Overcoming Your Persistent Procrastination: Here Are 12 Strategies to Employ
Meg Dowell, a renowned nine-time NaNoWriMo winner and freelance writer, has built a reputation for her expertise in the writing field. Apart from her successful stints in writing, Meg is active on Twitter, where she shares her thoughts on writing, food, and nerdy things.
In addition to her freelance work, Meg contributes guest posts to various platforms. Recently, she has shared a set of strategies to effectively manage and overcome procrastination on a project or task.
To combat procrastination, Meg suggests breaking the work into small, manageable steps. This approach helps in avoiding overwhelming feelings and makes the work more approachable. Setting clear, time-bound goals and deadlines is another strategy Meg advocates. The use of focused work techniques such as the Pomodoro method, where one works for 25 minutes followed by short breaks, can also aid in maintaining focus and productivity.
One interesting technique Meg introduces is the "Two-Minute Rule." This rule suggests that if a task takes less than two minutes, it should be done immediately, or one should commit to working on larger tasks for at least two minutes to start the momentum.
Meg also emphasizes the importance of removing distractions like social media and phones, creating accountability by sharing goals with others, and tackling the most challenging or important tasks first ("eat the frog" method) to build momentum early in the work session.
Detailed strategies include breaking tasks into smaller steps, using the Two-Minute Rule, setting clear goals and time limits, employing the Pomodoro Technique, removing distractions, prioritizing using the Eisenhower Matrix, doing the hardest task first, maintaining accountability, conducting weekly reviews, and time blocking.
These strategies collectively help to shift mindset, manage energy, and create structure, thereby reducing procrastination and improving task completion.
Meg Dowell is also the creator of Novelty Revisions, a website dedicated to helping writers put their ideas into words. Her work has been published in Teen Ink, Success Story, Lifehack, and USA TODAY College. It's clear that Meg's passion for writing and helping others extends beyond her personal accomplishments.
