Fatima Barkatulla – How to Deal With Procrastination

			What advice do you have for someone struggling with procrastination? Just do it. That's my advice.
		

			Just get up and do it.
		

			Though that's easy to say. Right? Okay, my advice for not procrastinating. I actually got a list
somewhere of my own, like, tips for myself for not procrastinating.
		

			But I think I have actually got it right there. Let me just get it okay. Because then I can share
with you my wonderful tips for not procrastinating. I'm actually, I think procrastination is a
problem that everyone has, right. Right, the first tip that I have for overcoming procrastination.
So for example, you want to do a particular project, you want to write something or you've got some
chore to do, or you've got some, for me, it's usually you know, writing, right, like, I need to
write a chapter, I need to write something important.
		

			And I'm procrastinating. So one of the things I do is, if I'm, if I really feel that I can't get
into it, I'll go for a walk, a quick five minute walk, clear your brain, clear your mind, you know,
and make sure that your phone is in another room. When you come back, put your phone in another
room, make sure you know, because a lot of the time it's the distraction right from the phone.
		

			One of the ways also that I prevent procrastination is not to look at my phone first thing in the
morning, you know, if you start your day, looking at your phone, looking at emails, blah, blah,
blah, what happens, you get into this reactive mode, right? in reaction mode. So you're not, instead
of like setting the agenda for your own day, you're allowing others to set the agenda, you know, you
might read something, and it upsets you or you might see something someone said and it upsets you,
or, or it excites you or it distracts you or it makes you think, oh, you know, it makes you have
FOMO right fear fear of missing out. All of those kinds of emotions are really unhelpful when you
		

			want to avoid procrastination. And when you've got stuff to do, there's there's things you want to
do. And that you've got to do that you've already committed to write that you need to get done. So
what you want to do is start your day, setting your own agenda, have a piece of paper, you literally
on your phone, if you must write down your agenda for the day, right? Do that the night before, if
you can, or at least that morning.
		

			And then you want to not allow these other distractions. So so but if I'm actually sitting down and
I'm procrastinating, like, when I've sat down to do something, right, I'll think of either going for
a walk five minute walk, stretch, you know, like just change your physical situation, your physical
position, and that kind of sometimes brings you back fresh and ready to work. The other thing I
might do is to write down the task that I've got to do for the next hour, right? Just write it down
in like a Sharpie using a sharpie pen, you know, one of those big Sharpie pens and just write it on
a post it note and you stick it there. And when you stick it, then it's like your brain focuses. And
		

			you think Alright, that is the one thing I've got to do in the next hour. And that kind of helps.
You know, instead of having like a big to do list, you have one thing written in front of you that
this is what I'm going to be working on in the next hour.
		

			Another thing that really helps is to clear my desk, clear the space that you're going to be working
in. Because when you clear that your, your mind feels clear as well, right? You feel suddenly like
ready to work. So if every night before you go to bed, you can clear your desk or your space that
you're working in to neutral. And that includes if you're like cooking, right? Like it includes
anything really, you can clear the space to neutral. When you approach that space, the next day, you
feel more fresh and ready to ready to use it. Right, you're more excited and ready to use that
space.
		

			And the fourth thing is, yeah, I really like this one, to do the easy version of something, right?
So for example, if I have to write a chapter of a book, right, the perfect version of that chapter
is gonna take ages, you know, because writing is basically you write something and then you refine
it, and you improve it and you add to it and you take away from it. And now it's like a such a, such
an ongoing process. It's such an ongoing process. And sometimes the thought of that, I think is what
makes you procrastinate. Because you're thinking this is such a huge thing I have to do I have to
get done. But what if you were to do the lowest most basic version of that task? So instead of
		

			saying, you know, I'm going to write this perfect chapter. I'm sitting down right
		

			Like, I'm just gonna write the bullet points for what this chapter has to contain. It's like the
lowest resolution is called the low effort hack, right? So do the easy version of something, just
the most basic bullet point version of the chapter. Right? Or just off the top of my head, I'm just
gonna write this chapter the way I would write it, like without thinking much, because a lot of the
time, and this is specifically for writing, I think it's really the blank page. That's your enemy.
Right? When you have a blank screen, you're like, just just getting started can be the hard thing,
right.
		

			But once you're in the flow, things get easier. And you just so actually, that's actually the fifth,
the fifth thing, which is sometimes we procrastinate, not, basically, to get started, it's just
getting started that we're procrastinating about. So if you get started, if you say to yourself, you
know what, I'm going to do this for five minutes, and you literally set a timer, and you start doing
that task for five minutes. Once you're into it, you'll carry on. But it's that resistance you're
kind of brain has to starting. That's the problem. So sometimes just start, just say I'm going to do
five minutes. So if you, for example, have decided you're going to do a workout in the morning,
		

			right? Sometimes when the morning comes, and you're at the point when you've got to do the workout,
you're like, your brain is thinking of every excuse, like, oh, but we would be better if you just
went shopping it would be better if you just spent your time doing this or doing that right. But if
you just say to yourself, you know what, I'm going to do it for five minutes. I'm going to get
started. Five minutes. Once you start, you'll be able to do it. It's just the Getting Started that
is what we really procrastinate about I think a lot of the time but of course there's also the
dollar that you can do right along minute oh the becoming an HMI will allow me will add Z well
		

			Castlereagh, if you look up the DUA, you ask Allah subhanaw taala to protect you from laziness and
inability in capacity and procrastination basically right. So I think that's also very very
important starting your day with the of god of the morning right? Just look up I've gone over the
morning and start off by doing at least one of them every morning and then add another add another
you know when we say us by now I spell molecular hero Bill Allah mean hamdulillah the, ya know, but
Adama tena? What are you leaking? Sure. And you know the other guys you're like setting yourself up
for the day right? You're asking Allah Subhana Allah to help you to make the most of the day. You're
		

			showing gratitude that you've been given another day. One of those things, I think put you in the
right mindset for seizing the day because that's what it's really about. Right? Seize every hour
seize every day because you can't get it back. Hope that helps.