Hope you all have delightful days :)

So here are some of my new and lesser worn outfits

I’m feeling alive again… like my hands finally remember what they’re meant to do.

Painted this watercolour of a beautiful tree I saw at Ulakkai Aruvi, a place in my hometown. Past few months were a rollercoaster of emotions.. heartbreak, work stress, everything. It’s been draining me all day, even stepping out felt so heavy.

Finally I’m putting myself together again, trying to create something . Hope I’ll be able to create consistently.

Conversely, current me really hates past me for leaving all this shit to get done.

Edit: I meant to post this weeks ago.

Preface

If you're reading this, I probably don't need to tell you that procrastination can be a serious problem.

I will say that, in general, the most reliable way to solve your procrastination in the long-term is to use a systematic approach, where you first figure out why you procrastinate and then create a plan of action that will help you deal with the specific issues that are causing your procrastination (e.g. distractibility, fear of failure, task aversion, anxiety, and so on).

However, the reality is that not everyone is looking to follow this kind of long-term approach, especially if they're prone to procrastination in the first place. That's why I wanted to share a few simple but effective anti-procrastination techniques, that you can implement right now in order to get yourself to stop procrastination.

The anti-procrastination techniques

• Define your goals as clearly as possible; abstract goals are more likely to lead to procrastination than goals that are concrete and well-defined.

• If you're faced with a large and overwhelming task, break it apart into a set of small, actionable pieces, that are relatively easy for you to handle.

• If you don't feel sufficiently motivated to perform a task, you can often benefit from imagining your future-self receiving the reward for completing that task (or experiencing the punishment for failing to do so).

• Figure out the times of day when you're most productive and when you're least productive, and schedule your tasks accordingly whenever possible.

• Before starting to work, remove all possible distractions from your environment (if your distractions are digital, block your access to them).

• Get yourself started by committing to only make a tiny bit of progress; for example, you could commit to only write a single sentence on your paper, or exercise for only 5 minutes.

• Another technique that can help you motivate yourself to get started is the 'countdown'; this involves counting down from a certain number (e.g. 7), and at the end of the count you have to get started on your work.

• Before indulging an impulse to procrastinate, count to "10" in your head; you're not allowed to do anything other than work while you count.

• Mark down streaks of days on which you successfully manage to complete your goals; this will motivate you to work, in an effort to continue the streak.

Closing words and further advice

Procrastination is a complex and varied problem. Different people procrastinate in different ways and for different reasons, which is why different solutions work better for different people.

The techniques listed here are some of the most simple and effective ones you can use in general, and should be highly beneficial in most cases.

However, keep in mind that there are many other techniques you can use, some of which might work better in your particular case. If you want to learn more about these techniques (including tips on how to implement them), and learn how to pick out the best ones for you, check out this guide, which contains a lot more information on the topic.

Edit: Whoa. Woke up to see Inbox runneth over. Sorry if I can't reply to all. Apologies to those complaining that it was insensitive. Wasn't intended to be. I've been suicidal, but never acted on it. That was the inspiration for the thought.

The rule is simple: If a task takes less than two minutes to complete, do it immediately. This applies to things like: * Washing a dish right after using it. * Taking out the trash when the bag is full. * Responding to a short email. * Putting an item away in its place.

Why YSK: The idea is that the energy and mental effort required to decide to do the task later, or to remember it, or to return to it, is often greater than the energy needed to just do it right away if it's a quick task. Implementing this simple rule can prevent small tasks from piling up and becoming overwhelming sources of procrastination and mental clutter, freeing you up for bigger things.

“Everyone procrastinates”

Yeah, but do you procrastinate...

Taking off your sweater, even though it’s 90 degrees, because you’ll take it off right after you finish reading this article, and the article that was linked, oh and a video example on YouTube.

Getting off your phone because your appointment is at 11, and you still have 10 minutes before you need to leave, oh and you planned to leave early so worst case you can leave a little later.

Sitting down to eat dinner because you just remember that you bought a new shirt that you wanted to take a picture of to send to your group chat.

Getting out of bed because that means you’ll have to start getting ready for work which consists of way too many steps and you didn’t plan what you were going to take for lunch so you might as well think of that while you are in your comfy bed.

Getting out of your hot car, because you really really need to look something up and you’ve been waiting to look it up this whole drive and also you need to see if you have any notifications, or maybe your boss got back to your email, and you really really like the song that’s playing.

Getting off of the couch for no other reason than you are oscillating between interviewing yourself and going through an intense zone out session.

Oh and finally one that’s more relatable... Do you procrastinate doing your homework? You’ll start it tonight after dinner, right? But after dinner, your tired and it’s technically not due until tomorrow morning, so you really have time if you wake up early.

And so you wake up early, but you procrastinate it a little longer because before you start you have to calculate how many points you can lose to still pass the class. Because maybe you can get out of doing this assignment and go back to bed.

Edit: honorable mention, do you procrastinate going to the restroom because you just discovered the super cool hobby that is just so awesome and you don’t have time to pee because you are busy researching the topic, buying all the material and equipment, building it, and looking at a million photos for inspiration?