1. Take a Quarterly Vacation
2. Hold a “Retrospective” After Projects
3. Write Every Day
4. Create an “Interesting People Fund”
5. Keep “Tear Sheets” to Get Inspired
6. Nap Every Day
7. Envision What You Will Be Remembered For
8. Brainstorm at the Bar
9. Get Out of the Building
10. Engage in “Morphological Synthesis”
——“10 Creative Rituals You Should Steal”
Dr. Pychyl advises procrastinators to "just get started, and make the threshold for getting started quite low."
He also advises procrastinators to practice "time travel"—projecting themselves into the future to imagine the good feelings they will have after finishing a task, or the bad ones they will have if they don't.
Time Travel: If you are rebelling against the feeling of having to work, try projecting yourself into the future. Imagine the good feelings you will have if you stop procrastinating and finish a project (or the bad feelings you will have if you don't finish).
'Just Get Started': If you are feeling frightened of possible failure, just get started. Tell yourself you don't have to do the whole project. Just do the first one or two steps on it.
Forgive Yourself: If you are feeling guilty about procrastinating, stop beating yourself up. Replace the negative thoughts with something more positive.
Easy Things First: If you are feeling a lot of dread about one task in particular on your to-do list, start with something else, preferably the task you feel most like doing. The momentum you gain will help you start the toughest task later.
——“To Stop Procrastinating, Look to Science of Mood RepairTo Stop Procrastinating, Look to Science of Mood Repair”
