7 things that (quickly) cured my procrastination 

I’m so proud of myself for not adding this video to “watch later”. If I don’t watch this now, I never will.

wow these really were some better ideas

this deserves way more views for the quality. I guess people told themselves they'll watch it later

The frog analogy had me in tears. The dancing, the red visuals of remembering, the sounds. Perfect execution

that Frog Scene was way too Cinematic Mr. Joey. You gave the Frog Humanity. You can not personify things like that you're gonna put me in my feels.

1. 0:17 - Eat the frog 2. 1:46 - 3-2-1 rule 3. 2:53 - “Do something “ principle 4. 4:34 - Purge your physical surroundings 5. 5:42 - Purge your digital surroundings 6. 7:38 - Stare at 1 thing for 60 seconds 7. 9:12 - Confront your distractions before working

Another good one: when working, if you start to get the thoughts telling you to check your phone or scroll RU-vid or any other common distraction, have a sheet of paper out and physically write it down. This acknowledges the distraction without allowing yourself to indulge in it and falling down the rabbit hole of “wait what wdym 8 hours have passed?” when you only meant to take a 5 minute long break. Normally what we do is try to ignore these thoughts because they’re distracting, but all that really does (at least for me and others with ADD/ADHD) is make the thought more distracting. Not only are we counterintuitively putting more conscious thought towards it, we are then perpetuating it by not acknowledging it. This puts us in a mental state more prone to self shaming or hateful self talk, which just compounds everything. If we acknowledge the distractions in a healthy way by writing them down, we basically tell ourselves “oh, that’s a thing. I want to do that thing, which is okay and natural. I still have to do this other thing first so I can reach my goals and not fall behind though. I’ll write it down so I can do it later. Keep going, you got this!” Which is a *much* healthier outlook on it. Hope this makes sense and helps y’all :) Oh also - I’m proud of you! You’re doing amazingly! Even if you’re doing something no one knows about, I’m proud of you for doing it! I’m proud of all the progress you’ve made thus far and all the progress waiting to be made in the future! You got this, keep at it! :)

The most effective approach for me has always been to keep a list of procrastinated tasks, and allow myself to freely procrastinate whatever task I don't want to do.... as long as I move to another task on that list instead. It keeps me productive WHILE procrastinating, and the momentum of checking items off the list is usually enough to clear the list.

Be honest, who else is procrastinating while watching this video

i should be editing but... I'm procrastinating and watching this instead.

I grew up with a lot of countdowns from others and they gave me extreme anxiety. As an adult I still do countdowns for myself, but I always include zero. Knowing that the world will make me go at one, yet intentionally letting myself ignore it makes the countdown feel less like a threat. I choose to let myself take the small victory because of my compassion for myself, and it honestly feels like a hug every time I say zero. It's motivational. I have always wanted a shirt that says "The zero is self care" because it's one of the few things that I feel like I got right.

The do-something principle I "discovered" by myself when I was writing my dissertation. At first, it was like "I have no idea how to structure the whole thing", but after I just start typing what I knew about the subject, ideas started to flow. It was pretty simple: the more I did "something", the more the ideas flow.

The method I use: Eat the elephant one bite at a time... or for 10 minutes at a time. Just assemble your tools. Clean just this one shelf. Mow for only 10 minutes. I give myself permission at the get-go to stop after taking one bite. Of course, I usually end up doing the whole task because GETTING STARTED is the hardest part!

I wanted to give my 2 cents on the #7: I've tried this couple of times in my life even before I came across this video and what I've noticed is that if you put a 15-minute timer just in front of yourself, somewhere after 10 minutes, you start to constantly chech the timer, realizing that the time is crippling and ot almost feels like you don't want to do the distraction anymore. You suddenly realize that there is no longer satisfaction in this distraction and you just want this to end. I often found myself ending the timer much earlier than planned. Thank you for the great video!

00:15 eat the frog 01:45 3-2-1 rule 02:52 "do something" principle 04:33 purge your physical surroundings 05:40 purge your digital surroundings 07:34 stare at one second for 60 seconds 09:08 confront your distractions before working

i loveee all the visuals and acting you included, it really shows how to use the techniques and makes them feel so easily applicable

Newton's First Law Of Motion: An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion It's so much easier to be productive once we've started, and getting the big thing out of the way first makes the rest of the day feel like your just cruising down hill.

You are a godsend, I'm currently procrastinating, as are millions of other people.

it's incredible how hard it was for me to finish this video even though I need it so badly

anybody else procrastinating by watching this

I respect the fact that you have scattered you're room just to rearrange it in front of us

1. Get shut done first thing in the morning, or it'll start piling up 2. Counting to three and then getting up to go to get shit done 3. Staring at the exact same spot for 60 seconds, breathe deeply as you do it 4. Clear out digital and physical distractions 5. Set a timer for 10-15 minutes to engage with distractions

I use the 3-2-1 rule all the time - particularly when starting unpleasant but necessary conversations (when I have to be the one who has to initiate). Works like a charm. Essentially, the backward counting has this huge psychological effect of getting us in a mindset of an active 'doer' instead of a passive 'planner'. It's like saying to yourself, "Hurry! The time is up! Don't think, ACT!".

Cuando lea artículos sobre la libertad financiera, es posible que escuche a las personas hablar una y otra vez sobre cómo no gastan prácticamente nada para poder jubilarse a una edad más temprana, como 30. Por el contrario, es posible que ya hayan logrado la libertad financiera y se jactan de cómo frugales eran para poder jubilarse mucho antes de la edad típica de jubilación.

After years of struggling with procrastination I’ve come to learn it’s usually a deeper issue. After clearing up my mental/physical health issues & removing my biggest “time waster” habits it’s become WAY easier to do what I want to do and learn from it when I do it.

I struggle with ADHD myself and find it extremely hard to complete necessary tasks. I remember maybe 2 years ago you made a video about the "3-2-1 Rule" and I was using it for awhile (and it was working) but for some reason or another I resorted back to procrastination... More than likely because it's "easier" to procrastinate than actually doing a necessary task. I'm going to give some of these a try and see if it helps. Thank you for your dedication to your craft! -P Edit 12-28-21 - Thank you for all the kind words and support on this post! Happy New Year 2022!

Thank you for another great video! I’ve been trying to pull my life back together these past couple years … pretty much since COVID … and honestly your content has helped in many ways. RU-vid has served as a great place for a recluse, like myself, to find other like-minded people who go through same challenges I’ve been through lately. Keep up the amazing work, it makes a difference. Cheers!!

added this to my watch later and decided to watch it while i did cardio at the gym since i couldn’t think of a better time. this definitely helped me a lot thank you. the most simple and cliche things usually work the best

The 3, 2, 1 thing is actually really effective. I've been using it for years to help me get out of bed or get out of the shower or go outside when I'm having a really bad day, and it works! I never thought to use it for actual work though. I'm going to try it.

I love the honesty here. Even with all of this focus on being productive and all the tips he gives, Joey never once pretends at nailing being proactive and efficient all the time. He has his ups and downs just like the rest of us. Although probably less frequently.

Camera work, montage and script is genius. Great content! 😊

One thing to say about the chaotic environment point. I have known many people to struggle with this (including myself), but not in the way you describe. They actually avoid doing whats important all the time because all they do is clean and re decorate. In my life this has been a way bigger issue than just doing the important work in a messy environment, and cleaning it up later. Its like they are addicted to the satisfaction of cleaning, its much easier to do house chores than hard work. No work ever gets done because the house is never clean or organized enough. With the pace of life the chores never end and the cycle never ends. I wonder how this could be solved?

7 things that (quickly) cured my procrastination 1. Eat the frog - 0:17 - Mark Twain said, "If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first." - And in this thankfully hypothetical scenario, if you were to put off eating that frog until tomorrow, you would have two frogs to eat. And if you were to follow this pattern, day after day, postponing eating the frog, then at the end of the month, you'll have like 30 frogs to eat. - But if it's inevitable and you have to do it, why not do it first thing in the morning so that you can live the rest of your day in peace? 2. The 3-2-1 rule - 1:46 - Now the 3-2-1 rule is pretty stupid, but it's too stupid to ignore. - You say, "Damn, I gotta do [Your Work] Three, two, one." And then you just go and do the thing that you're avoiding. - Now that sounds stupid and overly simple because it is, but it also works. - So next time you're having a very difficult time just diving in and starting a task you need to do, say, "Three, two, one," then just go do it. 3. The "do-something" principle by Mark Manson - 2:53 - Inspiration → Motivation → Action → Inspiration - First, we're inspired to take action. We have the strong reason to do it, and that generates the motivation we need to take action on the thing. But action isn't just the effect of motivation. It's also the cause of it. - Inspiration, motivation, action is not a linear sequence. It's an endless loop and you can start wherever you wanna start. - And since inspiration and motivation seem to be hard to come by and completely unpredictable, it's way more efficient to start with action and let that action serve as the inspirational and motivational fuel to power further action. 4. Purge your physical surroundings - 4:34 - There's an intimate link **between our psychology and our physiology.** - If we exist in a chaotic, disastrous physical environment, our brain often follows suit. A chaotic and distracted mental state very often creates a chaotic and disastrous physical state, which further perpetuates the distracted mental state. - It's a paradox, but it's often so much easier to correct and improve upon your physical environment than it is to suddenly feel good and clear-headed all of a sudden. - So if you're more distracted than ever and you're finding it increasingly difficult to get any work done, pay attention to your physical surroundings. Improve upon your physical surroundings. Make sure that the space that you take up is conducive to productivity. 5. Purge your digital surroundings. - 5:42 - Make sure that your digital surroundings and your digital environment that you're a part of aren't begging you to procrastinate every five seconds. - Digitally notifying things might seem like nothing, a little bit of a one-second distraction and you can check it really quick and then you can get back to work. - But the problem with that is that quite often, the most important work that we have to do in our lives requires deep, unbreaking focus for several hours. And it is almost impossible to reach that deep work state when we're constantly being pulled out of it. - Our attention is constantly being grabbed by notifications from phone calls, from text message sounds. - So one of the most important things you can do to cure your procrastination is to eliminate gateways to procrastination. And it even boils down to the amount of desktop clutter you have, or what's on your toolbar. 6. Stare at one thing for 60 seconds. - 7:38 - Dr. Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist at Stanford, I believe, and he talked about how one way to dramatically increase focus in 60 seconds, especially if you're already in a distracted, chaotic mental state, is to focus all of your attention onto one specific target, this could be one letter in one word, at the distance that you would be doing that work in for 60 seconds. - Do not break that eye contact and breathe deeply as you do it. This is another really good example of how intimately linked our psychology is to our physiology. - Focus on one specific target for 60 seconds while taking deep and relaxing breaths. And you'll notice that your brain focuses too and you can penetrate through the resistance in the way of doing the thing you need to do. 7. Confront your distractions - 9:12 - I would kind of use this technique as a last resort. - The way this works is that you set a timer for 15 minutes or 10 minutes, or however long you need, to actually engage with the distractions and the escapes that you want to engage with. - Because so often what happens is we don't wanna do this super hard thing that we know we need to do, so we escape, kind of impulsively. - So what I've been doing is setting a timer for 15 or 20 minutes and intentionally diving into each distraction that I want to do. And I'm allowing myself to mentally check that box and clear it. - When you intentionally check the mental box that you've done everything that you need to do on each of these websites, Sony Alpha rumors, RU-vid, whatever, then you can gain some mental clarity to say, "Okay, I actually have no excuse not to do this thing now. I have no excuse not to file my taxes and I would feel very good about doing so." - So try giving your primal brain what it wants. Let it feast itself for a dedicated amount of time so that your higher judgment can also get what it wants. - It's like a negotiation with yourself.

The "Do something" technique is super underrated! Out of all these methods this one almost always works for me, as this goes hand-in-hand with the 3-2-1 principle. Starting something easy to get into the mindset of working on something transfers to whatever harrd thing I have to do.

Just changed my life around- solid video ma. Need more of these 🙏🏿🙏🏽

I focused on observing the three tips ahead and was distracted by the three tips behind; I'll revisit it later, I told myself to avoid delay. After a few days, I started reviewing because I tested myself with the previous three tips I looked at, tip 1 and 3 worked great for me. And now, I've watched the entire video with great concentration; I am very grateful for this video. A great video that should be known by more people!

While having depression, watching your videos actually helps me out to start doing someone or at least think in that direction. For all those years I'm watching you, I can't describe how thankful I am. The production and overall message in every of your videos is so over the top. Just wanted to say, that you are doing a great job and please keep doing what you doing - for me it is some kind of magic or sense to move on and live longer. Thank you.

Recently my productivity has been amazing and I actually look forward to doing school work as early as possible. The most important thing for me was changing my environment. All I did was 1.) remove any distractions I had (addictions, video games, subscriptions) to make it impossible to indulge in them 2.) Secondly, just as important, I renovated my desk space to make it look as nice as possible. I figured that if I have a nice workplace that I enjoy, it would motivate me to get more work done. If you remove the obstacles in your life and make it easier to achieve your goals, I feel like life becomes easy mode. So sell/get rid of anything distracting you and also spend less time on the internet during your breaks (they drain your energy more).

I love your channel and your videos helped me so much during my thesis!

Absolutely brilliant. Thank you so much. Your tips are soooooo doable. Great work!

Before watching this video, I was struggling with motivation the past week, thinking my depression might have come back. But I decided it is now or never to clean my room. Once I started doing the laundry, the snowball effect you mentioned in number 3 kind of helped me to finish almost all the chores I have been piling up for the past 2 weeks. My room is so clean and nice now that it makes me feel so powerful and energetic. Completely proved your number 4 is correct.🥰

Here are also somethings that have helped me with my procrastination - setting reminders on my phone helps a lot but recently I started writing them on sticky notes and putting them on my desk ( so Im always seeing them) - for social media distractions I set time limits on the app and hid them from the homescreen so if I want to use a app then I'll have to search up the app and then open it - Another thing I do which is similar to one of the things you covered in the video is that if I can do it in 60 seconds, I just do it and get it over with. This can be something minimal as just getting up and putting something on a shelf.

Your videos are so helpful for me because your points are extremely clear without any unneeded words. Thank you for making them so concise!!

I’m just going to play this video on loop today. Thank you!!! I needed this!

I used to do the confront distractions tip but it became counter-productive when my surroundings were chaotic and induced me to go beyond the given time limit. I also like when you said psychological momentum because unknowingly, I have been doing some of these tips in the past to gain psychological momentum (without knowing what that term is). However, I began to stop when I thought of time management and had the misconception of just doing the work immediately without giving myself that momentum. That term 'psychological momentum' just made sense because having momentum lessens the friction (frustration) to do the things I need to do. Very helpful video!

I love the format of your films, high quality and eye pleasing shots with funny details and comedy bits hahah, really makes the video more enjoyable and interesting. Good work Saitama :D

New subscriber! It's the first video I saw from your channel. Loved it. Especially the frog example! Keep up the good work!

All of these work incredibly well, thank you.

You're so appreciated, Joey! Thanks for putting all this content together, and for free!

*Perfect is the enemy of good” - Voltaire*

The do something principle is incredible. Great video!

EXCELLENT ADVICE 👍 one of the BEST VIDEOS EVER on clearing your space and staying on track with actual SOLUTIONS. Simple, NOT complicated, like so many videos that you have to watch for HRS til they get to the point! Love this guy!

I’m so glad you posted this. I’ll watch it tomorrow

the action -> inspiration -> motivation loop seems to mirror the components of the cognitive behavioral therapy triangle: behavior, thoughts, emotions. there's no implied order in the CBT triangle as each component can affect the other (and I'm sure there's some feedback in the AIM loop) but your suggested model here is proof to me that action/behavior is most actionable (go figure) and oftentimes probably the best place to start. good video

Thank you for this... Truly needed this!

Thank you for these advice! This was a very motivating video!

The production value of your videos is incredible, been here since 200k and really enjoy this journey :) thank you for putting in so much work to make our lives better!

It’s always worth the wait for Joey’s videos

Love the content you shared..much needed stuff for many like me!

Instantly subscribed! This is quality content, thank you!

This made me get out of my bed and start today with a long-procrastinated morning run. I feel great and grateful. Thanks, Joey!

The last tip reminded me of the "pomodoro technique" where you focus on work for 20 minutes and take a 5 minute break to actively check messages, etc. and repeat this process. Great video, as usual :) keep up the good work!

Thanks for talking about this!

Great channel! Thank you for putting it all into easy to digest videos and getting right to the point!

I also highly recommend „5 min rule” and „time yourself rule” when you actually time how much it takes to do the task you’re putting off. Often is way less than anticipated. Second rule works best for chores.

Man, I gotta thank you for these tips. My days became better just by watching your videos and I apply it to myself. I'm really stucked in a rut as an architecture student. I took this course knowing that I'm not that good, the only thing I have is the burning passion to do this course but lately negative thoughts is consuming me. Just by watching these videos past few days helped me. Thanks man.

The inspiration motivation and action thing is life changing. Today I woke up feeling so tired. Imagine a 16 hour work day kind of tired. I had just woken up from a full 8 hour sleep and immediately wanted to go back to bed. I had dishes to wash. A room to clean. An errand to run, and about 2 hours of work to do in the morning. The first thing I did was force myself to stay awake. I spent 5 minutes focusing all my willpower into just staying awake. Then i focused on simply getting up and taking my dishes to the kitchen. Those two actions provided me with all the momentum I needed to do everything I stated above. It may not seem like a lot to many people, but this is more than I usually do than most days. I deal with low functioning depression and even sitting up on my bed takes tremendous effort when it gets really bad. That’s what I do now. One small action in the morning to increase my momentum. It’s my one effort each day to fight my depression, and I learnt it from this video a few months ago. Once I truly digested that information, that the process of motivation and action is not linear, i’ve been able to do more than I previously thought I was capable of. Thanks man. I love watching your videos.

Just found your channel trying to help my clients with procrastination (life coach student), wow, love your content! So easy to listen to and relatable also

number 3 hit me the hardest - I always thought that it was a linear process instead of a looping cycle, meaning that I always made the excuse to not do something because I didn't have enough inspirational/motivational energy to meet the standard of my work

I really liked the "focus on one thing for 60 seconds" tip, I haven't heard of it before and it sounds like it would work very well.

Dude this is for sure one of the greatest videos I’ve ever seen, well don’t you have a new subscriber. Blessings🙏🏻

i love the style of your videos and the content helps me a lot in my daily life. thank you and i cant wait for future videos

Honestly, I think this is one of your best edited videos to date.

As I’m dealing with finals at the moment, this is great stuff aha, something I definitely needed

Very much life changing encouragement, thank you!

WOW, thank you so much for sharing this, super useful. I am so glad you make valuable content in a perfectly organized way.

I always underestimated how big of an issue procrastination is for me, this video really helped

Until the task becomes habitual, this is the most unpleasant time as you actively need to do it. Consistency helped me the most: Start as little as possible, let's take writing - write a sheet a day, starting with just one sentence. As explained in the video pomodoro technique (I think), you won't stop at just one sentence. Is the start habituated, the actual doing becomes easier - at least for me.

Happy that youtube decided to bring this video back. Really needed to watch this at this time, will be watching this once everyday for a while

Thank you so much for these tips! I love your sense of humor too, it was so fun to watch this video but so informative at the same time. Definitely going to try these out :D

Anime "I want to eat your pancreas" helped me less procrastinate. The question I asked myself after watching it was "If I can die at any moment, what is holding me back from the things that I want to do before death". Story is about a girl who had "things-to-do-before-death" list because she suffered from cancer. I found parallel with myself, considering myself ill with longer-term cancer called life which will lead me to unpreventable death.

I did the 123 thing as soon as you mentioned it and did something I had to do for an hour but kept ignoring. It's so funny because it reminds me of lucid dreams, sometimes, for no apparent reason, you realize you were dreaming and everything around you changes. It's like it instantly makes you concious of the situation you're in and the only was out is to act.

Thanks for the tips, I struggle these days with procrastination. I needed this.

Subscribed and rang the bell. Great content 💫

Wow - I actually specifically find # 6 very intriguing and interesting; I definitely think it could be very effective for sure, can't wait to try it! They are all really great and useful tips, thank you! Also, I think # 7 is so super practical, thanks; it will totally be helpful for some people if not actually most people! :)

wasnt expecting sony alpha rumors to be mentioned lmao

These videos are so education, helpful and comedic.

Can't wait to try this tomorrow!

5:35 that was so satisfying! Amazing video, definitely agree with paying attention to your surroundings. A messy desk is a messy mind.

i really don't know why, but i cried watching this. Especially when ADHD is mentioned. I'm struggling with my meds and some side effects, with the procrastination, anxiety, the feeling of guilty cause i can't do some basic routine that my psychologist recommended. I'm so fucking down right now and somehow this video helped me just by existing. I didn't payed to much of attention on the points, but i'll make sure to see it again. Thank you, really.

ive heard about a few of these but some of the others really helpful!

Love this! Thaks for this valuable and fun video!

Liking this video right now to make it blessed by the algorithm and help more people improve productivity 💕. Nice content as always, I deeply thank you for the time, effort and joy that you put in your videos, and in my life either. ✨✨✨

I have to admit, I actually aware of all these thing in the video but my procrastination don't let me practice it with self-doubt. For god sake, now I know there are people out there, having the exactly same ideas with me and actually makes it work, I finally found the dedication I've always lack from the start. Cannot describe how thankful I am to this video and the one who create it and the friend who share it with me.

U are making me want to watch all of your videos, like, i feel so inspired watching them. Time to put that inspiration to work 💪🏾 thank u

Great video. Thanks for creating. Cheers

I was a big procrastinator. I like this video and will implement some of the techniques. As a life coach, what has really helped me was something I learned from a book about most successful people and their techniques that helped them along the way: Writing to do lists but highlighting the things you did instead of scratching them off. This becomes a positive psychological motivator to show yourself that you are making progress. It helps you to move forward. Surround yourself with “go getters”. When I have specific tasks that need to get done, I ask an administratively gifted friend to help. Really works as I am the visionary not the admin. Use an ADHD timer. About $20-$30. Set the clock to whatever amount of time you need, and it shows minutes in red color. This is most helpful for the person who feels overwhelmed but can see the timer counting down. It has actually been tested to cause one to be more productive. ADD/ADHD creative people procrastinate more when they have a lot of time on their hands. Hmmm…I should have made my own RU-vid video.

I don’t usually comment but just wanted to say that these tips are genuinely useful and are formatted so well! Actually helped me to do what I needed to do, thank you :)

Love this you actually gave such good examples and tools

Thank you so much for these valuable advices. I think all of the tips work and all of them are indispensable and crucial in dealing with procrastination.