My senior year of high school, I took a college English course.  One of the requirements for this course was to write an essay every week.  I don’t remember what the topics were; however, I do remember each essay had a minimum number of words and I started off the year by putting off writing these essays to the last minute.

My procrastination left me feeling rushed and frustrated when the 11th hour loomed.  I also knew, the essays I created were not the highest quality I could deliver. 

Even at this young age, I inherently knew I needed to setup a routine to get me started.  After a few weeks of struggling to meet the essay deadline, I decided to start writing my essay on Monday afternoon right after school.  Once I got home, I setup a space to write in our living room with a comfy chair, table, a pad of paper and a special pen, with no other distractions on the table.  The living room wasn’t used very much, so it felt special to be working in this room! I also sat close to the window so I could absorb the late afternoon natural light.  Before starting to write, I put the same album on the stereo (am I showing my age?).  Then, I would sit down and begin.  I would continue writing until I had a finished product, ready to hand in later that week.  

Once I implemented this “startup routine”, I didn’t put off writing these essays. Like clockwork, I got them written and turned in.  Additionally, I was writing high quality essays, instead of the “fly by the seat of your pants” essays I had started out the year doing. 

I’m surprised at what my younger self knew instinctively about overcoming procrastination. For example, I booked the same time every week on my schedule to write these essays and, most importantly, I kept that appointment.    

Another thing I discovered was that music provided me with a positive trigger.  When the album started to play and I sat down in front of the blank paper, I knew it was time to write.  Many, many years later I have used this same technique to write numerous newsletters for Better Than Ever Coaching.  Only this time, it’s one song, it’s an .mp3 file and I write using my computer, instead of pen and paper. 

I did well in my high school college English class.  At the time, I didn’t know I was learning a valuable lesson about how to prevent procrastination, but I did!

Did you like this post?  Be sure to check out the upcoming “Get Started Now: 5 Ways to Outsmart Procrastination” workshop for more ways to get started now!

Helen Kosinski
Follow Helen
Latest posts by Helen Kosinski (see all)