Procrastination is one of the worst enemies to productivity. It can quite literally kill your creativity and motivation. Proverbs 24:33-34 states “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest; So, shall your poverty come like a prowler, and your need like an armed man.” (NKJV) So, I try my hardest to not lazy around and procrastinate. Over the years, I have found some ways to help avoid procrastinating when in the process of creating. Below you will find a five-step process, with a bonus tip, to help you beat procrastination as a creative.
The process is broken into these five parts:
1, Pre-Plan
2. Plan, Plan, Plan
3. Start Working
4. Stop Planning
5. Finish No Matter What
PRE-PLAN
Write down the necessary steps and tasks that it takes to complete your creation. It can be a simple list of bullet points. The steps and tasks do not have to be very detailed at this exact point. They may be developed into more detailed tasks when placing them into your schedule. Placing the steps/tasks in your schedule will be discussed below in the plan section.
PLAN, PLAN, PLAN
You will need a start and end date. This may be made by you or by someone else depending on the circumstances around your creation. If for example, you are editing a video for your video editing class at university, then you likely have a given end date (aka. due date). However, if you are editing that video for yourself, you will have to determine the end date. Below, you’ll find the next steps to planning how and when you want to complete whatever you are creating. The next step slightly differs depending on if your end date is provided to you or you are the one creating it.
If your end date is provided to you
You’ll want to grab your lists of necessary steps and tasks. You’ll also want to grab some sort of calendar. Any calendar will work. Think about how many steps/tasks there are to how many days, weeks, and/or months you have to complete the creation. Think about how much time each step/task takes and how much time you actually have to devote to completing the creation. Also, think about if you need reviewing/revision time and/or just want some cushion around the end date so that you can finish early and not just on time.
After considering all of those things and whatever other things that may be important to you (church, birthdays, anniversaries, vacations, etc.), place the steps/tasks onto your calendar. There goes your schedule.
If you are creating your end date
If you are creating your end date, I would suggest placing your steps/tasks differently. Instead of creating an end date first, the end date will be created in placing your steps/tasks on the calendar. Now it’s time to grab your steps/tasks list and a calendar.
Look. at your steps/tasks lists. How long do you anticipate or want to spend on completing the steps/tasks? What are responsibilities and such that you need to work around? What time can you a lot each day, week, and/or month, depending on the length of your goal, to creating your creation? What is your goal in completing this creation?* After answering those questions, you can start placing your steps and tasks according to the above considerations. That will lead you to an end date. It can be the day that you actually finish all the steps/tasks or it can be a few days later as cushion in your plan. But whatever you do, have confidence in the end date that you have chosen and stick to it.
*If your goal is time sensitive, such as entering a competition, pick a date as if it were given to you and follow the “If your end date was provided to you” steps.
TWO HUGE TIPS TO AVOIDING FUTURE PROCRASTINATION WHEN SCHEDULING
1. Spread your steps/tasks out into the smallest least time-consuming chunks as possible. This will help you to not feel overwhelmed with how much needs to be done and give you small but important victories each day.
2. Break days are your friend. While not always necessary or possible, if you can or need to schedule in a break day, do it. It’s better to take a break day and still accomplish the end goal than burn yourself out and procrastinate away your creativity.
Bonus Motivational Scheduling Tip: Schedule in smaller rewards for completing certain steps/tasks and schedule in a bigger reward for completing the creation.
START WORKING
Now comes the part that we’ve all been waiting for. It’s time to actually work on the steps/tasks for your creation. It is important to have confidence in the schedule that you have created. Your job is to stick to it to the best of your ability. If something comes up or you’re too tired from work to do a specific day’s step/task, roll with the punches and make the minor adjustments necessary to complete your creation on time.
Keep track of your progress, whether that is through checking off things on your calendar or off your steps/tasks list.
STOP PLANNING
Again, have confidence in yourself to stick to the schedule created. While minor adjustments may have to be made, keep the end date the same unless it is actually necessary to move it. This step is very important because it is easy to keep replanning the end date until it never happens. Personally, this is the type of procrastination that I have been working to eradicate through tips such as the ones shared in this article.
FINISH NO MATTER WHAT
Just finish it. Whatever “it” is. It is necessary that you finish. If you think it is subpar, not good enough, etc., definitely finish it. There are two big reasons behind me stating this. One, as creatives, we are very close to our works so it may be hard to look at what you’ve created objectively to realize that your creation is actually not that bad, it may even be fantastic. The second reason is that it still provides a learning experience. Let’s say you just read Become a Poet with These Four Forms and decided your goal was to write an awesome Italian sonnet. Maybe you struggled with the iambic pentameter rhythmic meter. If you quit the plan and leave the sonnet to forever sit in your desk or digital workspace, then you’ll continue to have that struggle. If you push through and stick with the plan you made to figure it out and complete the sonnet, then you’ll have learned a new skill that you can go on using for the rest of your life if you want to. Finishing out strong is just as important as even starting in the first place.