Overcoming the habit of procrastination!If you write a ‘to-do list’ in a dedicated notebook, most of the things you couldn’t do before will end up getting done
“Don’t you sometimes feel like ‘I have to do this, and I have to do that,’ but when you finally have the time, you can’t bring yourself to start, and end up feeling self-loathing and agonized?
I experience this quite often. Even when I make a to-do list, I can’t seem to make progress on it, and end up just rewriting it for the next day, feeling utterly pathetic, and sometimes even stop writing the to-do list altogether.
A dedicated notebook for the to-do list
That’s why I have a dedicated notebook where I can jot down things I need to do as they come to mind.
What kind of things do I write in it?
Transcribe the receipts that have been piling up into the household account book.
Sew some rags into cleaning cloths using old towels.
Buy new pens as the ink has run out.
Update my address (driver’s license, bank, post office, credit card) and a few other things. First, I’ll confirm what needs to be done.
Go get a copy of my resident certificate for the address change.
Prepare to visit the family grave.
Take the first step in studying French.
These are all tasks that I’ve been putting off on my to-do lists, so I don’t write any deadlines on them.
Not setting deadlines is a big plus, as it helps avoid feeling pressured. I want to be able to check off completed tasks, so a notebook that accumulates the list is better than something like report paper that you can tear pages out of.
Why is there stuff we want to do but can’t?
Even for things we enjoy, there are things we can’t do…
The preparatory steps are a hassle
We don’t have the necessary items
There’s no space on the desk
The room is messy and distracting
In those cases, try the following:
Visualize all the preparatory steps you find tedious by writing them down in the notebook.
Write down the names of the necessary items you’re missing.
To clear space on the desk, file away documents into binders and put miscellaneous items in a ‘keep or discard’ box.
Put any clutter in the room into the ‘keep or discard’ box for now.
Then, pick just one thing you can do right away.
Once you decide on one action, your body will surprisingly start moving on its own, tackling one thing after another.
You won’t even need to refer back to the notebook.
Things you’ve been vaguely meaning to do will start getting taken care of, one by one.
Even if the one thing you chose is all you end up doing, be satisfied with that one accomplishment. And try to forget about the other things in the notebook for a while. Not being able to act on something means, in a way, that ‘it’s okay not to do it now.’ Forcing yourself and falling into self-loathing is just pitiful. Trust that everything will happen at the right time.”
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