Here's the advice I gave my 7th grade student who figured she would "debate" herself over the weekend regarding cleaning her bedroom: Start small. Give yourself permission to do the smallest possible thing to make some little progress on the room. Clean for 2 minutes. Or clean one small area - the desk top, for example.
Likely, that will be enough to produce a morsel of that good inner feeling of accomplishment that might kickstart your appetite for finishing the job.
I tried a slightly different approach on myself today. I had several hours of schoolwork to get done this afternoon or evening. Last semester I often put such work off until 7 or 8 pm Sunday night - much too late for me to do quality work.
But today was different. Before church ended, instead of debating myself about when to get started on my work, I found myself mentally rehearsing the good feelings that would come with getting it finished - and finished well:
- With my planning - I would feel so much more confident in the classroom Monday morning and throughout the week.
- With my grading - I would be giving my students the prompt feedback they need to grow and to feel successful in my class. And THAT would make ME feel successful.
That was enough. I was able to enjoy a leisurely Sunday lunch with a couple of guests and then take a nap before getting to work on my planning. And I had actually talked myself into looking forward to starting once I woke up.
I started around 4 pm and got so much accomplished in the first hour that I felt fine taking several breaks throughout the afternoon and evening - to go for a run, to eat dinner, and to walk the dogs with Melissa.
It turned out to be a very pleasant day, actually!
It's kind of weird because either of these two approaches to defeating procrastination imply that you can basically hack your own brain and override unproductive thoughts. Your better self CAN win the debate.
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