Anti-procrastination technique: name and shame

Anti-procrastination technique: name and shame

Step 1: Notice when you’re procrastinating.
Step 2: Say out loud
a) why you’re procrastinating (e.g. it’ll be boring, I find it unpleasant) and/or
b) what precisely it is you’re procrastinating (e.g. I’m putting off spending 2 minutes filling out a form).

Very often if you look directly at the thing, it'll be too embarrassing not to do. 

For example, a common one for me will be:

1) Notice that I'm procrastinating answering an email
2) Say in my head "I'm procrastinating writing a 5 minute email because it's ambiguous how I should respond, I'll have to spend a couple of minutes trying to figure out what to say. . . oh god, that's dumb. It's just a couple of minutes of ambiguity." 

And then I'll write the email. 

Note, you don't have to say it loud per se. Just say it "out loud" in your head and shine the light of consciousness on it. That's the key step.