How to Stop Procrastinating and Take Control of Your Life

Are you procrastinating? Is there an essay or a blog post you just can’t seem to get done? We could suggest:

Don’t put off until tomorrow what can be done today.

Though, it won’t likely help.

Why not? Professionals, students, educators, writers, and so on have all heard this advice, and we all feel compelled to follow it, but—let’s be frank—it’s not easy to just “stop procrastinating.” We don’t procrastinate for the sake of procrastination or laziness. There are emotional and psychological barriers that manifest behaviorally as “procrastination,” and it’s important to understand these before trying to learn how not to procrastinate.

What Is Procrastination?

Though we all have experience with putting things off, that doesn’t mean we necessarily understand it. Simply:

Procrastination is a state in which one is delaying work on or completion of a task or project.

It’s important to note, however, that there is good procrastination and bad procrastination. Good procrastination helps you get more done while bad procrastination just makes you miserable with little to show for it. It is possible to procrastinate the right way and reap the benefits. Let’s assume, however, that you want to avoid the bad kind of procrastination (who doesn’t?). Here’s how.

Why Do People Procrastinate?

It may be useful for you to think for a few minutes about why you are postponing a given task. Often, the cause of your procrastination differs according to the task. What are the top reasons for procrastination? Generally, they are:

• feeling overwhelmed
• confusion
• boredom
• lack of motivation
• distraction

When writing, for example, procrastination normally comes from confusion or feeling overwhelmed. When I have to do the dishes, it comes from boredom. It’s important to understand the enemy before it can be defeated. Isolate the root(s) of your procrastination.

We’ll address methods of dealing with confusion, feeling overwhelmed, being bored, lacking motivation, and being distracted.

Ways to Stop Procrastinating

While it does take time to plan and organize for productivity, it will pay for itself over the life of your project or goal. Avoid procrastination with these eight tips.

Coping with Confusing and Overwhelming Tasks

1Make Written To-Do Lists

To-do lists are a tried-and-true way of getting your bearings and keeping yourself from getting overwhelmed. They also help you organize your thoughts and can prevent confusion. It’s ideal to make a new list at the end of each day to prepare for the next day. Keep in mind, however, this tip won’t help much if you over-plan or set actionable tasks that cannot be completed in less than half an hour. If a task takes longer than thirty minutes, break it up into smaller tasks.

2Start Each List (and Day) With One Important Task

Uncertainty about how to manage all the steps of a larger task can feel overwhelming. The antidote? Organization and proactivity. Accomplishing something toward your goal is a great way to empower yourself to take on the next step or to free up your energies for other tasks throughout the day. Choose one task or group of tasks each day that you should complete in order to feel productive. Do these tasks first.

3Seek Information and Support

When we are overwhelmed or confused by how to move forward with a task, it can come from feeling inadequately prepared for taking on the task. If this is true for you, work in some time (and tasks on your list) for seeking guidance. For example, if you are confused about an essay or writing task for school, a good place to seek guidance is from your professor, your adviser, or a writing center tutor.

How do you cope with confusing and overwhelming tasks?

Coping with Boredom, Lack of Motivation, and Distraction

These particular causes of procrastination are common among students writing for a mandatory course or among professionals obliged to complete reports and documents regarding the mundane aspects of their work. This is especially true when the project isn’t something you have chosen for yourself. Luckily, not only are there great ways to get motivated, but there are also some helpful ways to avoid procrastination.

4Establish a Purpose

It is difficult to pick a route if you haven’t yet determined a destination. Many people are not creative when thinking about their “destination.” More often than not, if your sole reason for doing something is simply to finish it, you will succeed, but miserably. Remember those midnight sessions writing drafts of your dissertation, hours before it was due? Yes, the drafts were completed, but under great stress. Wanting to finish a task isn’t enough to stave off procrastination. Purpose matters. Be creative with your goals. Try to establish a broader purpose that you are passionate about and fit the task at hand into your plan for progressing toward that goal.

5Don’t Take On Too Much

This tip is also something that can help with feeling overwhelmed. Often, if you have taken on a huge task and have not allotted enough time to complete it in smaller bite-size chunks, the lack of progress can result in boredom. A huge task can also induce a sense of inferiority that leads to lack of motivation. To prevent stagnation, boredom, and sureness-sucking lack of motivation, work in small chunks over a longer period of time. The sense of accomplishment that will come from this habit will kill the dullness and incompetence you may have felt otherwise.

6Break Up Unpleasant Tasks With Pleasant Ones

This may be seem obvious because it is so simple; however, many people are gluttons for punishment and continually create situations where they immerse themselves in unpleasant circumstances without taking ownership for their ability to improve their situation. If you are sick of doing something (inevitably, at some point or another, we all will be), take a productive break and do something refreshing. A short diversion is worth more than the time it costs. Rewards for achievements foster productivity. Incorporate these activities into your written lists during your organization process.

7Create an Ideal Environment

Distractions arise when your environment is imperfect for your work. If distractions are a real issue for you and organizing your tasks does not relieve the impulse to procrastinate, it is vital that you take a look around and find out what is blocking your productivity. Distractions can range from background noise to a stiff chair, from a cluttered desk to Facebook. Do what you need to do in order to remove or avoid these elements. Many of us are distracted by the Internet. (“I’ll watch just one more cat video.” Yeah, right.) Develop the discipline to work in a space without Internet connectivity or build idle Internet browsing into your schedule (see tip three).

8Stop Procrastinating and Just Start

Like jumping into a cold lake, the anticipation and initial dive into a project are the most difficult and unpleasant. Once you start, you acclimate and the process becomes tolerable, sometimes even enjoyable. Once you get over the first “hump,” accomplishment, inspiration and confidence have room to motivate your work.

These suggestions are aimed at addressing some of the primary sources of anxiety and discomfort that lead to dilatory habits. There are various tips and tricks for overcoming procrastination, which can vary greatly according to a person’s individual needs. While all of these tips may not fit your particular situation, starting at step one—determining the root of your procrastination—will give you all the direction you need for finding the ideal solution for you.

How do you avoid bad procrastination? Which of these strategies works well for you?

5 LGBT Authors Who Have Made an Impact

It’s no secret that some of the finest pieces of literature ever written were authored by members of the LGBT community. From the poetry of Walt Whitman to the landmark plays of Tony Kushner, it’s impossible to overstate the impact LGBT authors have had in American literature. In honor of Pride Month, here are five of the most important and influential LGBT writers of all time.

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde, a prolific Irish author whose poems, essays, and plays remain relevant more than 100 years after his death, wrote just one novel, “The Portrait of Dorian Gray.” The novel provoked a public outcry over what was perceived as a stunning lack of morality. Wilde, perhaps Britain’s leading proponent of the Aesthetic Movement, defended his novel in its preface, stating, “ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style.” Later, he wrote, “Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art.”

Wilde was arrested on charges of public indecency for his open homosexuality and served two years in prison. He died at 46, penniless and in exile in France.

Tennessee Williams

Born Thomas Lanier Williams in 1911, Tennessee Williams is considered one of America’s best playwrights of the 20th century. His iconic “Streetcar Named Desire” earned Williams both a Pulitzer Prize and a Drama Critics Award. Other important successes include “The Glass Menagerie,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” and “Orpheus Descending,” which was made into a movie (“The Fugitive Kind”) starring Marlon Brando.

Williams was openly gay, even suffering a hate attack in Key West in 1979. The author lapsed into a period of alcoholism and drug use and was found dead in 1983 at the age of 71.

Virginia Woolf

Woolf’s most famous work, “Mrs. Dalloway,” earned the bisexual author a prominent role in contemporary American literature; in 2005, Time magazine placed it in the top 100 English-language novels of the past century. Woolf suffered sexual abuse early in her life at the hands of half-brothers; her battle with mental illness and depression throughout her life influenced her work. “Mrs. Dalloway,” written in mesmerizing prose, raises emerging social issues, such as feminism and homosexuality.

Woolf ultimately succumbed to her depression and committed suicide at the age of 59 by filling her pockets with stones and walking into the River Ouse.

Alice Walker

A committed social activist, teacher, and lecturer, Alice Walker’s prolific writing career spans more than four decades. Her works encompass novels, short stories, children’s books, poems, and essays; she is most famous for the groundbreaking and critically acclaimed “The Color Purple,” which earned Walker a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. Many of Walker’s works promote themes of the black feminist movement and explore issues related to race and gender identity.

Other highly influential works include “The Temple of My Familiar” and “Possessing the Secret of Joy.”

Chuck Palahniuk

This author’s pointed, minimalistic writing style has earned both praise and criticism and his works often explore controversial themes such as morality, sexuality, and religion. His most famous work is “Fight Club,” a novel that was made into a movie starring Brad Pitt; his widely acclaimed novel “Choke” was his first book to make the New York Times best seller list.

Palahniuk’s writing is influenced by giants such as Albert Camus, Michel Foucault, Thom Spanbauer, and Bret Easton Ellis. He is also a freelance journalist and essayist.

While not all LGBT authors write about sexuality and gender, the classic works mentioned above reflect the uniquely valuable LGBT perspective. Do you have a favorite LGBT author or work that deals with LGBT issues?

 

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June is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month. Celebrate human rights, tolerance, and equality with us throughout the month! #PrideMonth

Which Slice of Pie Are You?

5 Word-Related Car Games for Your Next Road Trip

Stiff legs. Sore behind. “Are we there yet, Mom?”

It doesn’t matter whether you’re going to Aspen, New Orleans, or Disney World. Long car rides bore the best of us. One of the fastest ways to bust boredom is to keep your mind active. Pack these nifty word-related car games in your overnight bag the next time you hit the road.

Character Sketches

Choose another car and take a good look at its passengers. Each person makes up a backstory about the passengers in the other vehicle and shares it with the others.

If you’re stumped, start by answering these questions about the folks in the other car:

1. Who are they? 2. Where are they going? 3. What are their hopes and fears? 4. What are their flaws and strengths?

Fiction writers use character sketches to spur their creativity. These thumbnails often morph into the fascinating characters we meet it books. You can do it, too – on wheels.

License Plate Decoding Game

What if every license plate harbored a secret meaning within its letters and numbers? That’s the premise behind the License Plate Decoding Game. The game works especially well when you’re caught in traffic because you have plenty of time to peruse and “decode” the license plates around you.

For example:

“PTA 247” becomes “Peanut butter tastes awesome to 47-year-olds.”

“YHB 711” becomes “Your hair looks bad seven days a week, eleven hours a day.”

License Plate School

If you’re traveling with little ones, consider using license plates to reinforce geography and phonics lessons learned at school. Edmunds.com suggests that children “collect” plates from the different states or try to find all the letters of the alphabet – first forwards, then backwards.

Related Words Game

The Related Words Game requires each player to brainstorm a list of words that relate to a specific starting word. The subsequent list must bring the topic back full circle. Whoever creates the shortest list wins.

For example, Player One might create a list like this:

• noodles • delicious food • cake • birthday cake • presents • wrapping paper • ribbons • strings • noodles

Player Two might create a list like this:

• noodles • yellow • egg yolks • chicken • chicken noodle soup • noodles

Because Player Two created the shorter list, he/she wins. You can play as many rounds of the Related Words Game as you like, but if you wish to limit the game, choose a random word like PIG. Each time someone loses a round, they take one letter of the word. For example, Player One earned a “P” for this round. Whoever spells the word “PIG” first loses the game.

Round Robin Story Game

Teachers have used round robin reading strategies in the classroom for decades. In this game, car riders use the round-robin style to create a groupthink story. Each rider contributes one word at a time. The entire story lasts four or five sentences. If possible, choose a scribe to write or record the words as they are generated.

If a player thinks a sentence sounds complete, any passenger can insert punctuation by shouting “Period!” or “Exclamation point!”

Here’s an example of an opening sentence created by a four-person car load:

Person 1: Once Person 2: upon Person 3: a Person 4: time Person 1: I Person 2: ate Person 3: twenty-six Person 4: frogs Person 1: and Person 2: turned Person 3: into Person: 4: a Person 1: wombat. (PERIOD)

No matter how silly the story gets, each word must make grammatical sense in the context of the story.

Vacations are essential for happiness and well-being, but getting to your vacation spot can be tedious. How will you break up the monotony during your next long car ride?

Top #SummerReads for 2013

Summer has simmered down and school is back in session. What better way to keep the summer spirit alive a little bit longer than by encouraging you to pick up some of the top #summerreads from the Grammarly community?

In early September, we asked our Facebook, Google+, and Twitter communities which books they would most recommend from their summer reading lists. We simultaneously ran a survey to get more information about summer reading. Of more than 450 survey respondents across all channels, we found that:

The majority of people identified themselves as female.

• 81.7% Female
• 16% Male
• 2.3% Preference not given

So, with the leaves turning and cool weather on the way, why not settle in with a hot cup of tea and start a new book? Below you’ll find favorites from our community.

Who’s heading to the library? What book are you going to read first?

4 Interview Tips for Introverts That Will Make You Comfortable in Any Setting

Introverts are energized by solitude rather than social activities. We value deep connections. We’re better listeners than we are talkers, at least where chatty small talk is concerned. Unfortunately, job interviews require us to be gregarious, make only a superficial connection, and chit-chat. About ourselves. The horror!

I was well into adulthood before my extroverted dad admitted that, despite my preferring solitude and books over people, I turned out pretty okay. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been told that I should “just be more social.” Although one-third to one-half of the population are introverts, Western society tends to value the gregarious over the observant and introspective.

The pressure to act as though we love social interaction intensifies when it comes time to interview for a new job. Introverts disdain small talk and are uncomfortable in the spotlight, and job interviews require us to manage both those things with flair. Fortunately, we can use the power of introversion to not only survive the interview process but crush it.

1Fake it.

Okay, at first blush this advice may sound like I’m asking you to deny your true self. But that’s not quite what I’m suggesting. It’s more a matter of getting a foot in the door at a time where first impressions matter. A lot.

There’s some value in the expression “Fake it till you make it.” It’s possible to act more confident than you feel, and it’s also possible to seem more extroverted than you are. Before your interview, remind yourself that, despite your preference for deeper conversations with people you know well, you’re actually good at “peopling.” Do you smile and make eye contact with cashiers when you go shopping? Do you return a friendly hello when someone greets you? Can you engage in a conversation with a random stranger? If you’re like most introverts, you manage all these things just fine.

Odds are, you’ve already found yourself pretending to be more extroverted than you are. So, when it comes time to interview, remind yourself of your chameleon-like ability to blend in and act like a people person even when you’d rather be home reading or watching a movie. Once you’ve proven that a preference for solitude doesn’t mean you can’t interact with people (it’s a commonly held myth that all introverts are shy), you can let your introvert flag fly with pride.

2Be prepared.

When I lived in a tornado-prone part of the country, our local TV weather team had a motto I loved: “Be prepared, not scared.” The head meteorologist believed that information, rather than hype, was necessary to help local viewers ride out the storms. As a weather buff, I was a huge fan.

We have a tendency to generate a lot of hype in our own minds when we’re working our way up to an event as significant as a job interview. Hype is the enemy because it generates anxiety. Preparation is the only way to vanquish it. Before your interview, research the company. Write down anything you may want to ask the interviewer. Give thought to how you’ll answer some of the most common interview questions. Here’s some advice to help you get started.

Organization can help, so bring notes and a professional-looking portfolio. It can even be useful to do some scouting before your interview. Drive to the location so you know where you’re going. Do your best to get the name of the person who’ll be interviewing you and see if you can do a little research into that person’s background. The more you know, the less anxious you’re likely to feel.

3Reference introversion as a positive.

The world is full of introverts, and science shows that we’re pretty darn smart. Sixty percent of gifted children are introverted, as well as seventy-five percent of those identified as highly gifted.

When my son was little, I gave him a coin to drop into a fortune telling machine. The fortune teller (it reminded me of the famous carnival machine in the Tom Hanks movie Big) spit out a card that read:

A wise old owl sat on an oak. The more he heard, the less he spoke. The less he spoke, the more he heard. You’re just like that wise old bird.

It fit. My son is as introverted as I am. And hey, we introverts are like wise owls—we speak less and listen more. We take time to process things. We’re generally very creative when given a quiet space in which to work. We’re awesome.

Talking about your tendency toward introversion can play to your favor during a job interview. No only might the interviewer share your tendencies (or at least closely relate to someone who does), but you can help him or her recognize introverted traits as positive. Here’s a great example:

Let’s say the hiring manager asks, ‘What’s your greatest strength?’

You can reply along the lines of, ‘As an introvert, I’ve discovered that I’m a natural listener and observer. It’s second nature for me to seek out pain points or obstacles that others are facing. Once I’ve gathered enough information, I’m ready to make a thoughtful and impactful contribution.’

—Aja Frost for The Muse

4Know that you’re not alone.

Consider that up to half the population are introverts, many of whom act a lot more extroverted than they are due to societal pressure. You stand nearly fifty-fifty odds of sitting right across from a fellow introvert at your interview.

But even if you find yourself face-to-face with an extrovert instead, the chances of that person knowing and caring about an introvert are higher than you may think. Just because introverts prefer solitude doesn’t mean we’re alone in the world. It also doesn’t mean that there’s any reason to be ashamed of being introverted just because the more gregarious people seem to get all the attention.

Many hugely successful people identify as introverts. They include Bill Gates, JK Rowling, Barack Obama, and Mark Zuckerberg. Even Dr. Seuss, according to Susan Cain (author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking), “was afraid of meeting the kids who read his books for fear they would be disappointed at how quiet he was.”

We are here, we are here, we are here! And we’re quietly awesome.

Three French Phrases English Loves to Borrow

For the third day of LitMas, we’re offering you three French phrases English speakers love to borrow. There’s something kind of glamorous about sprinkling foreign phrases into your conversations every now and then, don’t you think?

1 Joyeux Noël

’Tis the season of wondering what noel means. In French, Noël simply means Christmas. If you’re not sure about joyeux, go ahead and take a guess—you’re probably right. Joyeux means happy. So joyeux Noël is the French way of saying merry Christmas. Now you have something magnifique to say to your Francophone friends!

2 Amuse-bouche

Hosting a fancy holiday dinner party? Don’t forget the amuse-bouches. They’re like hors d’oeuvres (hey, there’s another French phrase!), but amuse-bouches are typically served as bite-size morsels. Amuse-bouche is French for “mouth amuser.” Feel free to amuse your guests with this fact.

3 Canard

OK, this one takes a little bit of explanation. Canard is French for duck. To English speakers, a canard is a hoax or an untrue rumor. Huh? The meaning comes from the old French idiom vendre des canards à moitié, to half-sell ducks (or, in other words, to trick someone). This may be the word you’re looking for if you get stuck listening to Uncle Carl pontificate about conspiracy theories at dinner.

And, no, we don’t know how one goes about half-selling a duck. If you figure it out, let us know.

Bonus phrase: RSVP

Speaking of parties, do the right thing and RSVP to that invitation. Your host needs to know how much ice to get! RSVP stands for répondez s’il vous plaît, meaning “please respond.”

Which French phrases will you trot out this holiday season?