Expert Author Ruth Barringham
We all have days when we don't feel like working, and it doesn't matter if you're trying to do household chores or actually going out to work. If you don't feel like doing it, then it's difficult to make a start.
And as a writer, I used to suffer from procrastination a lot. In fact so much, that some days it felt impossible for me to actually sit down and start writing because no matter how much I love what I do, work is work so I don't always want to do it.
And I've seen countless others suffering the same way too. They want to do things, but they just can't seem to get themselves into the mood to do it, so they sit there in their dirty house with an overgrown garden and a filthy car, and just don't feel like doing anything, no matter how much the neglected chores bother them.
It can be the same at work. You arrive one time, get ready, and then simply knuckle-drag your way through the day, wishing it was time to leave and dreading having to come back the next day and do it all over again.
So what's the solution?
About a year ago I was reading an online article about procrastination and it gave me a really big "A-HA!" moment.
The advice it gave was so elementary but I knew as soon as I read it that I'd struck gold.
So what did it say?
The advice as simple:
If you have to do something, the best time to do it is when you don't feel like doing it.
So if you're thinking that you really should mow your lawn but you can't be bothered, get up and do it anyway.
If you work from home and you know you should be working instead of wasting time, stop whatever you're doing and do your work instead.
And what you'll find is that when you do something when you really don't want to do it, you'll do it well and it won't be difficult once you get going.
In fact, I find that once I make a start, I realise it was just the actual starting that I didn't want to do. Once I begin to do something it's easy to keep going.
And if you still have trouble getting going, just tell yourself that you'll do it for just 20 minutes. Tell yourself that after 20 minutes you can stop if you want to, but I'm betting that you won't want to stop once you start.
This is the best (and easiest) advice you'll ever get about how to overcome procrastination and double your productivity at the same time.
It works for me every time, and it can work for you too.