My favourite technique for avoiding procrastination comes from that great book by Dr David Burns 'Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy". He suggests setting a goal of writing for just five minutes. Because this seems do-able and not overwhelming, I'm more likely to do it. Once I'm writing, it often takes on a momentum of its own and I end up doing far more than five minutes. But even if I only do the five, that's five more minutes than none!
I tried this with a report I was struggling with about my trip to the US and Canada on a Winston Churchill Fellowship, that was going on for a year overdue. I'd taken leave without pay and spent my whole Christmas holiday 'working' on it and got very little done. So instead of my usual approach of putting aside a whole day to work on it (and doing nothing) I set a goal of working on it for five minutes each day.
To my surprise (and pleasure) I actually started to make progress. It took a few months but I eventually finished the report. So when I'm feeling overwhelmed by this book and de-motivated I remind myself to set a goal of working on it for just five minutes. Usually I end up getting so involved I work on it for much longer, and feel re-motivated to go back and work on it on my next free day.
I used this technique this weekend with my book on transforming depression into happiness. I didn't feel like working on it at all on Saturday, so I set a goal of working on it for five minutes. I ended up editing for about an hour (not bad for a day that's officially classed as a 'rest day' when I expect to do nothing more than lie in bed and watch TV!) I made such good progress and was so heartened during this hour that on Sunday I started work at 7.30am and achieved even more!
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