I'm an abysmal procrastinator when I don't want to do something and various reasons will likely compel me to put it on the backburner or outright not do it. Many systems (ex. rewards, guilt, groups, etc) never work on me. However, I find that these mental tricks help me do *most* things I don't want to do:
1) if you're a more of the pleasure-seeking kind and find that work for the sake of work just doesn't cut it, giving yourself a reason that you'd naturally find more appealing and turning it into something you'd enjoy more might be more incentive to do it and focus. So mentally make a "game"or a "hobby" out of your chore (or take as many courses you enjoy as possible in the first place).
2) slowly pretend you're in jail. In jail, time becomes of pretty much no essence. So if you know you have x amount of time to do a task, you'll get it done in x time. If you know you can do it in less, great, you'll do it in less. You'll be more focused on being in the moment of doing.
3) or, make your task a challenge of sorts to yourself to pit against, especially if there's the element of risk. The stress stemming from your risk might motivate you to put yourself in overdrive mode if you need it, and you just might get some odd sense of enjoyment from it. Just don't be too careless though, and keep it to relatively small doses.
... These are naturally my methods, but as said before, it's different for everyone. Self-awareness helps with finding what naturally works for you. And just for the record, I'm procrastinating right now and not doing anything about it.
Last edited by XNtrikster : 12-13-2012 at 11:39 PM.
Reason: been procrastinating for a week
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