20 Procrastination Hacks Summed Up

Having been a slacker lately (well, okay, for most of my life hehe), the title “20 Procrastination Hacks” from zenhabits immediately caught my attention. I realized that I have to stop putting things off before I really mess up bigtime. In keeping with my resolve to stop wasting time, I have summed up the 20 procrastination hacks into a more readable (and more quickly-writable) list. Here they are:

1. Form a Do It Now habit.

2. Do your most important task (MIT) first.

3. 10-minute rule
If a task seems overwhelming, try doing it for 10 minutes. Perhaps you’ll end up doing it for more than 10 minutes.

4. Break it down
If a task seems too big, break it down into smaller, more “doable” tasks.

5. Love your work
Perhaps the reason why you’re procrastinating is because you’re not very interested in what you should be doing. Even so, try to find something in the task that makes it interesting so that you’ll still do it anyway.

6. 30-10
Set a timer for 30 minutes and work like mad until the alarm goes off. Then set a timer for 10 minutes. This will serve as your break time or reward time. Repeat as often as necessary.

7. Set a deadline
For many people, deadlines are enough motivation for getting things done.

8. Put public pressure on yourself
The power of the deadline is best combined with public pressure. If there isn’t any public pressure… create one!

9. Reward yourself
It makes you look forward to completing the task and makes the process more enjoyable.

10. Consider not doing it.
This is not always an option but there are some tasks that will later turn out to be something that doesn’t have to be done. (Really? 0_o)

11. Change to an “abundance mentality”
Instead of thinking about the obstacles and difficulties of the task, focus on the possibilities and opportunities that it may present.

12. Clear distractions
It is easier to procrastinate when there’s always email to read or messages to reply to. Turn them off.

13. (10+2)*5
Merlin Mann’s famous hack. Basically similar to the 30-10 hack, but shorter. 10 minutes of work, followed by a 2-minute break, and repeat.

14. Procrastination dash
A short burst of focused work to get you out of procrastination work.

15. Track your time
Try tracking your time so  you get an idea on how much time you waste (and hopefully, feel guilty about it)

16. Prepare yourself
Often tasks are much easier, and we’re much more likely to get started, if we prepare for them first.

17. Overcome your fears
What fears are blocking you from doing this task? Fear of failure? Fear of not being good enough? Stop worrying and start doing. (Now this should be my mantra.)

18. Get a task-master
Getting someone to push you to do the task might help you get started and keep you going.

19. Schedule it last-minute.
( I don’t quite agree with this so I will not expound on this. Read the article if you want to know more about this. Then if you think this is a good idea, post me a note )

20. Structured procrastination
put your most important task at the top of your list (but make it something where the deadline can actually be pushed back), and put other important tasks right under that task. Well, in order to procrastinate on the top item, you’ll do the ones underneath it. That way you’ll get a lot done while procrastinating. The good thing is, if other more important tasks come along, they get added to the top, so the task that was formerly at the top will eventually get done.

Bonus hack: Procrascipline. A good list is even better if you throw in a bonus. This is an excellent one as well. Rules of Procrascipline from the SlackerManager:

1. You cannot ignore the task.

2. You must put it on a list that you actually look at throughout the day.

3. Communicate your progress to others.

how to go home on time (hopefully, a solution to OT problems)

i usually don’t like reading how-to and self-help articles/books (except maybe Dietel’s how-to-program books) because i feel like you are allowing someone else to dictate how to live your life. but now, i’m in desperate need of a solution to my OT problems. no kidding.

why do i need this solution? a few months ago when my life was just a work-home routine, i didn’t mind doing OT. OT was even a welcome extra-income thing for me. now, though i still need the extra income, i need time more than money. time for catching up with MCS coursework, that is. so as much as possible, i shouldn’t be doing OT. unfortunately, things beyond my control (example: deadline was changed to an earlier date >.<) dictate otherwise.

i couldn’t count the number of lectures that i have missed and the number of lessons i have not studied directly or indirectly because of OT. not studying will eventually result to flunking. now, now. don’t call me pessimistic. i’m just being realistic. passing grades do not automagically appear on grading sheets. they have to be _earned_ by studying lessons and getting passing marks on quizzes, assignments, and major exams (which reminds me, i failed my midterm exams in two subjects ). so, hmmmm, what to do, what to do?

damage control. 

i don’t know if the damage can still be undone. midterm exams are 50% of the final grade. so trying to earn even a measly 3.8 is nearly impossible. well, the least i can do is to try to avoid doing OT to have more time for study. i think the major factors that i have to consider in order to achieve this are: erratic schedules (changeable deadlines, urgent bugfixes), and personal time management. since i can’t do anything with the former, i will focus on trying to do something with the latter.

personal time management. i need to go home on time to have time to study, and of course, rest.

this need drove me to consult everyone’s best friend on the Internet–Google–for a solution. and Google did not disappoint. i found a nice article at http://www.wikihow.com/Go-Home-in-Time on how to go home on time. no fancy explanations. no claims of being the perfect solution. no annoying sales-rep-like talk urging the reader to try all the tips at once. hmmm, i like this kind of article. so i’m going to try the tips in the article for a week and evaluate the results.

 want a peek at the tips that i’m talking about? i picked out the tips (3 out of 7) that made the most sense to me and made a little summary:

1. Arrive at work on time. Better if you arrive earlier than the time so that you can have time to settle down and  get an earlier headstart. (hmm… arriving earlier is difficult but it’s worth a try)

2. Prioritize. Urgent and horrible jobs should be done first. (ugh. but this is necessary so…)

3. Work through your lunch hour if you have a deadline to meet. (no more time to catch up on my sleep but this will save me time that I can spend during the later part of the day)

here are some things that i’d like to add to the list:

4. Refrain from opening a web browser during work hours unless you’re researching on something that’s very directly work-related (like RFC’s or coding tips… refrain from reading personal emails unless absolutely necessary)

5. If possible, just focus on one job and get it done. Multi-tasking can sometimes lead to distractions.

6. As much as possible, do it right the first time (learned the lesson the hard way this month). This is to avoid major rework in the future. Doing it right the first time requires focus. So avoid distractions as much as possible (doing other tasks, reading online articles, reading and replying to emails).

7. Fill out the DTS daily so that you won’t have to spend thirty minutes to one hour on Mondays/Tuesdays trying to remember the things you did last week in order to meet the DTS submission deadline to PL.

so that’s it. hope i can do all the stuff i have just blogged about. ganbatte to me!!!