How do I completely remove procrastination from my life?

[ProjectX]

I am a deep deep procrastinator. There are tasks and books and other stuff that I can put off for weeks, months and even years. Daily I am constantly putting things off.
I am somewhat of a perfectionist and I might have OCD. This could be the problem.
Help me guys. This is really ruining my life and I want it gone, annihilated, destroyed for good.

[ZenDude]

What have you tried in the past to diminish this behavior? How did that work and what were your feelings about those techniques?

[Holistic Star]

I don't know, but why don't you put your feet up for now and think about it tomorrow?

[Holistic Star]

Sorry serious answer coming up. Can you purposely try something and do it to the standard that is 'good enough' but not 'perfect' and see what that feels like.

[colbycheeze]

Don't eliminate it, use it to your advantage man! Become a master at procrastinating. Become so good at putting off the things that you DON'T want to do, that all you do is good things.

Step 1: Stop beating yourself for having such a valuable skill.
Step 2: Start using it to your advantage by procrastinating the RIGHT THINGS.
Step 3: Enjoy life

Click here to listen to a short podcast about doing this

[wido1982]

Find something you really like, your passion in life, something you would like to do for the rest of your life without being paid for it. And then find a way to make money from it!

[bluedragon]

Waw... I also have this problem, whenever I have to do something I have to do, and I do want to do it, but I would prefer to do something else. For example, I had some really interesting classes at the University and I enjoyed reading for them, but just a little, not too much, because I have so many other things I want to read for myself. So when I had to study, I did if for 20 minutes, and then I started watching Youtube videos, checking my blog's stats, reading about something on the net, and then again I would study for 15 minutes, and then get bored again.

However, I think it's a valuable skill to be able to do what you want to do in that moment, and not what you feel like doing. Don't you think there's a difference between the 2 ?

[bluedragon]

Originally Posted by colbycheeze

Click here to listen to a short podcast about doing this

Hey, I really liked that podcast!

[garyt1628]

One way to beat procrastination is to have a daily or weekly "To Do List". Simply list down the things you want to do and make it a must to do them.

Make it a habit to look at your "To Do List" and do them every single day like brushing your teeth.

One you write it down, you don't have to worry about not doing that thing because it is on your list and you WILL do it one way or another

Hope this helps,

Gary

[colbycheeze]

Originally Posted by bluedragon

Hey, I really liked that podcast!

Thanks! Procrastination has always been one of my biggest obstacles, and thus I spend a lot of time overcoming it. One day I decided to take the approach of, "If you can't beat em, Join em!"

[Karanime]

Quite simply, do what you don't procrastinate on, and procrastinate what you'll procrastinate on anyway.

Everything will work out in the end. Doing absolutely nothing at school and still passing taught me that.

/<3

[Halffull]

The perfectionism is a HUGE cause of procrastination, start there.

[RagsToRiches]

Ahhhh

Two ways....

Intention manifest that quality of "being a man (or woman) of action"... in other words, this - Visualisation | The Real Mind

or....

This - Quitting smoking – how to stop a bad habit | The Real Mind

Originally Posted by ProjectX

I am a deep deep procrastinator. There are tasks and books and other stuff that I can put off for weeks, months and even years. Daily I am constantly putting things off.
I am somewhat of a perfectionist and I might have OCD. This could be the problem.
Help me guys. This is really ruining my life and I want it gone, annihilated, destroyed for good.

[Andrew Gubb]

Ask yourself, what am I trying to achieve with this problem?

Go inside. indentify the problem as an energy inside of you that is causing your behaviours. It is currently out of harmony with the totality of you.

Ask it, "What purpose are you trying to serve? How can you serve me in a better way? Can you please come into harmony with the being you are a part of?"

Send it love and assure it that all is well and it is one with you. If you feel that you have rejected it in the past, say sorry and ask it to come back into harmony, you won't fight it any more.

This may sound odd but I find it works excellently.

Hope this helps

Love

Andrew

[James81]

I think that procrastination is a measure of something you don't want to do.

Thus, the best way to BEAT procrastination is to structure your life in such a way as to be consistently doing the things you WANT to do. The more you do what you want to do when you want to do them, the less apt you'll be to procrastinate on the things you have to do when you have to do them.

I also theorize that procrastination is a measure of two things:

1. A need not being met within yourself
2. A life out of balance with the harmony of your wants and needs

What do most of us do on a typical basis? We wake up and just take care of stuff that we have to do. We go to work first thing, we come home, cook dinner, do our "chores", exercise, etc. And then, toward the END of the day we lay down and relax and have "fun" after a "hard day's work."

Imagine what would happen if you shifted your entire list of priorities. What would happen if instead of doing all the things you HAVE to do first, you decided to do all the things you wanted to do first and then topped off your day with the things you had to do? Perhaps that might seem counterintuitive to the idea of beating procrastination because, well, you are adding in an element of procrastination to your daily routine by doing that, no?

But isn't procrastination rooted in the fact that we feel we don't have enough time for ourselves to do the things we want to do? Isn't procrastination just a mindset of scarcity of time? Isn't procrastination just a result of the mental and emotional drain that comes with not having the time to do what we want to do everyday?

So what would happen if we got our fill of ourselves first thing? Did all the little things that we are passionate about and WANT to do FIRST? Do you think you'd still feel a drawback towards doing what you have to do then?

[James81]

Thank you for this thread, btw.

It's really given me an idea for a 30 day trial that I might try to do.

[Angela]

Originally Posted by ProjectX

I am a deep deep procrastinator. There are tasks and books and other stuff that I can put off for weeks, months and even years. Daily I am constantly putting things off.
I am somewhat of a perfectionist and I might have OCD. This could be the problem.
Help me guys. This is really ruining my life and I want it gone, annihilated, destroyed for good.

I think you could use a new story. The story of what you want.

I would start, if I were you, by letting go of an identification of "I AM a deep deep procrastinator," and move to a perspective that you've been doing some behaviors, but those behaviors are not who you are. You can always choose new ones, every moment. All those things you used to do, they happened in the past, didn't they? And now you have new choices -- what do you choose that might work better?

Who would you be being if you were totally motivated and free? What would your life be like -- what would you be seeing, hearing, and feeling?

[learningwarrior]

Try 3 new things a day for 2 days and see if this is truthful to you friend. As long as you have never done them before, do them. You are stuck in a rut, and your energy is burned up continuing this old pattern. 3 new things a day will help bring excitement, and with excitement you have more energy, more energy to do whatever you want.

[ar81]

A few ideas:
-Normally we procrastinate what we do not enjoy. Is there a way to make it more enjoyable?
-Can you procrastinate your procrastination so you put action first and procrastination later?

[Andrew Gubb]

Originally Posted by colbycheeze

Don't eliminate it, use it to your advantage man! Become a master at procrastinating. Become so good at putting off the things that you DON'T want to do, that all you do is good things.

Step 1: Stop beating yourself for having such a valuable skill.
Step 2: Start using it to your advantage by procrastinating the RIGHT THINGS.
Step 3: Enjoy life

Click here to listen to a short podcast about doing this

Love this answer!

Andrew