Do you ever get exasperated at your tendency to procrastinate? You swore you would get your piano practice in, but then another day passes and you find that you skipped it again? Leaving you to go to your lesson feeling a little nervous and ashamed. (Yep that happened to me more times than I can count)
Well I’m proud to say that I’ve finally beaten procrastination. And all it took was getting knocked up. So if you want to beat procrastination go get busy 😛
Haha no of course not! But how can you replicate this for yourself without all the crying and pooping? Here are several ideas:
New Things vs. Habits
One of the biggest things that I used to procrastinate was trying new things. New things bring about uncertainty and that scared me so much that I always put new things off.
Now there’s a little creature counting on me to keep her healthy and happy. I cannot procrastinate figuring out new things for her, so I’ve been getting used to just pushing through quickly. And that brings me to my first suggestion for you. You need to get used to pushing through. Make pushing through your doubts and fears a habit. When you get used to the feeling, it turns out it’s not so scary and it always works out, some way or another.
Building Habits
You build habits by starting small and making sure that you never skip a day. So pick something very small, please don’t start with something that’s important to you emotionally. Just something small that bugs you. Then make sure you spend 10 minutes on it every day. And when you finish with whatever project you picked, pick something else, and do that for 10 minutes every day.
When it starts to feel easier, and you start to feel less resistance, you can pick something that’s a little more important to you. Until you feel brave enough to tackle something ‘big’. Whenever you judge yourself very much for procrastinating something, it means that ‘something’ is emotionally important to you. So that’s good to know and to acknowledge to yourself.
Time Oriented ISO Results Oriented
One of the biggest weapons that you can use to beat procrastination is using the ‘Time Oriented Mindset’. Most of us have a ‘Results Oriented Mindset’.
It’s logical. Your teacher gave you homework: learn this Chopin Waltz by heart. So when you sit down at the piano, that’s what you set out to do. But that’s incredibly frustrating. You might not be able to learn it by heart for a few weeks and every time you sit down at the piano, you feel like you’re failing.
That’s why Dimitar and I always try to remind each other to have a ‘Time Oriented Mindset’. That means that your goal is to practice a certain amount of time f.e. 15 minutes. So when your 15 minutes are up, you’ve achieved that goal and you feel successful.
When you feel success and pride after your practice, you’re much more likely to want to practice again.
And don’t worry, if there’s anything that Dimitar and I’ve learned from running our own business it’s that no matter how difficult a problem seems, as long as you put in the time, it works out sooner or later.
The Final Nail In Procrastination’s Coffin
The biggest thing that changed since I gave birth, is that I have a very limited amount of time. Our daughter takes two naps during the day and I have to use those to get my work done. I know that if I don’t do it in that exact moment, I’m consciously making the choice to skip my work for the day.
When you procrastinate there’s always this vague, comforting feeling of ‘I’ll do it later’. Then, usually at the end of the day, you remember that you’ve not finished it yet and you feel crappy about it and promise yourself: Tomorrow I really will!
Next time you feel like procrastinating something, don’t give yourself the vague reassurance of later. Ask yourself, do I consciously want to skip this today or not? If your answer is no, go do it immediately. And go do it with a ‘Time Oriented Mindset’ and start with something small, like practicing 10 minutes.
With this triple combo of procrastination beating strategies, you’re sure to improve this depressing habit and achieve your (piano playing) goals and ambitions!
P.S. Organization is a great help against procrastination. If you need help organizing your piano practice, check out this YouTube video we made.