5 Ways To Beat Procrastination

Procrastination has become an art in and of itself. Creatives have found all sorts of incredible ways to put off the inevitable, and while excuses abound, there are a some equally as simple methods to keep procrastination in check.

1. Make Realistic Goals

Nothing makes you put something off more than when expectations are much too high – even if those expectations come from yourself. Productivity is usually a sum of small, daily actions, so instead of bullying yourself into writing one incredible chapter per day, how about you shoot for a much lower bar? If you only expect, say, two average pages per day, it’s much more likely you’ll get on a roll without the psychic load you put on your own shoulders and knock out that incredible chapter after all.

2. Set Up A Routine

In general, routines can help you keep on top of your day-to-day activities to ensure that everything that needs to be done, in fact, gets done. One key way to get some writing in daily is to make it part of your routine. Perhaps you do it first thing – put on your pot of coffee and fire up your word processor. Or maybe you get into it right after lunch while you have a full stomach and won’t be distracted. Find a system that works for you and stick to it. You’ll be surprised at the results.

3. Switch Up Your Environment

You can easily stagnate if you’re in the same place, day in and day out. Why not get out there and change it up to get inspired? Head to a cafe to knock out a few pages, maybe bring your laptop to a park or even go for a drive to a scenic lookout and pen some gems. There’s nothing better than heading somewhere a little out of the ordinary to inspire extraordinary writing.

4. Get Inspired

Speaking of getting inspired, this is the more intangible option. Whatever it takes to inspire you, that’s what you need to do. Perhaps any of the above ideas can help; or maybe you need to have a few drinks to unwind, a coffee, a full stomach, a great view, fantastic company or maybe you just need to read something brilliant to spark you into action. Figure out what works for you, try as many unorthodox ideas as you can and you’ll eventually get that creative jolt you’ve been yearning for.

5. Be Kind To Yourself

Finally, don’t be your own worst enemy. We all expect a lot of ourselves, but it gets you nowhere if you continually beat yourself up for not creating or fulfilling your own extremely lofty expectations. Give yourself the time, space and energy to generate the creative juices and get them flowing. Love yourself first, believe in your craft and the universe will do the rest.