How to Get Things Done Without Killing Yourself
Once I burned out. Into ashes. Into dust. Into smithereens. Well Done burnout level. At first I blamed myself. I was ashamed that I couldn't work. Then I tried to find a solution to the problem. I watched probably 100 videos. But they all offered some kind of non-working crap. In the end, one simple algorithm helped me.
Now I'll take it apart piece by piece 🙂
If you are too lazy to read, you can watch my video on this topic
The video contains an example of the most brutal procrastination I ever encountered. The material there is cool, but the lighting is terrible, I warn you right away 🙂
If you are too lazy to watch the video, then read the article.
I still remember that state. I spent whole days persuading myself to work. There were times when I spent 6 hours trying to motivate myself to complete a 15-minute task.
I felt like time was wasting away. My anxiety was off the charts. Sometimes I woke up at three in the morning and tried to work. At that moment, it seemed to me that there was nowhere to put off tasks, deadlines were burning.
It all ended with me simply losing my strength. I didn't even have the energy to write “thank you” in response to New Year's greetings. Then I learned that this condition is not called “Olya is a lazy ass”, but “Procrastination”.
What is procrastination?
This is a state in which you neither work nor rest. It occurs because two impulses, “to do” and “not to do,” collide in your head at the same time. On the one hand, you want (!) to do, but something is pressing on you, preventing you from starting the task. Instead of starting to work, you persuade yourself to start the task. All your energy is spent on these persuasions. There is no strength left for work.
What to do with procrastination?
You need to determine what exactly is stopping you from starting to work. And fight not with laziness, not with yourself, but with this very impulse “not to do”. When you defeat it, only the impulse “to do” will remain, and there will be no problems with completing the task.
Why is it useless to fight with yourself?
Imagine this situation: you go to wash the dishes. At that moment, your mother shouts at you from the next room: “GO WASH THE DISHES QUICKLY!!!” How do you feel? Do you want to wash the dishes faster? I'll assume that everything is exactly the opposite: you don't want to clean up anymore. Because your mother put pressure on you, and pressure always creates resistance.
Pressure always creates resistance.
Every time you put pressure on yourself to complete tasks, you automatically resist.
It turns out to be a vicious circle: you put pressure on yourself, resist, all your energy goes into resistance and fighting it, the work stops, you put more pressure on yourself, resist more… AAAAAAA this is an endless voluntary hell.
How to stop putting pressure on yourself?
Make your inner critic a separate figure
Notice him
Mentally send him to the stake, as was customary in the times of Ivan the Terrible. Even if he is right, it is the tone, the pressure, that displeases us.
Learn to conduct an internal monologue from a supportive perspective
Now that we understand why it is so important to focus our efforts on fighting the impulse to “not do,” we can look into it in more detail.
What might the impulse to “not do” look like? What might stop you from getting started?
Fear is invincible until you recognize it. Once you notice and recognize it, it becomes either “fear of success” or “fear of failure.” Either fear can be overcome by action.
It's simple: break it into small pieces.
Set a timer for 15 minutes and start doing something. When the timer rings, you'll get into the flow and figure out how to overcome this task.
Relax. To relax well, ask yourself, “What can I do to please you right now?” Whatever comes to mind will give you energy.
If you don't want to do a task, at least don't come up with reasons to do it. Honestly say “I don't want to!” Lying to yourself also wastes energy. It's much easier to say: “I don't want to, but I'll do it!” This is how willpower is pumped up.
For example, your back hurts after washing the floors. Everything is simple here: you need to organize comfortable conditions for yourself. In our example, a cool mop or a robotic floor polisher will help.
How does this work in practice?
Let's take a trivial example: you want to put the dishes in the dishwasher. But you don't. You try to persuade yourself to do the task, but it doesn't work. You understand that you are faced with procrastination. What should you do?
You ask yourself: “WHY am I not doing this?”
For example, the answer is “I don’t want to do anything at all, I’m completely apathetic. Although I have to.”
Look at the list above and realize that this answer means “I have no strength”
Or say to yourself: “OK, let's put these damn dishes in the dishwasher and take a break together. What can I do to make you happy right now?” Or even: “To hell with the dishwasher. What good can I do for you, how can I make you happy?”
You're relaxing, and then you'll want to clean up the dishes yourself. The impulse to “not do it” will simply disappear.
Another example: you need to take your child for a walk. But you put this task off. You realize that this is procrastination.
You ask yourself: “WHY am I not doing this?”
For example, the answer: “He will scream later, it will be impossible to drag him back from the street.”
Look at the list above and you will understand that this answer means “I encounter inconveniences in my work”
And here you are already spending resources not on persuading yourself, but on solving the problem, understanding how to wean the child from screaming every time you go home
This is exactly how the fight against procrastination occurs. Moreover, this is something that needs to be done constantly, because you will not learn not to fall into it, you can only learn to live in harmony with yourself, notice procrastination and defeat it in a timely manner.
Bonus for those who read to the end. If you learn to deal with your inner critic, you will get rid of impostor syndrome 🙂 And you will also boost your self-confidence.
I found a lot of thoughts about procrastination in Instagram of psychologist Evgeny Veritov. If you are a hooligan and sometimes visit a social network banned in Russia, then study his highlights. There is something about procrastination at the very end, and in general there is a lot of good content.
Here's another article of mine on the topic: about how multitasking kills productivity.
P.S. If you suddenly (you never know?) want to learn how to sell your services well, then subscribe to my channel. I'll soon write there about the signs that can help you figure out an inadequate client. And maybe I'll even decide to tell you about my most unsuccessful collaboration.
