Stop Procrastinating and Tackle That Big Project

By Dorie Clark
Harvard Business Review | Originally published: May 16, 2022

Summary

It’s human nature to put off uncomfortable or undesirable tasks, or to make the easy choice in the moment. But if something is a legitimate priority, we’ll have to get it done eventually — and sooner is better than later. In this article, the author lays out strategies we can use to ‘trick ourselves’ into getting started on projects that might feel onerous or overwhelming, but really need to get done: 1) start with an easy behavior change, 2) commit to a certain date, and 3) make it an experiment.

We’ve all heard the standard productivity advice — we should “eat that frog” and conquer our hardest, most consequential tasks first, so we don’t waste the whole day procrastinating. Of course, that’s easier said than done.

There are a litany of emotionally salient — if counterproductive — reasons why we might put off an important project, from fear of looking stupid (“I’m new at this and might be terrible at it”) to uncertainty about how to proceed (“There are a thousand things to do and I’m not sure where to start”). But if something is a legitimate priority, we’ll have to get it done eventually — and most of us realize, at least intellectually, that sooner is better than later.

For years, I’ve researched the question of how we can force ourselves to do what we know is important, even when our human impulses intervene and, in the moment, we just don’t want to do it. In my new book The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World, I lay out strategies we can use to “trick ourselves” into getting started on projects that might feel onerous or overwhelming, but really need to get done. Here are three techniques you can try.

Start with easy behavior change.

When a goal is large, complex, or long term, it takes a huge amount of motivation to keep yourself going. After all, finishing that proposal or creating a deck for a particularly high-stakes client presentation typically involves both a lot of time and a lot of steps (brainstorming, outlining, drafts, revisions, feedback, more revisions, etc.). So how can you sustain that motivation?

According to Stanford psychologist BJ Fogg, maybe you shouldn’t even try to. “When a behavior is easy, you don’t need to rely on motivation,” he says.

Instead of focusing on the enormous task ahead of you, he suggests creating “tiny habits” that are so minuscule and doable that they’re impossible to resist. When he wanted to create a flossing habit for himself, he decided to floss just one tooth. Because getting started is often the hard part, once you’re flossing that one tooth, it becomes far easier to keep going and floss them all.

The goal is that for any activity where you feel nervous or averse, lower the bar and find a small way to begin. If you find yourself overwhelmed by your inbox, try replying to just one email. If you’re uncomfortable at a networking event, go up to just one person and introduce yourself. (You can give yourself permission to leave afterward, but you might not want to.)

Commit to a deadline.

Every leader has heard the mantra, “What gets measured gets done.” That’s true for tracking sales or customer lifetime value, and it turns out it’s also true for accomplishing our own long-term ambitions…[MORE]

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To read the entire article by Dorie Clark at The Harvard Business Review website, visit: Stop Procrastinating and Tackle That Big Project