How to avoid the I’ll Do it Tomorrow Syndrome

I started this post 3 months ago…  but keep getting hit with the I’ll do it tomorrow syndrome. Not really but how many times have you had that happen to you.  You want to start a project and have the idea for it written down or in your mind but then that is it.  It just sits there.  Every day you look at it or think about it and say wow that is a great idea.  But I will get to it tomorrow.  Then the next day comes.  You look at or think about it again.  Something “comes up” and you think I will work on that tomorrow.  Now you are stuck in an endless loop of I will do it tomorrow.  This just goes on and on for you and the tomorrow never actually comes.

More people than you think have this problem.  It could be that you have come down with a bout of laziness or that you just are not sure what people will think of your idea.   Then it becomes an excuse to not do it.

How do you get stuck

The question becomes how do you over come that.  At times procrastination can be a good thing it becomes a short term reward with more free time.   But when it becomes a perpetual thing it can and will negatively affect you and other parts of your life.  Putting things off can end up causing more stress in your life. The short term reward turns into a long time loss.  Once you are in that loop though it is extremely difficult to break free from the clutches of the I’ll do it tomorrow syndrome.

So go pour yourself a fresh cup of coffee and lets look at some ways to get over the I’ll do it tomorrow syndrome.  (can also be applied to any other forms of procrastination you have going on out there)  🙂

Alight now that your are back with that cup of coffee – CHUG IT AND LETS GET GOING!!!!!!  no not really but lets get going.

Avoid getting stuck in the I’ll to it tomorrow Syndrome

Make a change in the way you to things – It can be a simple change to get started.  Change the way you drive to work.  Change your routine in the morning when you get up.  Eat something different.  Just make it something that changes what you are doing in the morning.  This will actually get your brain synapses to fire differently and lead you toward breaking your normal routine.  Many times when people are stuck in a loop it is their routine that is keeping them from getting out of that loop.

Quit Saying I’ll Do it Tomorrow –   Change it to I’ll Start it now!  Every time that you feel yourself starting to put something off think to yourself today is when I am going to start.  Don’t care about what you are going to be doing tomorrow.  Care about what you are doing today.  Changing one word in your thought process will make a world of difference.  I’ll Start it NOW!

Do it now!

Baby Steps – Making the small changes and easing yourself into the new task that you are aiming to achieve.  For some people going full in will work.  For most people it will just overwhelm them and they will revert back to their old ways very quickly.

Create a to to list with a detailed time line – this goes along with splitting tasks up into smaller pieces.  If you just set a deadline you are setting yourself up to fall back into a mode of procrastination and falling back into the I’ll Do It Tomorrow Syndrome.  This way you will be able to set smaller goals that will lead to the finished produce.  Setting smaller goals will help to give you that satisfied feeling of accomplishment and keep you on track.  Once you get used to doing this you will see a noticeable decline in how much you procrastinate.

Eliminate Pot Holes no one Likes those anyway

Eliminate Procrastination Pot Holes – a procrastination pot hole is something that distracts you from what ever task you are trying to complete.  It could be anything and more than likely it will be different for different people.  Are there certain web pages that you frequent a lot.  Say Facebook or You Tube or for me Slashdot.  I can always justify going to Slashdot.

I mean hey I am just keeping up on the latest news out there.  In order to combat this make it more difficult for you to get to those pages.  If you are going to them from a bookmark make the bookmark more difficult to get to.  If you really have trouble use parental controls on your computer and block that site.  A bit extreme maybe but effective.  If you always have the TV on and you say hey I am just using it as background noise.  Turn it off.  If you really want some back ground noise put on the radio or stream some music.

Stop Over Complicating things – it is very easy to turn a simple objective into something that seems much more daunting.  It is also easy to wait for the perfect time to accomplish a task.  I have news for you.  There is never a perfect time.  There is always something else going on.  So change your way of thinking.  The perfect time is now.  If you keep waiting for that “perfect time”  it leads you to that perfect excuse to fall back into the I’ll Do It Tomorrow Syndrome.  Really this isn’t rocket science, and even if it was, get over it and jump into it today.  Lets do this.

You Can Do it

I hope that some of these tips have helped you.  None of this stuff is ground breaking.   Most of you have probably already read some of these.  That is okay.   Really sometimes it just takes one thing to get someone motivated to get things done.  If you stay in the I’ll Do It Tomorrow Syndrome form of procrastination you will be cause yourself more stress.  Once you get into it and keep at it you will form some great habits and that will lead to better productivity.  If you haven’t yet check out our post about motivation and life.  Something will click.  Lets get it going today.

If you have any other tips or if we have motivated you a bit.  Let us know in the comments.  It would be fantastic to hear from you.