Getting Work Started
A Tip for Procrastinators

Good Monday everyone!

For most of us, it is the start of another week day. The procrastinator in some of us may still cling on the hems of Sunday’s lazy, comfortable sheets but listen, no matter how adept you are at putting off work, you have to do work eventually because that is what you are being paid to do. But a tiny voice in your head says, “but the deadline is still 2 days away!” Listen to this little guy and before you knew it’s Wednesday and you haven’t done a thing.

Yes, there are deadlines for work. But there’s also a deadline for when to start work. The difference is – you get to define it. The problem? Most of us do not clearly define our “start work deadline”.

Look at the time now. Select a realistic time to begin your work. For example, if you arrived at the office at 8:25am, settle down, turn on your PC and say, “By 8:35am, I am going to begin the introduction section for my report on Purple Running Bananas.” Be specific. If you are particularly bad at keeping promises with yourself, set a timer.

There’s another thing you can add to this statement to make it seem less daunting — decide on the amount of time you’d like to give your full attention to for this task. Make this span short and as non-intimidating as possible. How does working for 5 minutes sound like? Doesn’t sound like much work? Great. So go on and tell yourself this, “By 8:35am I am going to start writing the introduction for my report on Purple Running Bananas. I will work on it for 5 minutes.”

And for 5 minutes, starting at 8:35 am, give your full attention to the task at hand.

For me, the action of diving into work, if only for 5 minutes, is enough to give the push I need to start the day. Once the initial reluctance is done with, I usually find myself too absorbed in my work to notice that 5 minutes (or even 5 hours) have gone by.

If you find yourself not wanting to continue beyond the first 5 minutes, it’s okay. Remember, you have already accomplished your first goal of the day, so that’s progress! Keep setting mini goals like this throughout the day. You are likely to accomplish more this way than just sitting there, dreading about work.

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