The Unorthodox Approach to Counter Procrastination (It Works Every Time)

When it comes to procrastination remedies, I have two.

One, is coffee.

Ahh yes — whenever I feel the onset of procrastination (usually after having procrastinated for quite some time already) I brew a pot of coffee or make an espresso to ‘recharge’. That’s what I tell myself — that I need to recharge.

Sometimes the coffee works. I’ll finish a mug of freshly brewed French roast and suddenly, like magic, feel like “doing things” again.

Crazy right?

As a regular coffee drinker, this doesn’t always work. I feel the initial caffeine buzz but having a coffee to counter procrastination is a short-term solution.

My second — and more important — countermeasure to procrastination, is…

Doing nothing.

Yep. When I catch myself procrastinating — and I mean like hardcore, season 3 of The Office on repeat, try to teach myself the ukulele type-procrastinating — I quietly take a step back, and do nothing.

At the end of the day, procrastination itself is not the act of “doing nothing” — you’re almost always consuming something when you procrastinate.