilt of putting it off becomes harder to ignore since you&rsquo;ve already put the effort in. If this doesn&rsquo;t work, repeat the process for five more minutes each time (10, 15, 20) until it does. If it STILL DOESN&rsquo;T WORK well hey congrats, at least you got some of it done.Taking advantage of the sunk cost fallacy has been my greatest weapon</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>-Certified ADHD mofo</p> </blockquote><p>4.<a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Xminus6/">Xminus6</a></p><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>Might seem silly but I found myself just getting lethargic about projects. I set a reminder every morning to GSSD! (Get Some Stuff Done). Usually after breakfast when I might settle in to being lazy. It&rsquo;s actually worked pretty well.</p> </blockquote><p>5. <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/1BoiledCabbage/">1BoiledCabbage</a></p><blockquote> <p>I learned a trick from other Redditors. Before sitting down, say, &quot;You know what? I can do X, there&#39;s not that much.&quot; And after doing that, say the same for another small task. Today, I got two loads of laundry washed &amp; folded, two loads of dishes washed and dried, the floor wept and dinner cooked, all because I convinced myself to do smaller tasks, rather than a list of chores.</p> </blockquote><p>6.<a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/NoxWild/">NoxWild</a></p><blockquote> <p>Stop waiting to &quot;be in the mood&quot; or &quot;feel like tackling it.&quot; I am <strong>never</strong> &quot;in the mood&quot; to clean the bathroom. I <strong>never</strong> &quot;feel like tackling&quot; yard work. I tell myself I don&#39;t have to feel like it, I just have to do it.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>I wasted a lot of mental energy delaying stuff that had to get done, and feeling put out about having to do XYZ boring/unpleasant/difficult task. The Job Fairy never appeared to do the task for me, no matter how much I wished and hoped and visualized.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>Just take care of whatever the fuck it is that needs to be done. Stop using the mental and psychic energy it takes to <strong>not</strong> do it.</p> </blockquote><p>7. <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ImpressiveRespect47/">ImpressiveRespect47</a></p><blockquote> <p>For me, personally telling myself, &quot;If you do this now you won&#39;t have to do it later&quot; works the majority of the time. It works for me because I do end up thanking myself for going ahead and doing whatever task I thought about putting off and gives me a sense of accomplishment.</p> </blockquote><p>8.<a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/LokiNinja/">LokiNinja</a></p><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>Count to 5 and then just do it</p> </blockquote><p>9.<a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/gridsandorchids/">gridsandorchids</a></p><blockquote> <p>Usually it&#39;s some version of fear of failure. Deal with that in your own way. Or you subconsciously don&#39;t know how to solve it all at once. You have to just start doing it to resolve questions you can&#39;t do by just thinking about it.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>Sometimes you&#39;re tired and caffeine legitimately helps. Sometimes it&#39;s an ADHD thing and you need meds. For me, I honestly get the same from coffee. Sometimes you&#39;re lonely, and company helps you focus. This is the case if you find yourself needing podcasts, background TV, noise, etc. It&#39;s called body doubling.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>Sometimes you truly don&#39;t want to do it for some reason. Be careful and don&#39;t mix this up with fear of failure over something you truly do want or need to do.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>Sometimes some information or thing you need to do it is missing. Sometimes that&#39;s resolved by starting and identifying that thing, sometimes you can resolve it by dealing with it externally. (For example, you have to do something for work, but it doesn&#39;t make sense - it&#39;s hard to do it, it&#39;s better to escalate the problem or explain why it doesn&#39;t make sense to the requester).</p> </blockquote><p>10. <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Anon_death/">Anon_death</a></p><blockquote> <p>Get up right now and do something. Anything. It will lead to more stuff done.</p> </blockquote><p>11.<a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/HELLOhappyshop/">HELLOhappyshop</a></p><blockquote> <p>Eh, I&#39;ll tell you tomorrow. I bet there are a bunch of the exact same comments already lol</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>But for real, I still struggle with it, but I find making to-do lists helps. I use a weekly planner and add things as I think of them, so I can plan out a few days at a time if I have stuff I NEED to plan out. Then I don&#39;t even think about it, I just do the stuff and feel that satisfying check mark after.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>But am I 100% successful all the time? Nope! But I sure try lol</p> </blockquote><p>12.<a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/olwguy/">olwguy</a></p><p> </p><blockquote> <p>I rewarded myself with hobbies</p> </blockquote><p>13.<a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ballatthecornerflag/">ballatthecornerflag</a></p><blockquote> <p>Extended the deadlines I gave myself to be realistic given my motivation for the task at hand</p> </blockquote><p>14.<a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Wonderful-Custard-47/">Wonderful-Custard-47</a></p><p> </p><blockquote> <p>Quitting social media and reducing screen time/screen-based activities did a world of good for me. I ended up spending my time actually doing the things I said I would instead. But for some stupid as reason, I got back on Reddit around a month ago. I don&#39;t know wtf I was thinking.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>15. <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ArtichokeNegative477/">ArtichokeNegative477</a></p><blockquote> <p>Turns out I was procrastinating because I was depressed. I started exercising which helped a lot. I am a creature of momentum, so once I do one thing good/healthy it tends to snowball. The exercise was the catalyst for that. It also just gave me more energy which made it easier to do things.</p> </blockquote><p>16.<a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/bulamae/">bulamae</a></p><blockquote> <p>Once I learned that not procrastinating is self-care, it makes it easier to care for myself by getting things done as they come up.</p> </blockquote><p>17.<a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/wallowmallowshallow/">wallowmallowshallow</a></p><blockquote> <p>getting diagnosed and treated for my ADHD (at 21). tried a few different meds, thank you Adderall, I&#39;m a functional human being now.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>The weirdest/craziest part to me was I never realized how much ADHD impacted my everyday life. like it&#39;s not just the procrastination and inability to focus but it&#39;s also the lack of motivation, the decision paralysis, the social awkwardness, the insomnia, the overstimulation and so much more.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>18. <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Character-Scholar204/">Character-Scholar204</a></p><blockquote> <p>Having a calendar helped me. I will write all the things I need to do that day down, then if I get bored I look at the calendar, instead of procrastinating.</p> </blockquote><p>19.<a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/electron_mania/">electron_mania</a></p><blockquote> <p>Set a short timer and commit to only doing the task for that long.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>It doesn&#39;t mean you <em>must</em> stop after the timer runs out but that you start with the expectation that you will do so. For instance, to clean my home, I set a short-timer and do only what I can in that period. Sometimes I just stop after that but sometimes I just keep going and get into a good rhythm of getting things done.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>This ensures that one gets started and makes some progress consistently. That alone will help stave off a lot of compounding negativity. Find a strategy that will let you get started. That is vital.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>20. <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/badgersprite/">badgersprite</a></p><blockquote> <p>I&rsquo;m going to stop procrastinating tomorrow. TBH one thing that kind of helps is I know that I do things under a time crunch. So if I can artificially create a time crunch for myself I will do it.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>An example of this might be like telling someone you&rsquo;re going to do something - that ends up being pretty motivating to finally get it done instead of having no set deadline or a distant deadline by which to do it. Once I&rsquo;ve said it out loud I have to do it by some point even if it means not today but like OK next week instead of next month.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>If I actually make a time commitment to another person to someone else to do something I&rsquo;m really good about it. Obviously, this won&rsquo;t work with every single thing but as far as like picking important battles or big tasks it&rsquo;s a good option to have.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>21. <a data-testid="comment_author_link" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/d0vesinthewind/">d0vesinthewind</a></p><blockquote> <p>Just take baby steps. this has honestly changed my life. when you&#39;re too lazy to do something, convince yourself to just take the first step. for example, when you have to write an essay assignment, just force yourself to go to your desk and list down some things you&#39;d like to include in the essay.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>When you&#39;re too lazy to work out, just get up and set up your equipment (mat, weights, etc). usually, when I get to this point, I say screw it and just do the whole thing since I&#39;m there already.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div>

21 former procrastinators share their top tips for getting things done.

&quot;A day can really slip by when you&rsquo;re deliberately avoiding what you&rsquo;re supposed to do.&quot; -Bill WattersonWe all know procrastination is bad. It causes anxiety, stress, and panic, but for some reason, a lot of us can&#39;t seem to stop putting off until tomorrow what could be done today. Procrastination is a hard habit to break, but luckily there are tons of tips and tricks out there to make accomplishing tasks a little easier. One thing that helped me was getting an app that lets you check off your daily tasks. For some reason ticking those little boxes and seeing my progress feels rewarding and helps motivate me to get even more stuff done.Someone asked, &quot;Former procrastinators, how did you stop procrastinating?&quot; The replies just might change your life. At the very least, you can read these tips while you procrastinate on your latest to-do list.1.beatissima I tell myself I only have to complete the first step of whatever task it is. 2. meltingintoice One thing that has helped me is trying to expand my tolerance for just going ahead and doing a shitty job of something.  Not up for writing a thank-you note? Don&#39;t wait until I feel in the mood to write a really good one; just write a shitty one and send it. I know that&#39;s better than waiting longer to do it and then setting an even higher standard that I&#39;ll only delay sending.  Not up for going to the gym? Just tell myself that I only have to show up and do one set -- not my entire routine. Usually, once I get in the door I wind up doing way more than one set. But I only commit to doing the one set so I don&#39;t psych myself out of going at all.  Just trying to force myself to be comfortable with DOING something half-assed instead of NOT DOING anything while I wait to be in the mood. I get tons more done, and actually more often than not it doesn&#39;t turn out any worse than if I&#39;d waited. 3.joyfulnoises Start a timer for five minutes, and work the entire time. Use every ounce of your willpower to make it five minutes. Get comfortable, brew some tea, light a candle, cry if you need to, but get through five minutes.  After that, it starts gnawing at you more and the guilt of putting it off becomes harder to ignore since you&rsquo;ve already put the effort in. If this doesn&rsquo;t work, repeat the process for five more minutes each time (10, 15, 20) until it does. If it STILL DOESN&rsquo;T WORK well hey congrats, at least you got some of it done.Taking advantage of the sunk cost fallacy has been my greatest weapon  -Certified ADHD mofo 4.Xminus6 Might seem silly but I found myself just getting lethargic about projects. I set a reminder every morning to GSSD! (Get Some Stuff Done). Usually after breakfast when I might settle in to being lazy. It&rsquo;s actually worked pretty well. 5. 1BoiledCabbage I learned a trick from other Redditors. Before sitting down, say, &quot;You know what? I can do X, there&#39;s not that much.&quot; And after doing that, say the same for another small task. Today, I got two loads of laundry washed &amp; folded, two loads of dishes washed and dried, the floor wept and dinner cooked, all because I convinced myself to do smaller tasks, rather than a list of chores. 6.NoxWild Stop waiting to &quot;be in the mood&quot; or &quot;feel like tackling it.&quot; I am never &quot;in the mood&quot; to clean the bathroom. I never &quot;feel like tackling&quot; yard work. I tell myself I don&#39;t have to feel like it, I just have to do it.  I wasted a lot of mental energy delaying stuff that had to get done, and feeling put out about having to do XYZ boring/unpleasant/difficult task. The Job Fairy never appeared to do the task for me, no matter how much I wished and hoped and visualized.  Just take care of whatever the fuck it is that needs to be done. Stop using the mental and psychic energy it takes to not do it. 7. ImpressiveRespect47 For me, personally telling myself, &quot;If you do this now you won&#39;t have to do it later&quot; works the majority of the time. It works for me because I do end up thanking myself for going ahead and doing whatever task I thought about putting off and gives me a sense of accomplishment. 8.LokiNinja Count to 5 and then just do it 9.gridsandorchids Usually it&#39;s some version of fear of failure. Deal with that in your own way. Or you subconsciously don&#39;t know how to solve it all at once. You have to just start doing it to resolve questions you can&#39;t do by just thinking about it.  Sometimes you&#39;re tired and caffeine legitimately helps. Sometimes it&#39;s an ADHD thing and you need meds. For me, I honestly get the same from coffee. Sometimes you&#39;re lonely, and company helps you focus. This is the case if you find yourself needing podcasts, background TV, noise, etc. It&#39;s called body doubling.  Sometimes you truly don&#39;t want to do it for some reason. Be careful and don&#39;t mix this up with fear of failure over something you truly do want or need to do.  Sometimes some information or thing you need to do it is missing. Sometimes that&#39;s resolved by starting and identifying that thing, sometimes you can resolve it by dealing with it externally. (For example, you have to do something for work, but it doesn&#39;t make sense - it&#39;s hard to do it, it&#39;s better to escalate the problem or explain why it doesn&#39;t make sense to the requester). 10. Anon_death Get up right now and do something. Anything. It will lead to more stuff done. 11.HELLOhappyshop Eh, I&#39;ll tell you tomorrow. I bet there are a bunch of the exact same comments already lol  But for real, I still struggle with it, but I find making to-do lists helps. I use a weekly planner and add things as I think of them, so I can plan out a few days at a time if I have stuff I NEED to plan out. Then I don&#39;t even think about it, I just do the stuff and feel that satisfying check mark after.  But am I 100% successful all the time? Nope! But I sure try lol 12.olwguy  I rewarded myself with hobbies 13.ballatthecornerflag Extended the deadlines I gave myself to be realistic given my motivation for the task at hand 14.Wonderful-Custard-47  Quitting social media and reducing screen time/screen-based activities did a world of good for me. I ended up spending my time actually doing the things I said I would instead. But for some stupid as reason, I got back on Reddit around a month ago. I don&#39;t know wtf I was thinking. 15. ArtichokeNegative477 Turns out I was procrastinating because I was depressed. I started exercising which helped a lot. I am a creature of momentum, so once I do one thing good/healthy it tends to snowball. The exercise was the catalyst for that. It also just gave me more energy which made it easier to do things. 16.bulamae Once I learned that not procrastinating is self-care, it makes it easier to care for myself by getting things done as they come up. 17.wallowmallowshallow getting diagnosed and treated for my ADHD (at 21). tried a few different meds, thank you Adderall, I&#39;m a functional human being now.  The weirdest/craziest part to me was I never realized how much ADHD impacted my everyday life. like it&#39;s not just the procrastination and inability to focus but it&#39;s also the lack of motivation, the decision paralysis, the social awkwardness, the insomnia, the overstimulation and so much more. 18. Character-Scholar204 Having a calendar helped me. I will write all the things I need to do that day down, then if I get bored I look at the calendar, instead of procrastinating. 19.electron_mania Set a short timer and commit to only doing the task for that long.  It doesn&#39;t mean you must stop after the timer runs out but that you start with the expectation that you will do so. For instance, to clean my home, I set a short-timer and do only what I can in that period. Sometimes I just stop after that but sometimes I just keep going and get into a good rhythm of getting things done.  This ensures that one gets started and makes some progress consistently. That alone will help stave off a lot of compounding negativity. Find a strategy that will let you get started. That is vital. 20. badgersprite I&rsquo;m going to stop procrastinating tomorrow. TBH one thing that kind of helps is I know that I do things under a time crunch. So if I can artificially create a time crunch for myself I will do it.  An example of this might be like telling someone you&rsquo;re going to do something - that ends up being pretty motivating to finally get it done instead of having no set deadline or a distant deadline by which to do it. Once I&rsquo;ve said it out loud I have to do it by some point even if it means not today but like OK next week instead of next month.  If I actually make a time commitment to another person to someone else to do something I&rsquo;m really good about it. Obviously, this won&rsquo;t work with every single thing but as far as like picking important battles or big tasks it&rsquo;s a good option to have. 21. d0vesinthewind Just take baby steps. this has honestly changed my life. when you&#39;re too lazy to do something, convince yourself to just take the first step. for example, when you have to write an essay assignment, just force yourself to go to your desk and list down some things you&#39;d like to include in the essay.  When you&#39;re too lazy to work out, just get up and set up your equipment (mat, weights, etc). usually, when I get to this point, I say screw it and just do the whole thing since I&#39;m there already. 

&quot;A day can really slip by when you&rsquo;re deliberately avoiding what you&rsquo;re supposed to do.&quot; -Bill Watterson  We all know procrastination is bad. It causes anxiety, stress, and panic, but for some reason, a lot of us...

21 former procrastinators share their top tips for getting things done.

"A day can really slip by when you’re deliberately avoiding what you’re supposed to do." -Bill Watterson

Someone asked, "Former procrastinators, how did you stop procrastinating?" The replies just might change your life. At the very least, you can read these tips while you procrastinate on your latest to-do list.