Preventing procrastination

I waste time. Everyone does. It may happen just a few minutes at a time or whole days worth of working time can be "lost" because of procrastination, that is "doing stuff you really don't need to do". Here are some of my own observations of my personal behavior and types of procrastination. I also describe some simple solutions for avoiding and preventing them.

• Starting work is usually the most difficult step, especially after a longer idle period. As it is with physics, restricting friction reduces, once the object is moving.
  Solution: Formulate a specific, strict and easily achievable rule or instruction for starting. For example, writing my thesis commonly feels difficult to start. My instruction for this is: "Just write one sentence." Usually the work gets much easier after this.


• New and sudden ideas are distracting, because they "derail" my train of thoughts and concentration on the current work.
  Solution: Write down the new idea on a notebook or on a post-it note and actually put it aside. The idea is not lost and it's retrievable at a better time. I try to keep my small, black notebook always with me. You never know when the new best idea is born.


• Complex tasks have a tendency of forming a vicious circle that keeps returning the same thoughts and problems. Moreover, complex tasks usually spur more ideas, that get lead thoughts further and further away from the original subject.
  Solution: Set some concrete deliverables and strict deadlines. Both of these must be realistic, but the actual amount of delivery is not the point. Just delivering something concrete and on time, is better than still wondering between different options.


• Ambiguous subjects have similar effects than complex tasks and emerging ideas. If the subject cannot be explicitly expressed (e.g. written down with words), then multiple interpretations are possible. These interpretations might be overlapping, complementing or contradicting, but still all true. Just one person might different kinds of interpretations and explanation on the same ambiguous subject, depending on what time this is asked.
  Solution: Write down or draw a mindmap of the subject. The latter one is still more open to interpretation, so try to formulate explicit text. If necessary, these can always be edited later. The trick is to reduce the ambiguity by formulating the subject and sticking to something.


• Checking your MSN, IRC, personal or work-related emails all the time is waste of time. Instant messaging and mobile communications have made it possible to be constantly available, but one should be able to concentrate as well. Sudden messages are distracting and how often do they really require your immediate attention?
  Solution: Check emails only twice a day, one hour at a time. Keep the mail program closed otherwise. Do not even open unnecessary messaging programs (e.g. IRC or MSN), while working. Use them only if you really, REALLY need them. A phone call is usually more effective and time efficient.


• Working on the same task gets boring after a while. The related "academic" term is volition, which roughly means "keeping up the motivation".
  Solution: Switch tasks, switch work places (e.g. go to a library or a clubhouse to work), switch work "styles" (e.g. spend an hour in the conference room drawing on the whiteboard). For example, if Computer Architecture is not interresting at the moment, you can write a blog posting about your personal development and avoiding procrastination. :-)