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How to actually beat procrastination

Your first thought as you read this will likely be, “I’ll read this later.”

Don’t! Read this now!

It’ll take you like 30 seconds and save you countless hours.

Try this super simple technique for beating our favourite nemesis. Procrastination.

Try this now:

Decide what is the most important thing you have to do today.

Now just do the first little part of it — just the first minute, or even 30 seconds of it. Getting started is seriously the only part that matters.

It’s a little brain hack, once we start a task we have been dreading a new emotion takes it’s place in which we feel incomplete that we haven’t finished it! The problem is just getting started.

Emmetts Law: The dread of a task uses up more energy than actually doing it.

Clear away your distractions. Turn everything off. Close all programs. So it’s just you and your task.

Listen to your mind, if it starts to have sway to other tasks. You might have urges to check email or Facebook or Twitter or any other distracting nonsense. You might want to play a game or make a call or do another task. Just notice these urges.

Don’t move. Notice the urges, but sit still and let them pass. Urges build up in intensity, then they pass, like a wave. Let each one pass.

Notice also your mind trying to come up with reasons for not doing the task. Let these self-rationalizing thoughts pass also.

Now just take one small action to get started. As tiny a step as possible.

Once you get started, the rest will flow.