Let’s admit it, procrastination is a real thing and it is something that everyone will fall into at some point in their lives.

I love writing these articles, and it is such a great and satisfying moment when I get to hit the “Publish” button or when I receive DMs from people appreciating my work. But sometimes I also really struggle to break through my procrastinating state, sit down and start to write.

I also love taking care of my skin, but getting up from the sofa at bed time thinking that I need to go through my multi-steps skincare routine is very daunting, especially when the only thing you want to do is to get in your bed and sleep.

It is totally normal and natural, we are not machines. Our motivation and drive to do stuff is the bio-product of different concentrations of hormones like Dopamine and Serotonine.

Before I jump into the steps that you need to take to break through procrastination and getting things done, we should understand how a mind of a procrastinator works. There is an awesome TED talk by Tim Urban that actually explains extremely well. It is called “Inside the mind of a master procrastinator“, I will link the video down below. In a nutshell, he explains how in our brain there is this instant-gratification monkey that will distract us from getting stuff done and it glues us in the procrastination limbo. The only thing that this monkey is scared of is the Panic Monster, which usually kicks in the day before a deadline, and it makes the instant-gratification monkey run away, leaving the critical-thinking part of us taking control and getting things done.

So here are my top tips to JUST START:

Stand up, let’s do it

As simple as it sounds, just standing up and saying “OK, let’s do it” will break that procrastination cycle you are chained to. It will ignite the intention of actually doing something productive and will switch your brain to work mode.

5 minutes rule

There are times when it is extremely hard to find the motivation to get things done. And it is totally OK to be in those moments. In those moments there is one technique that really works for me: I tell myself that I am going to do this task for only 5 minutes and sometimes I even set the alarm clock. I also tell my self that at the end of these 5 minutes I can also go back to my procrastination mode, but I never do. The reality is that, once I start, I actually end up liking what I am doing and these 5 minutes become 20 minutes, 1 hour or more. I actually end up wishing I had more time for it and that I started earlier instead of procrastinating. If you don’t feel like continuing after these 5 minutes it is totally OK, at least you had 5 minutes worth of work done.

Pomodoro technique

This technique was created in the 1980s by the Italian entrepreneur Francesco Cirillo. This is a time-management principle that tries to break down your work day in a 25 minutes slot referred to as pomodoro – from the Italian “tomato” – which refers to nothing else but a tomato shaped kitchen timer that Francesco Cirillo used to keep track of these 25 minutes.

The algorithm of this principle goes as it follows:

1. Decide on the task to be done
2. Set the pomodoro timer (traditionally to 25 minutes).
3. Work on the task.
4. End work when the timer rings and put a checkmark on a piece of paper.
5. If you have fewer than four checkmarks, take a short break (3–5 minutes) and then return to step 2 otherwise continue to step 6.
6. After four pomodoros, take a longer break (15–30 minutes), reset your checkmark count to zero, then go to step 1.

Break big tasks into small tasks

I can’t stress enough how important and beneficial this practice is. If you have been reading my previous articles about productivity and time management you will actually notice that this is a recurrent topic and a technique that I actually like to use for many different reasons. Breaking big tasks into small tasks will trick our monkey brain to see it as something that won’t take too much time. Also, it makes your tasks more measurable so that you can keep track of your progress.

Build accountability

When I first started to write this blog I was afraid that I couldn’t keep up with that, not wanting to have the commitment to write one article every single week. But, once I started to publish the articles and having positive feedbacks for this blog, I feel like there are people that every Monday they will refresh my blog page expecting a new article to read. Also, during the week I do have people asking me what my next article will be about and I roughly tell them a general topic even though I have no idea what I am going to write about. This creates a sense of accountability that motivates me to sit down and write these articles.

Thomas Edison used to announce to the press about his projects he was working on, when in reality he didn’t even started. This used to motivate him to go home and work hard to meet the expectations that he created himself.

This sounds a bit like a self-inflicted commitment and punishment, but when I really want to do something and I know that I am going to procrastinate once I am at home, I try to talk to as many people as I can to build this accountability. I also often set some deadlines asking people to watch out for that day to see my final project I am building this momentum on. This sets up some external expectationsadding that extra healthy pressure that will motivate you do get things done. This also creates a reputation that you will need to live up to.

Think about your reward

Rewarding yourself for your work is important and it doesn’t have to be anything special. For me is to call my family whilst having a nice cup of coffee when I deep clean the house every Sunday, or having a nice ice-cream for working 3 hours straight on a coding project, or a glass of wine after seeing 30 patients in one day.

Now stop reading and move your a*s

Now that I have given you all the tools, tips and tricks to get started, pick one or more of the above, get you a*s off the sofa and start!