So continuing with our topic of practical ways to overcome procrastination (I offered the 5-minute technique and the salami technique in previous blog posts), I have one more to put forward. I call this “happy birthday to me”, so called because it has to do with giving myself a gift. Let’s face it: it’s easy to put off things that don’t have a positive result in the near future; it’s hard to get motivated to do something if the reward is too far out in time. But if I can see a short-term reward, I find I can make a task feel much more immediate and so it gets done. And if I can’t envision a prize on the immediate horizon, then I just create my own. A walk down to the local coffee shop or 15 minutes of Angry Birds after I’ve finished a task is as much a reward or “gift” as anything else. Perhaps most importantly, “happy birthday to me” works!
Jump in and share your ideas on how you overcome procrastination. This is the last of three posts on this subject (at least for now), but you can add your comments to this or the previous two posts anytime.