Advice for procrastinators (in no particular order)

September 2nd, 2010

Do dishes immediately after eating.
Soaking dishes for hours isn’t really doing dishes. Soaking with hot water for 5 seconds is remarkably effective.

Clean up your space regularly. Don’t wait for things to pile up.

Start things before you think you should.
Be ultra anticipatory.
Don’t count back from a deadline to decide when you should start. You suck at estimating, so start as soon as possible.
Do a little bit every day.
Break large tasks down into smaller pieces.

If you are avoiding something, either you don’t know enough about it or you need to break it down into smaller pieces.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, write down a comprehensive list of everything that you need to do.
If you don’t know something important, figure it out.
It is never too late to ask for help.

If you don’t have any motivation, do something small.

Check your email less frequently.
Don’t ever allow more emails in your inbox than can fit on the screen.

Do three things that matter every morning before doing anything else.

Tell yourself you’re not allowed to work on Sunday (or whenever “the night before” is).

If forced to give an estimate, always increase the time you think you need by at least 20%. Remember, you suck at estimating.

It is perfectly ok to write a terrible first draft.

Take on less commitments so you can focus on the important ones.