5 Tips to Beat Procrastination

Excerpts from the book ‘SuperLeader Stratergies.’ by Manoj J Lekhi (Amrut Vivek).   Firstly, let us understand what is procrastination? ‘Kal karenge… baad mein karenge…dekhenge.’   ‘I will do it tomorrow, I will do it later on, I will think about it later.’ This is called procrastination. Procrastination is a common disease in the world. There are two types of procrastination.
  1. Unhealthy Procrastination
  2. Healthy Procrastination
  We associate this with:
  1. a) When you are in a normal state of being.
  2. b) When you are in a low state of being.
  Unhealthy Procrastination When you are in a normal state of mind, procrastination definitely will not help you, in fact, it could be detrimental to your growth. This is unhealthy procrastination. So where does procrastination start? It starts with the small things and this is how you handle it.   Tip # 1: Catch Yourself Procrastinating Catch yourself procrastinating doing small things. It is the root of all procrastination e.g. In morning, we use the toothpaste tube, brush our teeth and we leave it on the shelf unclosed – the starting point of procrastination.    Next we use our shaving kit, shave, leave the blade somewhere, leave the razor somewhere and leave the shaving foam elsewhere – beginning of procrastination.   We come back home very tired, having driven our scooter or motorcycle, or our car, we take the key and just throw it around – beginning of procrastination.   If we have a habit of reading, we read, there is a book shelf, we don’t keep it back in its respective place on the book shelf, we casually throw it around – further procrastination. We return home, we lie down, we relax on the sofa, we throw our shoes anywhere. That is further procrastination.   So, procrastination becomes a habit. The person who procrastinates becomes lazy and loses his self-esteem. His self-image goes very low. Once it falls low, it becomes a vicious cycle, which does not help to get on to the road to success. If you want to be successful, the first thing is to beat procrastination, start with paying attention to and rectifying these small habits.    Tip # 2: The 5-Second Rule for Action   A very common area of procrastination is getting up in the morning. If we have decided to get up at 5 am or 6 am or 7 am, whatever time we decide, we put an alarm and we just get up. This is the 5-Second Rule for all these actions.  If within 5 seconds you do it, you have got it. You can beat procrastination. More about this is written earlier in the book.   If you don’t do it in 5 seconds and you delay for more than 5 seconds, the chances of you not doing it are higher, so catch yourself. The 5 seconds for toothpaste, or the razor, or the car keys, or the book, or the shoes, or even getting up in the morning. Once you put off the alarm, within 5 seconds just get up and move out of the bed.   Tip # 3: The 5-Second Rule for Decision-making The third one, let us say, you are going on the road and you meet a beggar. A thought may come, ‘Let me give him Rs.100/-’, sometimes a thought may come, ‘Let me give him Rs. 500/-’, the next thought may be, ‘Are you joking? Don’t give because if you give, he might go and drink or he might spend it or lose it somewhere, so let me not give him.’   Within 5 seconds, make the decision. The first thought that comes is actually the one on which you should take action. It is the gut feeling. And when I talk about these, these are smaller action points, not big decisions.   Tip # 4: The 5-Second Rule of Spontaneity The 5-Second Rule is applicable here as well. For instance, when you get a thought that you want to take your wife out for dinner or a movie, or suddenly something spontaneously comes up and you want to do it, then just do it. If it is empowering or giving you energy, just do it. If it is something new, exciting, enthusiastic, go ahead and do it.   Tip # 5: The 5-Second Rule of Expression If suddenly you get a feeling – I love someone, I want to share something with him or her, immediately send the e-mail or SMS or phone and express. When it comes to expressing to people, specially some empowering thoughts, empowering feelings or positive feelings, never hesitate. Always use the 5-Second Rule.    Immediately, send your love through SMS or email or voice mail or phone call or express one-to-one in person.    Healthy Procrastination Now come the big decisions – e.g. you want to shift your home, you want to start a new business, you want to take a big decision in your life about a relationship or wealth. With regard to such decisions, which require some thinking, you may take your time rather than hurrying up.    There is another side of procrastination which is very important to understand. When you are in low vibration moods and you are experiencing feelings like anger, frustration, depression, irritation, vengefulness, anxiety – during all these moods – there is a key point to remember, which is – ‘Always Procrastinate’.   The 50-Hour Rule As seen earlier in the book, the 50-Hour Rule is a key point to remember – Always procrastinate when you are vibrating at a low level or are in low energy.   The 50-Hour Rule says, ‘Delay all your decisions, delay all our actions when they stem from low vibrational thoughts or feelings. Delay it for 50 hours’. So, for the same situation, if you want to send an e-mail, surely send it but after two days. You can write it down immediately but keep it in your drafts and send it only after two days. For the same situation, you will find your thoughts have changed. The same anger and hatred you wanted to express has changed dramatically after two days. This is healthy procrastination.   Finally, to conclude: It is unhealthy procrastination to delay small things when you are fine. Always do them immediately. Beat procrastination.   Apply the 5-Second Rule. When it comes to expressing negative feelings or thoughts, it is healthy to procrastinate. Apply The 50-Hour Rule.   Use procrastination in a way in which it will empower you. Experiment and see the wonderful results.    A Super Leader applies the 5-Second Rule to beat unhealthy procrastination and the 50-Hour Rule to maintain healthy procrastination.