Do not put off life until later. Never! Remember: never feel negative emotions about what you have! Why we put things off until later

Let's not be cunning: each of us is familiar with procrastination firsthand. Most are even able to courageously admit that from time to time we deliberately (or not?) Delay making an important decision that can affect our lives. It could be a trip to the dentist, a large or small task awaiting completion, or a trivial cleaning at home. Today we will try to find out in what situations you should be on your guard and what can help in guerrilla warfare against this unfavorable quality for a person.

Let's start quickly.

1. Determine if you really need to do it

Perhaps the reason for your procrastination lies in the absence of a compelling reason to take action. A job that you hate, or something else that you hated from childhood, that you always wanted to get rid of, is from a completely different category, which does not include dreams and real goals.

In such situations, I would advise, first of all, to approach the assessment of the upcoming task critically: why wasting time on something that is decidedly not to your liking, if there are many other tasks that are a pleasure to tackle?

2. Do a little reconnaissance in force

Once you've figured out which tasks are idle, take one and do a small part of it to get a sense of the difficulty level. Based on your impressions of the process, decide if you need help.

Often we overload ourselves with thoughts about how many things need to be done in time, and then we cannot budge, imagining an endless list of tasks: there are many of them, but the employee, that is, you, is lonely. This approach is deliberately wrong. But what if you devote to an urgent issue, say, 15 minutes or half an hour? It is likely that you will get a taste, thereby getting off the ground.

3. Listen to yourself. And do the opposite

Best friend "I'll do it tomorrow" - "I don't want something." If rebellious moods are growing in your soul, you must fight them as decisively and harshly as international terrorism. After all, if you follow the lead of your desire to do nothing, what will happen next? Right, nothing.

So, before you tackle something that cannot be avoided, try to tune in a new way: meditate, take a walk, or resort to another method that works for you.

4. Order first

The environment around you can successfully both promote procrastination and help in dealing with it. Take a quick look at your desk, home decor, or wherever you need to work.

Surely not everything around you is in a state of perfect order, so find the strength to clean up: get rid of the garbage, put everything in its place so that the eye is happy and the work is argued.

By the way, after a little cleaning it is easier to think. See for yourself.

5. Train yourself to think: now it will always be so

As a rule, the first steps in anything, be it sports or new responsibilities at work, are always difficult. Probably the most simple example there will be a situation in which each of us finds ourselves at least once in our life. Remember the magic Snooze button on your alarm? I bet you might not know what this means english word, but you definitely know how this button works: there is nothing easier than pressing it and sleeping peacefully further.

So, it is forbidden succumb to this kind of temptation, listening to your inner voice, calling to put all matters on the back burner. Forget about the rules of etiquette when he once again resounds in your head: cut off his tirade in mid-sentence and do what you must.

6. Tell a trusted person about your important decision

It can be your business partner, wife or best friend - or anyone, as long as he is aware of. Tell this person your intentions by identifying key points, dates, and deadlines. Ask him to control you as an experiment.

It may very well be that your ally in the struggle for productivity himself needs help and additional motivation in life. Therefore, we urge you to be honest with each other: gently but firmly point out the places that, in your opinion, require special attention. And go for it.

7. Don't let yourself be a victim of your circumstances.

Have you ever wondered why the expression “being a victim of circumstance” is so popular? Why do stories from the lips of losers draw crowds of sympathizers? The answer is simple: people want to be sure that there are always those who are weaker, more unlucky, and unhappy than themselves.

Let's be productive: digging into our own problems will not help us find solutions. Chin up! Try to dispel the discouragement, convince yourself: "I'm fine." Then everything should work out.

8. No apologies accepted

In general, you should apologize as little as possible. Apologizing is, in essence, forgiving yourself, that is, our main enemy... If you forgive yourself everything right and left, in the end you will become dull and begin to live, guided only by instincts and natural needs. Is this life?

There can be infinitely many reasons to come to an agreement with oneself, following the path of least resistance. Eliminate the slightest beginnings of this bad habit in yourself.

9. Learn to focus in a short amount of time.

If you want to be successful, learn to manage your time. Start small: train yourself to be collected in the short time frames required to complete a task.

Having mastered this technique perfectly, you can start long-term planning. As my favorite poet said, "the big is seen at a distance."

10. Listen to Indian mantras

twentyfreee / Depositphotos.com

Even if you are not a regular at ethnic festivals and have never thought about a trip to Nepal or Goa, pay attention to the national music of the country of elephants and curry sauce. Mantras are positive attitudes, listening to which and meditating, you can find peace and tune in the right way. The first thing to learn is to control your breathing. When this is within your power, you can begin to comprehend more complex states - concentration on what you need.

By the way, there are many mantras. You can experiment and choose which one you like and work.

11. Leave your comfort zone

Our eternal enemy is the inner voice. If you let it sound, it will quietly convince you that it is right. And we know for certain that in most cases he is wrong. Try to distract yourself from him in any way you know.

Most often, it occurs at those moments when we tend to doubt our abilities. Therefore, if you are not sure whether you will reach the end of the path, try to drown out the words of doubt with positive attitudes: "I can, I will get there, I will."

12. Visualize goals. Imagine success

Visualization is a powerful tool for achieving goals. It has been proven more than once that this technique helps to kill procrastination in the bud, motivating you to succeed.

Looking into the future helps to focus on the ultimate goals, as well as on how their achievement will affect the quality of your future life. Get a wish board if you want to be successful as soon as possible.

13. Give yourself some trouble.

Or a lot, as long as it is needed. What am I talking about? The fact is that suffering and various kinds of grief are also sources of motivation: the feeling of disorder pushes us forward, and we change jobs, move, learn something new.

Having reached a certain point of awareness of a situation that you do not like, normal person starts act... So, if you are still sitting still and prefer not to think about the problem, then everything suits you, not otherwise.

In general, you are the very wizard who can help you cope with everything. As the wise Mahatma Gandhi taught us, if you want a change in the future, become this change in the present.

14. Whoever dares wins

Curb your fear! Fear of something is the most faithful accomplice of procrastination. Just tell yourself: "No, I'm not afraid of anything, I will succeed." Repeat this more often, write it down on a piece of paper and hang it in a prominent place - we already talked about the benefits of visualizing thoughts in point 12. If you can gain control over fear at least once, you will continue to succeed.

How to do it? Talk to yourself - everyone has done this at least once in their life. So why not make a good, healthy habit out of it? Alone with your thoughts, you can not bend your heart and not look for excuses for your negative traits: fear, laziness, unwillingness to change something. Try to identify your problem areas and start to deal with them.

15. Work on self-discipline.

To be honest, the choice is often not so great: either to gather all the will in a fist today and embark on the path of change, or reap the bitter fruits of disappointment in the foreseeable future. Leaving the solution of important life questions for later is too easy and, alas, completely ineffective.

Many people know the proverb "Sow a thought - reap an action, sow an action - reap a habit, sow a habit - reap a character, sow a character - reap a destiny." Charge yourself with the right thoughts, acquire good habits, because everything is in your hands.

In general, each of us is nothing more than a set of habits and ways. You can accustom yourself to absolutely everything. Take advantage of this feature of human consciousness to your advantage!

16. The scales must be correct and the deadline foreseeable.

It's easy to make promises, isn't it? A lot of songs have been sung on this topic in the world and even more words have been said. The same applies to deadlines, deadlines, as it has become fashionable to say now. It takes about half a minute to assign them, and it can take weeks or months to complete.

How to proceed? Let's think strategically: Imagine that as punishment for disrupting your work schedule, you will be deprived of the opportunity to, say ... drink coffee for a month! Not a very happy prospect, is it?

17. Declare War on Perfectionism

In fact, there is absolutely nothing good about it. First, let's turn to the definition. Perfectionism is the belief that best result can (or should) be achieved. It would seem nothing bad, but thinking in a similar way, we endlessly move away from true goal, which is to do the thing - get sh * t done, as they say overseas.

The main mistake that many are inclined to make is the substitution of concepts. Perfectionism has nothing to do with high quality... Whoever tells us about this, the answer will be the same: time is money. Learn to control it in the same way as an experienced commander controls his army.

18. Remember to encourage yourself.

It happens that we do not have enough rewards for a work done with success. We must not forget about encouragement, because this is one of the most powerful sources of intrinsic motivation. This is why it is so important to celebrate your victories, both big and small. Arrange an extraordinary day off, treat yourself to a purchase that you have dreamed of for a long time, imbued with the joy of triumph!

After all, fighting procrastination is not easy. As the famous American speaker and business coach, Jim Rohn, said in his book "Vitamins for the Mind":

We should all experience two kinds of pain: the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs in ounces, while regret weighs in tons.

Are you prone to procrastination? What and why do you tend to postpone over and over again? Share with us your opinion and successful experience in dealing with adversity!

Translators G. Sultanov, R. Zhumagaliev

Project Manager A. Derkach

Corrector O. Ilyinskaya

Computer layout M. Potashkin

Design S. Timonov

Photobank illustrations used Shutterstock

© Leo Babauta, 2011

© Edition in Russian, translation, design. LLC "Alpina Publisher", 2013

All rights reserved. No part of the electronic version of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet and corporate networks, for private and public use without the written permission of the copyright holder.

© The electronic version of the book was prepared by Litres (www.litres.ru)

It's just quick guide... Because good leadership doesn't have to be long. Here, in several short chapters, all the most important thing that you should know about one of the most pressing problems - the habit of procrastination, the inability to bring what has been started to completion, i.e. procrastination as well as my time-tested methods for solving this problem.

Several key principles are repeated in the text often enough that you will not miss the most important thing.

By the time you finish reading the book, you will be on your way to achieving your cherished goals.

Will you read this now or put it off for later? (Joke)

Let's start with a common anecdote of those who like to shy away from cases of books on overcoming procrastination.

I need to buy this book ... Perhaps next time.

I bought a book ... I'll read it tomorrow.

I read the book. It's time to start fighting procrastination, but ...

Seriously though, even if you are an inveterate procrastinator, you probably want to break this habit. However, instead of taking action, you keep putting things off. The first of possible reasons Is fear.

You can start reading the book with the chapter on Fear and Procrastination. If, after reading it, you still shy away from business, then at least you will know why.

History of my relationship with procrastination

Hello friends! My name is Leo Babauta, I am a website builder ZenHabits and mnmlist.com, author of Focus and The Power of Less. I'm a typical procrastinator. I have struggled with this problem almost all my life, like many others. She is more or less familiar to each of us. And I am no exception.

At school, I often put it off for later: I never completed my homework and, despite the excellent grades I received for test papers(the night before was usually devoted to cramming), on the whole he studied mediocre. Later, working in a newspaper and then in politics, I did my job well, but I always finished things at the very last minute, and I was barely strong enough. I had a million goals that I would like to achieve in life, but I didn't even get to the starting line.

Does this sound familiar to you? If the same thing happens to you, then this book is for you.

In 2006, after many attempts, I found a solution to the problem. A year later, I became a different person, more active than ever before. In the end I beat procrastination!

In truth, I still sometimes put things off sometimes. I hang out on the internet like anyone else. But I still find time to do important tasks and this is what matters.

Here are examples of what I've accomplished using the simple techniques described in this book.

Created a blog ZenHabits ranked in the top 25 among blogs according to the magazine Time, and has been leading it successfully for four years (at the time of this writing in 2011).

Wrote (but decided not to publish) two novels as part of the NaNoWriMo competition. Working on one of them, I wrote over 110,000 words in one month.

My efforts have created Write To Done and mnmlist, two more successful blogs. The number of subscribers to each of them exceeds 10,000.

He participated in several marathons and twice in triathlon competitions.

Created a successful business (with great partner Mary Jaksh): A-List Blogging Bootcamps.

I wrote this book in three days.

I did all this, of course, not alone, but surrounded by six children and my wife. If I achieved this with six children in my arms, then you certainly have no excuse for inaction.

How exactly did I manage to do this? I just followed the simple principles outlined in this book. I share them with you in the hope that you too can overcome procrastination and finally do what you have always dreamed of.

What's wrong with procrastination?

What's wrong with procrastination? To be honest, there are positive aspects to this phenomenon (see the next chapter, “What's Good about Procrastination?”). Sometimes she gives us pleasure. But more often it does harm, which is why I wrote this book.

Here are some of the negative effects of procrastination.

It prevents us from completing things, negatively impacting our productivity.

Even if we find the strength to complete the work, we either do it in a hurry or carelessly and therefore get a poor-quality result.

It forces us to work longer than necessary, to devote almost all of our time to business, which is almost never left for other areas of life. We have to give up, for example, sports, hobbies, hanging out with our family.

It consumes the precious hours given to us in this life.

It contributes to increased stress levels, as unfinished tasks create anxiety and anxiety.

It interferes with the achievement of goals.

It negatively affects our self-esteem. If we postpone everything for too long, then we begin to believe that we are lazy, incompetent, undisciplined, perhaps even losers. It is very difficult to stop when rolling downhill.

She keeps us from getting closer to the dream.

In my opinion, the last two points are the most unpleasant. Perhaps your case is different in details, but the book will help you on the main thing - to finally get off the couch and take a step towards your dream.

What's good about procrastination?

It is the puritanism of our culture (at least in the US) that forces us to view procrastination as evil. During the heyday of Puritanism, laws were even passed that directly interpreted idleness as a crime punishable not only by God, but also by human judgment.

Leo Babauta

How to stop procrastinating

Translators G. Sultanov, R. Zhumagaliev

Project Manager A. Derkach

Corrector O. Ilyinskaya

Computer layout M. Potashkin

Design S. Timonov

Photobank illustrations used Shutterstock

© Leo Babauta, 2011

© Edition in Russian, translation, design. LLC "Alpina Publisher", 2013

All rights reserved. No part of the electronic version of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet and corporate networks, for private and public use without the written permission of the copyright holder.

© The electronic version of the book was prepared by Litres (www.litres.ru)

This is just a quick guide. Because good leadership doesn't have to be long. Here, in several short chapters, all the most important thing that you should know about one of the most pressing problems - the habit of procrastination, the inability to bring what has been started to completion, i.e. procrastination as well as my time-tested methods for solving this problem.

Several key principles are repeated in the text often enough that you will not miss the most important thing.

By the time you finish reading the book, you will be on your way to achieving your cherished goals.

Will you read this now or put it off for later? (Joke)

Let's start with a common anecdote of those who like to shy away from cases of books on overcoming procrastination.

I need to buy this book ... Perhaps next time.

I bought a book ... I'll read it tomorrow.

I read the book. It's time to start fighting procrastination, but ...

Seriously though, even if you are an inveterate procrastinator, you probably want to break this habit. However, instead of taking action, you keep putting things off. The first possible cause is fear.

You can start reading the book with the chapter on Fear and Procrastination. If, after reading it, you still shy away from business, then at least you will know why.

History of my relationship with procrastination

Hello friends! My name is Leo Babauta, I am a website builder ZenHabits and mnmlist.com, author of Focus and The Power of Less. I'm a typical procrastinator. I have struggled with this problem almost all my life, like many others. She is more or less familiar to each of us. And I am no exception.

At school, I often put off everything for later: I never did my homework and, despite the excellent grades I received for tests (the night before was usually devoted to cramming), on the whole I studied mediocre. Later, working in a newspaper and then in politics, I did my job well, but I always finished things at the very last minute, and I was barely strong enough. I had a million goals that I would like to achieve in life, but I didn't even get to the starting line.

Does this sound familiar to you? If the same thing happens to you, then this book is for you.

In 2006, after many attempts, I found a solution to the problem. A year later, I became a different person, more active than ever before. In the end I beat procrastination!

In truth, I still sometimes put things off sometimes. I hang out on the internet like anyone else. But I still find time to complete important tasks, and this is what matters.

Here are examples of what I've accomplished using the simple techniques described in this book.

Created a blog ZenHabits ranked in the top 25 among blogs according to the magazine Time, and has been leading it successfully for four years (at the time of this writing in 2011).

Wrote (but decided not to publish) two novels as part of the NaNoWriMo competition. Working on one of them, I wrote over 110,000 words in one month.

My efforts have created Write To Done and mnmlist, two more successful blogs. The number of subscribers to each of them exceeds 10,000.

He participated in several marathons and twice in triathlon competitions.

Do you tend to put off important things for later? Think something like this: start on New Years (or, at best, on Monday)? Very soon (although we still have a whole month at our disposal!) New Year, and those to whom such postponement is typical, have probably come up with not one, but a whole list of things to which they will start from the New Year. And it also happens that the year gives way to the year, and the same things remain on our list, to which something prevents us from starting. Moreover, more often than not, these matters are truly important and significant for us, it's not for nothing that we return to them in thoughts again and again! It's just that everything ends with thoughts, things somehow don't go beyond reasoning and plans ... Why is this happening? And how to learn to get important things off the ground easily and joyfully? With this I decided to figure it out.

Having fun in the process is the best way to get results.

First of all, I began to remember when such postponement manifested itself in my own life... Sometimes I thought I'd start from the New Year to do fitness or lose weight. Then she put it off until the beginning of the next month, then - for the spring, for the summer, and so on in a circle. Until I realized that if I don’t find an occupation "two in one - that is, for the body and soul at the same time," these postponements will never stop. Yoga has become such an occupation for me. After meeting her, the topic of losing weight and "starting fitness classes from the New Year, month, etc." has ceased to be relevant to me. So I concluded that love of business, of the process itself is the best recipe for putting it off for later... After all, when you love to do something, you don't want to put it off for later!

The enjoyment of the process has become my recipe for procrastination. This understanding helped me at one time to quit smoking. I asked myself the question, "How can I start enjoying the no-smoking experience?" My answer was this: I like it when my hair, skin, clothes smell of my favorite perfume, not cigarettes. And the ability to smell my favorite perfume constantly can be an incentive for me to give up bad habit, making a choice in favor of what I like - the smell of freshness and perfume, the feeling of cleanliness on the face when the skin is not covered with cigarette smog. True, there were several other factors at work - I realized that sooner or later I would have to do it anyway (after all, one day there will be a pregnancy, and I did not consider the possibility of smoking during pregnancy at all), but it's better early than late, because “the earlier , the better ", the longer you pull, the more harm to the body.

The lack of choice begs for doubt.

Therefore, the second moment that helps to overcome inertia and do, finally, what needs to be done is understanding of the inevitability... If there is no way out, and you still have to sooner or later, then it's better early than late. Moreover, this feeling, when there is no other way out, very effectively eliminates delays and doubts. So some even deliberately create such conditions for themselves, when what needs to be done becomes the only possible, not just desirable, but necessary. For example, one information businessman said that when he launches a new project, he first “burns all the bridges,” that is, he blocks all other sources of income for himself, so that the promotion of a new project becomes the only way. Then all forces are directed to the promotion of the project automatically, unnecessary doubts go away by themselves, simply because there is no turning back. And the desire to make the project profitable becomes a necessity, other options are simply not considered. So a sense of the inevitability of many things is good for coping with procrastination. Whether it is visits to dentists or other things that are not pleasant to do, but necessary.

The main thing is to start.

It also helps in most cases splitting a big business into smaller ones, big task into subtasks. It helps because we humans are generally inert, a kind of resistance to change. It is difficult to move a mountain in one fell swoop - it is easier to disassemble it by pebbles. And it is often difficult to just start, to take that very important first step, from which any path begins. Overcoming inertia by getting out of your “comfort zone” is sometimes the most difficult thing. Therefore, sometimes such an attitude “I’m just starting now, if suddenly it’s incredibly scary or unbearably difficult for me, I’ll quit” helps a lot. Such an attitude helps to start, and then, as you know, "the eyes are afraid, but the hands are doing."

Save yourself the right to make mistakes!

Oddly enough, the desire to do something very well often prevents us from doing it in principle. The so-called perfectionism, the desire to prepare for any business as best as possible, to think through everything to the smallest detail, to take into account and predict even those factors that are simply impossible to predict in advance, and the underlying fear of making a mistake is often what keeps us from great deeds.

So you can work for months on one article, refining it over and over again, and then never publish it, considering that it is still not ideal and you as an author have room to grow. You can study the theoretical aspects of the relationship between the sexes for years, but never risk opening up to another person, engaging in live interaction, which is partly risky and unpredictable. Not giving yourself the right to make a mistake means tying yourself hand and foot, holding you back from any important and meaningful activity. Allowing ourselves to be not perfect means giving ourselves the opportunity to grow, because only practical experience, sometimes drawn from mistakes and failures, enables us to become better. Sometimes, in order to start something without delay, we just need admit one's right to make a mistake.

I hope this article will help you realize what is holding you back from important matters and realize what you once conceived, right now, without waiting for the New Year!

“Tomorrow I will go on a diet”, “From Monday I will quit smoking”, “From the next month I will sign up for the gym”, “From the first spring day I will go to bed earlier” - all this we vow to ourselves several times a day, but for some reason we never rush to perform. "Next week" turns to never. And spring, which is still so far away at risk of dissolving into eternity, leaving everything as it is. But, you see, once we make a promise to ourselves, life becomes easier, junk food tastes better, and the sofa that replaces sports training for us is softer. Why is this happening and what to do about it?

I want to feel good now

We are in no hurry to start a business, the result of which cannot be expected immediately. The agonizing expectation of the first successes seems almost unbearable, because it is much easier to get comfortable in a chair than to go for a run in the cold and slush, especially since training is unlikely to deprive us of ten kilograms outright. I must say that irregular sports can even harm the body. Fine! Since everyday activities are impossible, then there is nothing to start, and aimlessly flipping through a magazine or news feed on Facebook requires much less mental stress than, say, reading a classic novel. What can we say about sweets, which now, at once will bring our body physical and mental pleasure, much more than steamed vegetables.

Nothing bad will happen

At school, for not completing the assignment on time, we were threatened with poor grades and a severe reprimand from the teachers, but at home, while our parents were at work, nothing prevented us from doing all sorts of nonsense without fear of being punished right now. Surprisingly, a similar principle applies when we become adults. We think: if you spend an extra hour on the Internet, nothing terrible will happen, and the extra pounds purchased on the couch will not appear now, but later. Then it will be possible to start fighting with them, while in a happy one now you can eat another chocolate candy. Well, a great excuse to extend the siesta until the critical moment.

I hope it gets better in the future

We often tend to overestimate our future. Many of us have a long, even endless list of things to do later, it seems to us that the situation in the future will change dramatically, which will allow us to start a new life much faster, wake up earlier, eat right, leave the unloved job, and so on. ... The reality is usually not favorable, but who said that in a year it will be much better? The problem is that, most likely, our future will not differ in any way from the present, because, no matter how paradoxical it may sound, only we are able to radically change it.

You need motivation

Motivation and procrastination are inversely proportional. All you need to do to beat procrastination is to motivate yourself. Consider how much you will extend the life of your vision if you turn off your computer now and go for a walk. And how much pleasure will you get just from your reflection in the mirror if you start going to the gym from tomorrow morning. Even if you just turn off the TV, you will have such opportunities that you never dreamed of - books, walks, travel, in the end. Can't resist shopping for sweet and fatty foods? Take a calculator and calculate how many rubles a week do you spend on desserts? Impressive, huh? And if you give up baking in favor of apples and dried fruits. How much can you save? Inspiring, right? Try it now and then today you can start planning travel with the saved money and buying a new dress.

Substitution mechanism

For starters, instead of overtly meaningless activities during bouts of procrastination, try replacing useless activities with useful, but not requiring much effort. Wash the dishes, hammer in a nail, wipe the dust, sort out the closet that needs it for a long time. This kind of activity, different from your main task, is always better than "pseudo useful".

When you put off all the time for "later", these "later" tend to accumulate. There comes a time when there is nowhere else to postpone, before you are a huge list of things that require immediate implementation, which you simply are not able to accomplish in a short time. It is natural that you begin to consider yourself a person who is not capable of anything, and this is a direct path to a deterioration in self-esteem. It seems to us that "later" will be better. For example, “I will have another job”, “My daughter / son will grow up, then everything will be fine”, “when I lose weight, then real life will begin”. In fact, no “later” exists, and therefore it has no opportunity to be realized.

You will either have to do something right now or never. You either have it now or you don't. There are no other options. There is no such thing: "I will be happy when I get married." It's impossible. You are either happy now or never. All that you have at your disposal is only now and now. Any action, even erroneous, is better than inaction. Thanks to your inaction, destructive thoughts begin to penetrate into your head little by little, while activity, on the contrary, will add energy and self-confidence to you.