Always, as much as possible, move toward the task. I mean with all the parts of yourself — physical, spiritual, emotional, and cognitive. All these different components of you are part of your capacity to work towards your goals. It does not suffice to come up with a goal or to get one assigned to you; we have to invest our energies into our work in order to complete it and to have the experience of succeeding.
Here's more of what I mean:
Physical — Keep your body close to the task. If there's a book at the library you need for your essay, go on and get it. If you ignore the reality of needing that book and instead start to write at your local coffee shop, you probably won't be as successful as if you were with that book, writing in the library. Sounds like common sense, I know. However, I also know it's worth mentioning here because we Procrastinators are creative creatures, able to make-believe we are in the “perfect” place — when we're not.
Spiritual — Put your hopefulness into the idea of the task and of completing it. Orient yourself with a positive mindset which assumes and insists you indeed have everything you need to do the task.
Emotional — Understand that your feelings about the task, whether they be positive, e.g. “I would love to get this done,” or negative, e.g. “I'm not sure I can do this,” are part of the task rather than reasons to struggle or to move away from it. Recognize the feelings, but resist being daunted by them. Feelings about work and about doing things in general are unavoidable because needing to work causes us to feel stimulated. We are responsible for shaping how we “read” those feelings which emerge from having to do work.
Cognitive — Use your analytic, pragmatic, and reasoning skills towards completing your task rather than using those great tools to strategize the slickest exit away from it. Also be aware of those sneaky zero-value thoughts which make you feel like you are making progress, but actually inhibit you from moving anywhere at all.
I have a feeling this idea of deliberately moving yourself towards success may feel like a tall order for some of you. Procrastination, after all, occurs when we move ourselves away from the task at hand. Even a seemingly minor floating thought in your head, like “Geez, I feel discouraged,” could put a hold on your progress indefinitely. If you are currently in need of a work boost, choose just one of the four areas I mentioned to look at and adjust. Most times, it takes just a minor shift in perspective to change your entire outlook on a project. And boy (and girl), wouldn't that be nice?
Which area of focus will you choose?
