To overcome procrastination, you must focus on its root causes, which are often:
Fear of Failure or Perfectionism: Avoiding starting a task for fear that the outcome will be less than perfect.
Large and Overwhelming Tasks: Feeling burdened by the sheer size of the work required, which makes starting feel impossible.
Lack of Motivation: Insufficient interest or a clear purpose for completing the task.
Poor Time Management: Incorrectly estimating the time a task will take, leading to its postponement.
Lack of Self-Confidence: Believing you don’t have the ability to successfully complete the task.
These five reasons are the core factors from which most procrastination issues stem. To solve the problem of procrastination, people often use two methods: the Two-Minute Rule or the strategy of breaking down large tasks.
The Two-Minute Rule
This is a simple strategy based on the principle, “If a task takes less than two minutes to complete, do it now and immediately.” The goal of this rule is not to finish the entire task but to break the barrier of procrastination and build momentum. When you start by completing a simple task, the feeling of accomplishment drives you to tackle bigger ones.
Examples of Two-Minute Rule tasks include:
Replying to a short email.
Washing a coffee mug.
Writing a title for an article.
Making your bed.
Taking out the trash.
Breaking Down Large Tasks
We often feel overwhelmed and intimidated by large tasks. This strategy involves breaking down large tasks into smaller, more manageable sections instead of dealing with them as a single, overwhelming block.
How to apply this method:
Identify the main task: For example, “Write the end-of-year report.”
Divide the main task into major sub-tasks:
Research and data collection.
Writing the first draft.
Reviewing and editing the report.
Final formatting and delivery.
Divide each sub-task into smaller, more specific steps:
For “Research and data collection”:
Identify data sources.
Interview the sales team.
Gather statistics from the database.
Compile notes from previous meetings.
Start with the first small step: Now, instead of starting “Writing the report,” you can begin with “Identify data sources,” which is a very easy and specific task.
These two strategies can be seen as complementing each other. The Two-Minute Rule helps you get small tasks done and build momentum, while breaking down large tasks allows you to approach big projects in a systematic and organized way.
✍🏻 Written by Anas
