Put a Stop to Procrastination - Today!

Written by Jerry and Kirsti Newcombe

We often put off tasks because they seem formidable; however, when we break them down into smaller parts, we can get virtually anything done. The time-honored principle of divide and conquer will work wonders for the procrastinator who wants to reform.

Atoms and Molecules, Paragraphs and Sentences, Words and Letters

Slaying the Giants in Your Life

Everything in our world can be broken down into parts. All parts can be broken down into atoms and molecules. Our bodies are made of tiny cells. Every book can be broken down into chapters, pages and paragraphs. Paragraphs can be broken down into sentences and words. And words can even be broken down into letters. The whole is the sum of its parts.

And in the same way, every task, no matter how complex, can be reduced to a series of steps. The key to this aspect of overcoming procrastination is to break tasks down into mini-tasks. It’s really only when we try to do it all at once that we get frustrated, because it generally can’t be done all at once. The cliche is true: It’s a trial by the mile, but a cinch by the inch.

If you have to do something but you’ve been putting it off, instead of constantly procrastinating, think about it in terms of what steps - or ministeps - need to be taken to accomplish it. Let the first step be making a list. Then do each item on the list, one at a time. That’s how you eat an elephant, one bite at a time.

What Have You Been Putting Off?

Take a moment to consider what you’ve been putting off. How can you divide that particular task into mini-steps? Even if some of them may seem like ridiculous baby steps, so what? First of all, list one task you’ve been putting off that you really want to get around to someday:

OK. Now, how many mini-steps - no matter how absurd - can you divide that task into?

Now, look at the task. Look at the mini-steps. Doesn’t the task lose its formidableness in light of all these little steps?

It’s good to go ahead and take one of these steps. Complete it today if you can. Then reward yourself! Congratulate yourself for having taken a step, no matter how small, toward completion. You’ve been putting this task off perhaps for days, weeks, months, years, and now you’ve made a step (no matter how small) toward its completion.

There is no question that virtually the hardest part of any task is just getting started. So if it takes that little of a commitment to get going, by all means do it. You can’t do everything to change the world - or even to change your world - but you can do something, no matter how small it might be.

Lose the Guilt

Have you ever had the feeling of dread that comes from putting something off that you should have done a long time ago? Then, every time you see some reminder of it, the guilt feeling returns because you know you’ve been procrastinating?

Do yourself a favor - the next time that happens, take a few minutes and jot down as many potential steps as you can think of to complete that formidable task. Suddenly, it will lose its power of control over you. What was unmanageable becomes manageable, and you’ll be eating elephant hors d’oeuvres before you know it!

This article adapted from I'll Do It Tomorrow: How to Stop Putting It Off and Get It Done Today by Jerry and Kristi Newcombe (Broadman and Holman Publishing).