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There are a lot of things that are constantly competing for our attention, but not all of them are the right things to be done for the moment. We might not be ready, feel motivated, or simply think that doing something that is important is supposed to be postponed for an undefined time. Moreover, having a lot of things to do can be overwhelming and can cause us frustrations. Usually, starting to do something is one of the most difficult part and is perceived with an underestimated importance, as it is not used enough especially when people are procrastinating. Another important tip that is underestimated is the fact that the more you do something, the more you want to do it.
We are witness that the pile of things that need to get done is almost never empty, and it seems impossible for us to be able to do all of them. Though there are so many things, not everything in that stack has the same importance or urgency. There are probably a few tasks that if you finish them, you will be happier and would feel a sense of accomplishment and liberation. Those tasks are the right tasks. Doing the right thing is the right thing.
On the other hand, avoiding doing those tasks and hiding after the curtain of busyness engaged in other unimportant tasks will not help. Even if you try to trick yourself into thinking that it is okay, as you are not wasting time, the guilt will disturb you. You are not going to feel any sense of accomplishment and the deadlines for those postponed tasks might cause you stress and disappointment.
We are resistant towards change. The tendency to postpone doing things later is in our human nature. However, when we start doing something, it is highly likely that we want to continue doing it until it is done. If you can start doing something by tricking yourself that you will only be working on that task for 2 minutes, you will see that after those 2 minutes of total engagement, you will want to continue working on that task.
If you are having problems identifying the right task that you want to do, use these questions as a guidance (hat tip to Tim Ferriss):
“If this were the only thing I accomplished today, would I be satisfied with my day?”
“Will moving this forward make all the other to-do’s unimportant or easier to knock off later?”
It is a bit ironic to say that I have been postponing writing this article for almost the whole day, yet now that I finished it, I feel a lot better.
