How to Stop Procrastinating: 4 Ways to Get Started

Practical ways to stop procrastinating (once and for all).

Dan Silvestre
12 min readJun 28, 2021

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Browsing social media, playing games, watching Netflix.

Just 3 examples of things you never procrastinate on. No need to rely on motivation or willpower to watch The Office. You just… do.

So it’s easy to assume we only procrastinate on things that aren’t fun.

Like cleaning your room.

But when I was in college, cleaning seemed like a wonderful thing during exam season. Like, seriously, the best thing ever. College Dan be ready to Kondo the entire apartment instead of studying Algebra.

It wasn’t because cleaning was suddenly fun. You wouldn’t see a broom in my hand until the next exam season. But give me the choice of studying or cleaning, and I’ll be Chuck Norris with a broom.

A few minutes of hard work and boom, one task completed. Check and check. I felt productive. I felt progress.

And this is a feeling we often overlook.

Of course, fun is better than boring.

But that’s not the only thing that’s driving you.

The Instant Gratification Monkey

In his Ted Talk about the mind of a procrastinator, Tim Urban explains that inside each one of our brains, lives an instant-gratification monkey:

Image Source

It’s the part of your brain that LOVES scrolling social media, watching Netflix, or leveling up a Charizard.

It’s also the one luring you to the fridge to get a piece of chocolate in the middle of the night.

Every time you have to make a decision, you have to deal with the instant-gratification monkey in your brain. Nothing gets done if he doesn’t want to.

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Dan Silvestre

Get my full guide on how to Work Smarter and get back control of your time (it’s free) -> https://newsletter.dansilvestre.com/work-smarter