4 Productivity Hacks I Used to Beat Procrastination
This is part of my How to Stop Procrastinating series.
Hey, friends!
Can I tell you about one of my dreams? I dream of publishing several nonfiction books. In my head, I’ve outlined books about effective communication, interpersonal boundaries, and practical decluttering.
Now, writing a book is a monumental task. So the first step is to start blogging. Once I have a hundred posts on a topic, I can turn the most popular posts into a book. Sounds straightforward, right? How hard could it be?
Honestly, I had it all planned out. My future was bright and brimmed with sunshine and rainbows. But I hit a snag. Ok, not a snag, but more like a giant freaking roadblock. You see, during my writing time, I struggled to get started with the actual writing.
What did I do instead of writing? Well, I read articles about writing, watched videos about writing, and thought “deeply” about writing. These activities all felt important. (Memorizing the eight levels of adjective placement will be useful… someday…) These activities all felt productive.
But they weren’t. They were—you guessed it!—procrastination. The more I procrastinated, the worse I felt about myself. The more I procrastinated, the more my future darkened, and my sunshine & rainbows morphed into poop emojis.
So, how did I solve this? Well, in November, I combined four productivity hacks that made it easier for me to just get started. And the result? I published 23 blog posts and feel good about my progress and future!
Here’s a quick summary of the hacks:
1) Do 25-minute sprints
2) Create a scorecard
3) Have an accountability partner
4) Imagine today is replicated 365 times
Let’s dive into the mechanics of each one.
Productivity Hack #1: Do 25-minute sprints
I used to have TWO conflicting goals:
1. Write lots of words really fast
2. Write perfect blog posts that don’t need revising
These goals created a lot of stress for me. I’m not a fast writer, and my first drafts are always garbage. (Second drafts aren’t much better.) But for some stupid reason, I expected myself to just spew out perfectly crafted blog posts that’d change the world. This ridiculous expectation drove my procrastination.
Eventually, I abandoned these expectations and focused on what I control: time. Specifically, I work in 25-minute sprints. (After each sprint, I take a short break.)
During each sprint, I have one singular goal: Just work on the next blog post. Sometimes this means starting a new post, but more often than not, it means revising a WIP (work in progress) post.
Here’s a list of stuff I DO NOT worry about:
- I don’t worry about the quality of my writing. I trust the quality will improve a tad with each revision.
- I don’t worry about how many words I write. I trust that with enough time, I’ll write lots of words and publish lots of posts.
- I don’t worry about when a blog post will be ready to publish. I trust that I’ll publish it when it’s ready.
So many worries have been replaced with trust. Trust in the process. Trust in myself.
And it’s working! In the last four months, I’ve completed 371 sprints and published 23 blog posts. (That’s 16 sprints per post—I told you I’m not a fast writer!)
But being a slow writer doesn’t matter because I’ve learned a fundamental truth: Success is nearly guaranteed if I spend enough time.
Here’s my advice to you: Don’t worry about outcomes. Focus on time spent.
If you’re a student, don’t obsess about grades or how long that essay will take. Focus on time spent and say, “I’ll study for 25 minutes and take a break.”
If you’re starting a business, don’t worry about how to build a multi-million dollar empire. Focus on time spent and say, “I’ll work on the business for 25 minutes and take a break.”
Productivity Hack #2: Create a scorecard
Every day, I record how many sprints I complete on my digital scorecard. (My scorecard is a Google sheet with two columns: Date and Sprints. And it includes a “Total Sprints” tally.)
My goal is to complete at least one writing sprint every day and update my scorecard. (I have a phone reminder, so I never forget to update it.) Most days, I complete multiple sprints, but again, the goal is to complete just one.
Having a low goal removed a ton of pressure and made it easy to get started. Can I work on the next blog post for 25 minutes? Sure. Can I revise the next post, so it’s less terrible and then take a break? Yeah, no problem.
In addition, I love watching the “Total Sprints” tally go up! Right now, it’s at 371, and every day, I think, “I could probably do one more sprint and make the tally go up.”
And it’s working! In the last four months, I’ve been very consistent and only missed one day. (It was Christmas, and I purposely kept my laptop shut.) Every other day, I completed a sprint. Even on Thanksgiving. Even on my birthday.
Here’s my advice to you: Create a digital scorecard and track how many sprints you complete each day. Pay attention to the “Total Sprints” tally. The higher it goes, the better you feel.
If you’re a student, track your sprints. This includes studying for exams, writing papers, completing homework, etc. Tracking your sprints will give you a realistic idea of how much time you actually spend studying. Is it too much? Or not enough?
If you’re starting a business, track your “building my business” sprints. This includes building your product, creating a website, and finding customers. (But it doesn’t include daydreaming!) Tracking your sprints will give you a realistic idea of how much time you actually spend building your business.
Productivity Hack #3: Have an accountability partner
For the longest time, I refused to have an accountability partner. I told myself that I didn’t need one to overcome procrastination. I told myself that I shouldn’t have to rely on other people to be productive. After all, I’m a well-educated and self-motivated individual!
Here’s a fundamental truth I’ve learned: I want to procrastinate, AND I want to feel ok about it. I want to go weeks without writing a single word, AND I want to shield my fragile ego from all negative feelings—especially shame and embarrassment.
Having an accountability partner means lowering my shields and feeling embarrassed when I procrastinate—which used to happen a lot!
But a curious thing happened when I switched from “write an amazing blog post” to “work for 25 minutes.” I started completing sprints every day. When this happened, my aversion to having an accountability partner vanished.
Since I was completing a sprint every day, I might as well report it to somebody and get the validation that comes with it. (My ego is always looking for more validation!)
So here’s how I asked my wonderful wife to be my accountability partner:
Hey, I’m doing an experiment of sorts. I want to see if having an accountability partner makes me more productive.
So here’s what I’ll do: Every day, I’m gonna text you with how many writing sprints I completed. You’ll get a text from me at lunch, but you don’t have to do anything. You don’t have to respond at all. You don’t have to cheer me on when I succeed or chew me out when I fail. You don’t have to do anything. Just know I’ll text you with my sprint count.
Is that all right with you?
She said Yes, and so I’ve been reporting how many sprints I complete each day. In addition, we often eat lunch together and discuss how my writing is going.
Now, does having an accountability partner make me more productive? I think so, but I’m not sure. I was already completing one or more sprints daily when I started this. But I think it does help, and I’m more likely to complete a third daily sprint because of it.
I’m also looking for other ways to get validation for my progress. So in my writers’ Slack group, I include the total number of sprints with my name: Stewie (371 writing sprints).
Every time I post a Slack message, it shows my name & sprint total. And people periodically comment on this and compliment me on my progress. This makes me feel good and spurs me to keep going.
Because I have a good system in place, I stopped hiding from embarrassment and started pursuing validation to keep me on track.
Here’s my advice to you: Confront your desire to procrastinate AND feel good about yourself. Lower your shields and be willing to feel embarrassed when you procrastinate.
If you’re a student, tell your accountability partner if you completed at least one study sprint each day.
If you’re starting a business, tell your accountability partner if you completed at least one “building my business” sprint each day.
Productivity Hack #4: Imagine today is replicated 365 times
Here’s another embarrassing confession: I used to waste a tremendous amount of time daydreaming about what “future me” would do. He’d build a supercomputer, learn Spanish (and Japanese and French), read The Count of Monte Cristo in its original French, and create his own spoken language. And, of course, “future me” would publish several nonfiction books that’d be instant New York Times best sellers.
Daydreaming made me feel good. It made me feel like my future was bright even as I procrastinated.
But I found a handy tool that serves as an important reality check. I imagine today being replicated every day for a year. Everything I accomplish today, I’ll accomplish 365 times. Everything I refuse to do today, I’ll refuse to do every day. Like an eternal Groundhog Day.
So, if I can find the gumption to write for at least one sprint today, I’ll do it every day for the next year, and future success is nearly guaranteed. But if I refuse to get started today, I’ll refuse every day, and failure is guaranteed.
Why is this? Because I will be the same person tomorrow. Tomorrow, I’ll still struggle with energy and motivation and oooh, look at this funny cat on Tik Tok! All of these hurdles—which feel like mini shackles—follow me from day to day. There’s no escaping them. There’s no “future me” coming to save the day and accomplish my dreams for me.
This might sound depressing. But it’s not.
It actually gives me great hope. Why? Because anything I accomplish today—any small win or tiny victory—will be repeated hundreds of times until I reach my goal. I just need to make a small amount of progress today. (In fact, I believe that only today exists, but let’s not get too existential here!)
Put simply: If I complete one sprint today, my future success is nearly guaranteed. My entire future depends on what I do today.
Here’s my advice to you: Imagine that today will be replicated 365 times. Imagine completing a sprint every day for the next year—what does life look like? What does life look like if you complete two daily sprints?
You don’t have to do anything huge or monumental today, but you must do something.
If you’re a student, imagine the last 24 hours are replicated 365 times. What do your grades look like? How are your stress levels? Are you happy with life?
If you’re starting a business, imagine the last 24 hours are replicated 365 times. How much progress have you made (or not made) on your business? Are you happy with your progress?
So there you have it—my four productivity hacks I use daily to beat procrastination:
1) Do 25-minute sprints
2) Create a scorecard
3) Have an accountability partner
4) Imagine today is replicated 365 times
But beware of the temptation to say, “These are good ideas… I’ll try them tomorrow!” Today’s excuses follow us into tomorrow. If we can’t find the intestinal fortitude to do a sprint today, we won’t do one tomorrow. Tomorrow, the resistance will be just as strong.
So get started today.
Read more on How to Stop Procrastinating.