Sunday, November 27, 2011

Speak Truth to Stop Procrastination

According to Wikipedia, Procrastination refers to the act of replacing high-priority actions with tasks of low-priority, and thus putting off important tasks to a later time. And according to me I'm exactly doing this for my studies and some times my coding and projects. My third semester is about to finish in a month and I have loads of work, assignments and projects to submit. Following is a short list :

  • Have to give a Term Paper.
  • Have to submit individual lab assessment files on C++, Database, UNIX.
  • Have to complete lab manual for Analog Electronics.
  • Had done a 'Social Awareness Program' related to E-Waste Management. Have to submit a report on it.
  • Have to give a Assessment file on Communication Skills(English) and Foreign Language(German).
  • Complete the redesign of my Website.

Most of this work is due from starting of semester and I knew this is just copy and paste work( apart from first and last), but still haven't completed any of these. I always just keep on postponing these things. 

And its not that I haven't tried anything to get these done. I had identified my weakness. I have read lots of articles to stop procrastination. Have maintained to-do 's, kept deadlines and punishment if fails to complete, and other time management techniques. But none them worked. I always found a way to put of these tasks.
Now I'm testing my own technique to be able to complete priority tasks in time. 

Whats my technique?

There are two rules for this technique:

  1. Speak Truth
  2. Tell everyone you meet about your aim and tasks you have to complete.
This way you will share your projects and to-do task with your friends and they will surely point out if you don't do your work in time. And you will try your best to complete your tasks. 
One of the important thing is to tell them about the deadline. Then whenever they will meet you, they'll ask how you've been doing that task and you'll be obliged to tell them the truth.

I have been testing this technique and it worked out pretty well for me. 


For startups:
If as a student it is becoming a wall for me then how much can it effect you and your startup? You too should get rid of this habit and engage in working out your tasks. Forget innovation and achievements, you can't even achieve small deadlines and will ultimately become more and more lazy. Get to work now.
Good Luck to You


Further reading Reddit article on Why do humans procrastinate and how can we beat it?


If you wanna share your experience with it, share it on hacker news