The more stimuli around you the more reasons your mind finds to procrastinate. So, yes decluttering will help most people to procrastinate less. But there are other actions you can take to stop procrastinating.

Reasons to procrastinate

The activity you should do, or the job you were going to finish or start today, they can wait a little longer. There are so many reasons to procrastinate:

• Phone. First I will listen to this podcast – when you see your message on the phone. First I check Instagram or Facebook.
• Places that need a clean
• A messy garden
• Anything that looks more inviting than what you be doing
• Anything you also would feel bad about if you do not do it. ( Which makes you feel better about procrastinating.)
• Helping others

Those were a few favorites of mine, what are your ways of avoiding to start or delaying the start?

What is there to gain from procrastination?

If you want to change your habit of procrastination, you will have to understand deeper why you are doing it.

Short term gain

Short term gain might be; If I do not do this task, my life will be easier and more fun.

Often the task you should do is a task that is not fun or it is one that you might fail at. If it a not so fun task you might just be avoiding (probably mild) suffering. In the last case you are avoiding failure.

The start of a job might also be difficult because you are in a different headspace, and do not want to enter the headspace you will need for the job you need to do or the project you thought you should do.

Long term gain

Let’s say you do something else instead of your planned task. What is the long term result of this decision? In 5 years time will you be pleased with this decision? Or would you have been happier if you had done the (procrastinated) planned task?

How I stop myself procrastinating

Goal of the day: writing

Today I decided to write for a few hours on this blog. And I procrastinated. I saw the terrace needed a sweep. It would be so using much more enjoyable spending time on a clean deck. I decided that was a good reason to do the sweeping first. Then I decided I should drink more water. I filled my bottle and went for a walk while drinking the water. I should do exercises and found something heavy enough to exercise my arms.

This way I delayed my start of my daily goal with an hour, but I also did all those useful and healthy things. In the back of my head is always a list of healthy habits I want to keep doing regularly. (If you want to read more about how to set priorities in your life click here) Exercise, eating healthily, meditation, journaling, decluttering…It is important to me to keep focussed on my specific daily goal (writing in this case) though as it makes me feel like I live a purposeful life. Hadn’t I set this goal of writing for a few hours in the morning and prioritised it, I would have just walked into random distraction after distraction.

However I did procrastinate, I at least did activities that are useful to me. They were important enough to delay the start of my writing task I set myself. My priority task kept calling in the back of my head, and got done after all. At the end of the day I felt fulfilled and happy because I got things done that I found important.

My reflection

I will be happy in 5 years time that I have developed a healthy life style, and kept to it. I will not be happy if I still had not be writing my experiences down in 5 years time as it is my dream to be able to write on my blog when traveling the world. This writing is a step towards it. I might fail writing a blog and enjoying that, I don’t know that yet. But at least I should try I believe. So, it is important in the long term.

Looking back four years

When my home was full of clutter, loose things spread out through the house, I would not have the peace of mind to start writing at all because all this tidying up and cleaning would have to be done first. That is my reason of having a organised calming home. Now I do not have to think about every item I see, and I could do something with. I leave the project that I find the most important at the moment visible, to remind myself of taking it up. The projects that I do not want to spend time on I take out of sight. Out of sight is often out of mind!

Looking back, spending all that time decluttering has been worth the effort. I gained a lot of calm from it. So much that I can now finally see what I find important and what I should spend time doing. The core base is knowing what you find important in your life. Read more about setting your intentions in this other post.

How to stop procrastinating:

• Set an easy specific goal for the day ( e.g. work related, exercising, decluttering, fixing something, gardening) you want to reach for your most important project. You can do this in the night, and write it down, to reread in the morning. Or you can do it in the morning before you start the day.

My goal I set today is ‘Write for at least two hours’. Don’t make your goal too big. It is very rewarding and motivating to conclude at the end of your day that you reached your set target. And you are likely to want that feeling of success again tomorrow.

Every little step brings you closer to your dream goal.

What if you still try to procrastinate?

Her are 4 strategies that will make it easier to start. Because you take away distractions out of the environment, or you will make the dreaded to-do job more attractive.

1 Declutter till starting will be easier

If you feel you are not able to start yet, fill the time with declutter actions that will make the start (in an hour, or tomorrow) easier, or more fun:

• Make your work environment a little more comfortable, or tidier, and thus more inviting.
• Put everything ready to be able to start tomorrow without a fuss.

2 Develop a routine

For example; Make a cup of your favourite tea, put on some nice music you like to hear while working. Reread your goal. As soon as you have followed this routine for a few times, it will ease you into your working mood. Being able to enjoy what you like will put you in a better mood and that makes it more likely that you take on the challenge this day.

3 Set a minimal time you will work on your project today

I often use an hour as that doesn’t feel too long and hard, which makes it less overwhelming. If your goal is getting into an exercising routine an hour might feel mighty long though. In that case 10 minutes might be challenging enough. You have to find the right ‘size’ of goal for yourself. Better too small then too big. You reach more in a day if you finish this small task today than if you don’t start at all.

4 Choose a (smallish) part of the bigger goal to finish today

I like to finish a job, so I often like this better than a set time. For my painting it could be ‘Today I paint the background’.

A small, not overwhelming goal is more likely to get you started. Often it is easy to keep going for longer once you have started. And if not, at least you have been successful and came closer to your bigger goal.

5 Start with the easiest of most enjoyable part of the task

Why not make your experience a pleasant as possible?

6 Check in on how you are doing so far in relationship to your set goal of the day.

Ask yourself: ‘Is what I am doing possibly making a positive difference to my life in a years time?’ .

Has it anything to do with what I want my life to look like in 1 years time, or even in 5 years time?

This might motivate you to quickly start doing what is most important to you at this moment.

The 5 years time check is especially helpful if you tend to spend time on activities like watching Netflix series, obsessive cleaning (or decluttering!) or checking Instagram and Pinterest.

What is your goal of the day for tomorrow?