Have you ever stopped a regime of good habits, or fallen off the wagon? Whatever that wagon is for you. How do you get back on track? Here is how I got back on track.
My story
I was running every day. I was getting stronger and faster after each run. Incrementally my motivation to do other things was visibly improving. I hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol for about 4 months.
Over on YouTube you can see I was recording regular short videos on my channel. My new book was self-published on Amazon.
It was spring 2020 and 2019 had been my best year’s earning, but then slowly things began to unravel.
The Virus
We watched with disbelieve as the virus spread from the far east into Europe and the Rest of the World. Governments panicked and succumbed to the doom-mongers; no one wanted a bloodbath on their watch. The UK Government announced their first lock-down.
At first it was a novelty. I could get all those jobs done around the house, that I had never had time to finish. I would have more time to write and work on my YouTube channel. In my day job I switched to using Skype then later Teams and Zoom.
I barely noticed any difference, at first.
But then I dropped some good habits. I stopped running regularly. Well, I thought, the government will only let us go out of the house once a day. The dogs need walking, so that’s my lot. I watched too much TV and started drinking again. As you can see from my YouTube channel and this blog, my content output stopped.
COVID was no excuse, but I’m just telling you how it was. We can all make excuses with hindsight, but at the time I just felt I could let things drop. It doesn’t take long for all the missed commitments to add up to an unhealthy lifestyle.
Why did you stop?
What about you? Why did you stop? Was it an external trigger? Do you want to get back on track?
The Truth
No matter what you think the reason is for falling off the wagon, the truth is you stopped applying the daily vigilance and discipline to whatever you were meant to be doing. The universal law of entropy does the rest. Things tend to break down if we don’t maintain them, whether its gardens, our cars or good daily habits.
Defeating Procrastination and getting back on track
So, enough wallowing, the past is the past, what about the here and now. How can you defeat procrastination and start on the right path? Here are practical ways in which I got back on track and if you are interested, how you too can get going again.
One point to mention though is that these methods should be used to just get you going, to get you out of a funk, to get your engine started so to speak.
Top-down Method
The Top-Down method is great for when you have a mixture of kinds of tasks, from little maintenance types to important larger projects. It goes against all the received wisdom out there on productivity which says – do the most important thing first. Sometimes you just need a quick easy win. This method is the way.
Process flow
The process flow method is good if you have many of the same types of tasks to do mixed in with projects and repeatable tasks. For instance, you might have a list of phone calls to make, emails to send, plus larger multitask projects to complete. Again, it goes against received wisdom, but I reiterate, if you need to get started then sometimes doing something, anything will help.
15 second method
This method works by overcoming our tendency to procrastinate if we have a large project to complete for instance a dissertation or writing a book. Just tell yourself you will just do 5 minutes work. Try it.
Vision
After trying these techniques, if you still can’t make a start, then ask the following questions.
Ask yourself why you want this task competed. Is in line with your values or your purpose?
Is it a task or job that needs completing as part of a larger project? Do you have to do this task, to move you towards a better version of yourself? For example, exercise. If so, all I can say is that you will have to revisit your goal or vision. Write out why it would be worthwhile doing it.
Then ask, what would it look like if you completed this task or project. Doing this mental exercise might cause you to think of a tiny first action. What’s this next action. Just do that.
Quitting vs failure
Have you tried all the above, and more, and you still can’t get going? You’re about to quit.
All I would say is don’t quit just yet. Take a break. This doesn’t have to be a formal thing. Just park whatever it is you want to be doing. Don’t cancel any subscriptions you have, just leave it dormant.
Go about your life until you can get that spark back. This will ensure you won’t fail. If you quit, you fail. If you pause, then it’s just a pause waiting for you to get back on track again.