How to stop procrastinating

Here's how to stop procrastinating and be more productive. Ask why you're doing the thing you're doing, and use positive psychology to energize yourself.

How to stop procrastinating

I’m not going to give you a bullet-point list on this because I don’t think there’s an actual set of universal ways to escape the procrastination loop.

Every time I google “how to stop procrastinating,” I get a buttload of really bland, generic answers. They’ll tell me to make a to-do list, set priorities, find a good space to work in, prevent distractions, and—arguably the worst one of all—to set a timer and “just do it.”

Newsflash: Those tips are NOT helpful.

All they’re doing is telling you how to be a more organized person (and honestly, they’re not even good at doing that). The point is, these bits of advice are not actually getting to the root of the problem here, which is the misalignment between internal motivation and deliberate action.

I’ll be the first to admit that when my bursts of procrastination hit, they hit hard. Minimizing distractions and having a schedule is such a minimal line of defense against procrastination for me, because sometimes I would literally rather sit and stare off into space for an hour than do my work.

So, what’s the play? How do we fix this?

Here's what I do:

The best way to stop procrastinating is to trigger a flow state of enjoyment by consuming content and thoughts that remind you why you are doing the thing you’re trying to do.

That may not have made any sense, so let’s break it down.

A flow state basically means that you’re “in the zone.” It’s a mental state where you’re completely locked into the task you’re doing—you might even feel a sense of clarity or energy or ecstasy.

If you can induce a flow state for the thing that you’ve been procrastinating, you’ll not only be able to finally cross that thing off your to-do list, but you’ll actually want to get it done and enjoy doing it.

The question is: how does one trigger such a state?

I’m sure there are loads of ways to do this that are rooted in psychological research and other science-y things.

But what I find works best for me is to literally set aside time where I actively think about why I’m trying to complete a certain task. And because thinking alone is sometimes not enough to fully energize me, I will also consume relevant content online (through social media, videos, and forums) to, essentially, get me “hyped up” before I start doing the thing.

Here's a framework for this:

The thing I'm procrastinating: Writing this blog post.
Think about my why: I love to write, create content, and I care about providing something meaningful to students.
Consume content to hype myself up: I read about newsletter success stories, I parse through forum posts to see what other college students are talking and asking questions about, I watch pop culture videos that are relevant to college students.
Ask myself if I’m energized yet: If yes, then I go do the thing. If no, then I repeat this process until I get there.

You can apply this framework to homework and projects, too. Don’t overthink it.

Your “why” doesn’t have to be some save-the-world-type passion thing. It can be as simple as “I’m doing this thing because I don’t want to fail my class.”

And the content you consume doesn’t have to be a TED Talk on why it’s important to do your homework. It can literally be something like a TikTok video about aesthetic note-taking. Whatever gets you thinking about the thing you’re trying to do and ignites that spark in you that makes you want to go do it.

And if you really want to go all in, I do believe there’s a way to double-down on this mindset: utilize the power of community.

Now let’s be real. Oftentimes, for the thing we’re trying to do, there isn’t an immediate community of people that we can turn to that can help us keep the energy up and keep us moving forward. Sure, you have friends, but what if they’re not doing the same thing that you’re doing?

This is when I tap into forums like Reddit or Hacker News or, when things get real bad, hashtags on TikTok (that’ll show me a plethora of videos that all relate to the one topic I’m trying to get excited about). You’re bound to find a community of people that are interested in or are having to do the same thing you’re doing.

Here's why this works:

Thinking and consuming content has a significantly lower barrier to entry than actually doing the thing you’re procrastinating. It’s easier to watch a fun video than it is to get started on your essay.
If you do this right, then the result is that you feel excited to get started on the thing you need to do. When you actually go to do it, you aren’t having to fight yourself every step of the way.
Once you’re in the flow state, your excitement and focus will actually generate better results and outcomes from the thing you’re trying to do. This hack not only helps you stop procrastinating and enjoy getting a task done, but it also enhances your creativity, effectiveness, and overall performance.