The Seemingly Crazy Tip That Cures Procrastination

I like to work. More importantly I like the type of work that I can get lost in. Those moments when I start a task then look up again and several hours have flown by and my thought is “where did the time go?”

Paradoxically, I can also suffer from bouts of procrastination. The part of me that loves big projects also hates big projects. Being human can be a complicated conflicted mess sometimes.

But I’ve been saved by one simple and helpful trick that truly works! Tanner Christensen from her blog, “Empowering the Creative Community,” writes:

You pick the task you want to work on, and you vow to work on it for five minutes, and five minutes only. Yes, you must stop after just five minutes… the biggest magic of the five-minute rules comes from the fact that often, for procrastinators, starting is the hardest part… And – here is another reason why the rule is so great – it will make you much more likely to come back to the task when you try for another five minutes (or perhaps you allow yourself 10 or 20) in the next day or so. 

I’ll start with 5 minutes, then go to 15, then 30 then 45, then I’m working. The five-minute rule works wonders, it breaks up my mental “log jam” and the work begins to flow again. She continues:

Breaking your tasks into small, five-minute chunks is a great way to start even the most daunting project. And because it’s only five minutes, you’ve got no real excuse not to at least try it out. Who doesn’t have five minutes to spend?

Thank you Tanner! You’ve made my life easier.

by Janedra Sykes