There’s a reason you’ll see a hundred videos on procrastination. And what’s that?

Procrastination is quite common. Now just in an average person. It is quite common for high achievers too.

I’ve got a big procrastination problem. I’ll find myself doing dreadful tasks, just to avoid doing the ACTUAL work. I find opportunities to escape the work.

Have you been in such a place?

You know you have a major problem and yet you don’t actually do the work.

Let’s address this and discuss the solutions from the book, The Now Habit by Neil Fiore

Why Don’t We Start?

No. It’s not because you are lazy.

You find yourself checking your Instagram feed, reading a novel, or binge-watching a series. If not anything just lying there thinking about starting the work.

The reason we procrastinate is deep.

We sometimes fear failure. Sometimes it is because of the overwhelming length of the project.

One important psychological reason is that we feel like the work is too much. And, we assume if we start working, we would not get any time to play.

By play, I’m referring to anything that’s not work, it could be spending time with your family or watching a movie.

I have found myself scrolling my Instagram, or watching YouTube, with guilt that I am supposed to be working. All this while thinking (subconsciously), if I start working I will not get time to play.

This is something I realized when I read the book, The Now Habit by Neil Fiore.

I’ve tried different techniques and productivity hacks. They never worked. Those techniques might work for some people and not for others. For me, they didn’t. But this formula by Neil Fiore worked for me.

Going the route of “Unscheduling”

Okay, I know, sounds absurd when you read that word…

Let me explain…

What would happen if we schedule a time to play?

What if we make a schedule to check Instagram, read a novel, Netflix and chill, or stare at your beautiful blank wall?

We tend to think if we are workaholics or busy bees, we will not have time to play, this ends up messing us all over.

And when we’re going the work mode, we think we’ll have to quit the play.

Instead, we should understand the importance of good play. Good play is guilt-free. Where you have no thoughts about your to-do lists and deadlines.

When I’m procrastinating on doing something and scrolling on social media, I’m also regretting not doing the work. if you think about it, I’m not even enjoying scrolling wholeheartedly.

Here Is What You Should Be Doing

Schedule a time to play

Make a list of all the things you do to procrastinate.

And, make a list of things that help you energize and focus, for me it’s going on a long walk.

Now, schedule these activities in your day.

You need to have a rule that you’re not allowed to work at these hours, only have fun.

But before you do that, you have to do this:

Work for at least half an hour before you take your time off

Distribute your play throughout the day.

For example, schedule Instagram in the morning, and Twitter in the afternoon. And a good walk in the evening hours.

Once you have done that, make a list of the important tasks and work on these tasks for at least half an hour before you play.

Once you are done with that piece of work you can enjoy your play guilt-free.

What you would do in this half an hour, if spent in a flow state, would shock you. 30 minutes of deep work is better than 3 hours of unfocused work.

This way your play is the reward you will get for getting the task done. And you are not going to be procrastinating on the work.

The best part is, when you go for a play after getting the work done, you are going to be putting your subconscious to work. You will have better ideas about all the problems you were having during the work.

The Shift in Mindset for Procrastinators to Producers

One of the most important things I learned from this book is about mindset shifts to go from a procrastinator to a producer.

Replace negative self-talk about your task with positive ones.

Replace “I must do this” with “I choose to do this”

This creates an empowering attitude towards the project and gets you excited.

Replace “I must finish” with “when can I start”

Even if you have come to the end of the project you know you need to start working on the end of it.

Replace “This project is so big and important” with “I can take one step at a time”

Mountains look scary. But when you start heading towards the top, they get easy.

Replace “I must be perfect” with “I can be perfectly human”

No one’s perfect. It is human to make mistakes.

Replace “I don’t have time to play” with “I must take time to play”

Because you deserve to play and have fun.

These mindshifts work. You’ll get more work done and have more time to play.

As you keep doing this, you will be more effective with time. Once you are habitual to this system, You will see the most productive days of your life.

Let me know which part of this newsletter resonated with you the most.

- Noman Shaikh

P. S. This newsletter is about actionable and easy-to-digest information from books. It is not specific to a genre of books. Any book that’s interesting will be broken down and shared here. If you have a suggestion, let me know.

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