Sometime last month I felt the urge to go back to creative writing. I had been postponing this activity for a long while and thus had even gotten rusty as the creative juices seemed to have dried up. No ideas.. nothing. The fact that there was an upcoming event that I had to get the creative piece ready for didn’t even help matters. I was forced to postpone this activity multiple times. Here was the deadline, yet I was still postponing and procrastinating.
Well! I know I am not alone in this kind of predicament. We are plenty riding this boat. Procrastination is a very common challenge! I recently discovered that Procrastination often isn’t about laziness, but about difficulty managing negative emotions related to a task (like boredom, anxiety, or frustration). 
Here are 5 actionable tips you can use to beat procrastination:
1. The 5-Minute Rule (Lower the Barrier to Entry)
Commit to working on a difficult or unpleasant task for just five minutes.
How It Works: The hardest part of any task is starting but by the time you start, you would have already generated momentum that can carry you to the end of the task. So by committing to only five minutes, you trick your brain into thinking the task is small and non-threatening. Once those five minutes are over, you will often find that you’ve built enough momentum and focus to continue working, or that the task wasn’t as bad as you thought.
2. Tackle the “Biggest, Most Difficult” Task first (Eat the Frog)
Identify the most important, often most dreaded, task on your list and do it first thing in the morning.
How It Works: This concept comes from Mark Twain, who suggested that if you “eat a live frog first thing in the morning, nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” When you complete the hardest task right away, you eliminate the anxiety that comes from dreading it all day and create a powerful sense of accomplishment that carries you through your other tasks.
My Own “Pomodoro” countdown timers
3.The Pomodoro Technique (Break It Down)
Use a timer to break your work into manageable, focused intervals.
How It Works: Work for a straight 25 minutes (one “Pomodoro”). Then take a short 5-minute break.
Repeat. After four Pomodoros (25 minutes), take a longer break (15–30 minutes). This method prevents burnout and keeps you focused by making the work sessions short and predictable, while ensuring you get scheduled rest. Best if you use a timer. I have several coundown timer on my systems and even phone that help me with this technique.
4. Create an Implementation Plan (Plan the “When and Where”)
Don’t just plan what you’ll do; explicitly plan where and when you will do it.
How It Works: Replace a vague goal like “I will do the presentation later” with a clear, specific plan: “By 7:00 PM today, I will sit at my kitchen table and work on my presentation for one hour.”
This removes the need for motivation or willpower when the time comes, as the decision has already been made. It turns a goal into a habit.
5. Forgive Yourself and Reframe
If you slip up and procrastinate, acknowledge it, forgive yourself, and focus on the next right action, not the past mistake.
How It Works: According to studies self-forgiveness actually makes it more likely that you will begin the task sooner the next time. Procrastination is frequently triggered by feelings of guilt and shame. Instead of saying, “I’m such a procrastinator,” reframe it: “I missed the deadline, but I can still submit a high-quality version of the other projects, and I will start my next project right now using the 5-minute rule.” This shifts your focus from negative emotion to positive action.
Don’t be too hard on yourself, procrastinators are such creative people. For you to come up with ideas or excuses why you should not do a task shows you can as well be able to come up with the will and motivation to do the tasks.
Follow these 5 tips and you will observe yourself achieving more in your life, business, health or personal development. Let me know your results in the comments below.
