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A few months ago, I published a book called The Psychology of Procrastination. It’s all about helping you discover the psychological factors that drive your procrastination habits and unlock the secrets to overcoming them. In it, I give you tons of evidence-based techniques to help you stop procrastinating, finish projects, and accomplish your goals!
Last week, I shared with you some strategies about prioritizing your tasks that didn’t make it into the final version of the book. Today, let’s talk about how to get motivated. With the self-identified procrastinators I see for therapy in Iowa and Arkansas, this is the most common reason for procrastination that I hear: “I’m just not motivated.”
In The Psychology of Procrastination, I teach you all my best strategies for getting motivated to get tasks done. But today, I’m sharing with you the extra techniques that didn’t make it into the final cut of the book. Let’s dive in.
How to Get Motivated to Get Stuff Done: Increase the Task Difficulty
Some tasks are just plain boring. Boring tasks aren’t as motivating as interesting or exciting tasks, so you’ll probably never be as motivated to fold towels as you are to try a new restaurant. One strategy to build motivation for those boring tasks is to make them more challenging. For example, make folding towels more challenging by putting yourself on a time crunch – can you get a whole load done in 3 minutes? Or try a new towel-folding strategy – maybe you usually fold them in quarters but try folding them in triangles instead. The goal is to get creative and make the tasks more challenging but still achievable. If the tasks become too challenging, that’s demotivating, so we want to be right on the razor’s edge.
How to Get Motivated to Get Stuff Done: Use Opposite Action
Our brains are designed to prevent change. That preference for sameness keeps us alive most of the time, but it can cause some problems when it comes to behavior.
For example, if you’re depressed, your brain will encourage you to not change: Just stay in bed. But the more you stay in bed, the more depressed you’ll get. What helps is actually doing the opposite of what your brain tells you to do. So to overcome depression, for example, it’s important to get out of bed and get active.
You can use the same philosophy to build motivation and overcome procrastination. If you’re used to spending your evenings watching Netflix and scrolling Instagram, your brain will encourage you to continue this. Build motivation to get your to-do list done by acting opposite to what your brain is telling you to do. Brain says “Couch,” so you do the opposite: Walk. Brain says “Drive-thru,” so you do the opposite: Cook.
You almost certainly won’t feel motivated to act opposite to what your brain is telling you, but if you work to get those actions started, the motivation to continue will follow. Once the new habits are started, your brain’s preference for sameness will help you keep those habits going.
Put These Psychology Skills Into Action
As I mentioned, these two skills ended up being cut from the book — but they’re still really important and useful. If you can challenge yourself to make a task more interesting and engaging and you can override your brain’s natural tendency to encourage you to do nothing, you’ll find it easier to get things done. The motivation piece of overcoming procrastination is especially tricky, so if you’re looking for a little more guidance on how to get motivated and overcome procrastination, the full book includes 8 strategies I thought were even better than these. Grab the e-book or the hard copy here. Also, since overcoming procrastination is all about establishing good habits, consider grabbing my guided journal to help you change your habits. It’s called Habits: A 12-Week Journal to Change Your Habits, Track Your Progress, and Achieve Your Goals.
How to Get Started
Once you’ve established your priorities and gotten some semblance of motivation (or commitment or dedication or at least willingness), the next step to overcoming procrastination is to actually get started. Next week, I’ll share with you a couple of strategies that didn’t make it into the final publication. Don’t miss it.
Talk to you soon,
Dr. Finch
P.S. Remember, this is education, not treatment. Always consult with a psychologist or therapist about your mental health to determine what information and interventions are best for you. See the disclaimer for more details.
Dr. Hayden Finch is a licensed psychologist providing therapy in Iowa & Arkansas dedicated to bringing you evidence-based strategies to master your mental health.
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Purchase The Psychology of Procrastination
Purchase Habits: A 12-Week Journal to Change Your Habits, Track Your Progress, and Achieve Your Goals
Disclosure: Some links to products may be affiliate links, meaning, at no extra cost to you, I’ll earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Thanks for your support!
