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6 practical ways to keep procrastination at bay

Akshaya Venkatesh on July 11, 2021

This blog talks about 6 simple yet effective way to minimise procrastination. Procrastinating simply put, means that you're putting off something...
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Rafael Fu

Telling someone about my plans has failed to me many times and it can be humiliating. We are all different, but I would say that you can wait until you get some REAL results. Keep your IMAGINARY results for yourself.

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Akshaya Venkatesh • Edited

Thank you for sharing - I am of course not suggesting you to share the results before you have event tried - that is certainly a bad idea. Telling something like - "Hey have you tried this? I've been meaning to for a while now...". The next time when I know I am gonna meet them it will be at the back of my mind that they're gonna ask me about it or even if I forget, them asking, "Hey did you try it out? " will serve as a reminder.

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Lilit Karapetyan

Haha! I don't remember writing this article :D Couldn't agree more on all points.
After having years of experience in procrastination, I tried every possible thing that came to my mind.
The first point you mentioned about not having a plan B, I do slightly differently. Whenever I have a plan A, and I don't want to do it and still force myself to start doing it, as a result, I spend my whole time trying to convince myself to do something. In the end, I get tired and have nothing done. As a solution, knowing myself, I just discard plan A, not to spend time on it :D. In this way, plan B becomes my only plan, so I do it without procrastinating :D.
Another minor difference is that sometimes by imagining the possible great outcome, I start daydreaming and procrastinating my current task :D So, one has to be careful with it.
The rest of the points I directly apply in my life. Depending on the situation and my mood, different methods work.
Thanks for addressing this important topic; I'm sure this will help people stay more self-organized and motivated!

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Akshaya Venkatesh

So you're saying Plan B is the actual plan but you force yourself to do something more difficult or tiring i.e. Plan A so that Plan B seems easier and better. Wow this is a great perspective. Thank you so much for sharing.

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Siddharth • Edited

About the third point, sometimes it can be helpful to start at a round figure, like on the first day of the week or month. It's called the fresh start effect, and it can help you get started. There's research on this

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Akshaya Venkatesh

Oh that's insightful. I just read up about fresh start effect. Thank you for sharing Siddharth!

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Siddharth
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Akshaya Venkatesh

This was a good read. Thanks again! I am certainly putting this to practice!

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Siddharth

The doist blog has some really good advice on productivity, and their todo app (Todoist) is also what I use

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Abhishek shah

The second point on waiting for the right time hit me really hard. I have been doing this for as long as I remember. Waiting for the round figure and in doing so, I mostly wasted hours because the time didn't seem right or something else.

The thought still crosses my mind but I have learned to put that thought aside and start working.

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Akshaya Venkatesh

Yes like I said - it’s the procrastinator’s biggest enemy. Glad that now you’re able to put it aside and work 👏👏👏 thanks for sharing 😁

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Naman Budhiraja

Hey, this is amazing. Will apply it to increase my productivity..

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Vansh Sharma

2nd point is so apt for me 🥺🥺.
I think it's time to change my habit 🙄.

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Akshaya Venkatesh

We’ve all been there. Don’t worry Vansh. Once you’ve realised what you’re doing wrong - there is always time to rectify it. Glad this helped you 🙌🙌

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Vipin Chandra

One of the best blog I read in 2021
" Don't have a plan B " 👏👏

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Akshaya Venkatesh

Thank you Vipin. That means a lot to me 😇

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cuobiezi

Thanks for your sharing . I’m very agreeing the last point . I was aways to do other things when I working at home , I can’t focus on my work . I can work better at Starbucks or some public areas.

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Paweł Ciosek

Great article!

I would add something about distractions from your phone, like FB, YT etc.
Blocking notification (during work) can protect you from excuses (like new YT video)

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Akshaya Venkatesh

Whoa! This opens up a whole new realm of thoughts for me. Thanks for sharing. 🙌