Overcoming Procrastination

There are so many logical reasons to push off the goals in your life, and so many tasks that feel urgent but aren't actually important. You may have a dozen things that need to get done today. So you say "not now" or "first I have to..." and before you know it, you've reached the bottom of your to-do list without touching what really matters.

The task you put off the most is usually the most important for you to begin. Here are three Jewish approaches to overcoming procrastination.

1. Start Anyway

You don't have to "feel" like beginning a project in order to outline the steps or write that first paragraph. Sometimes you just have to accept that you may never feel ready or good about the challenging task ahead of you.

Jewish wisdom teaches that you can show up and start even without feeling inspired. The Sefer HaChinuch, (The Book of Mitzvot Education) teaches that “the heart is drawn after one's actions.” Your actions will eventually lift your intentions and emotions along with them.

Judaism also teaches that all beginnings are hard. It's rare for anyone to feel like they know what they're doing when they begin something new.

The first step is the hardest. You don't need to feel ready for every step that follows before you take the first one. Even if you’re feeling unprepared and uninspired, start anyway.

2. Remove Distractions

The right environment can work wonders for jump starting a task that you’ve been putting off for too long. Judaism teaches that it is crucial to surround yourself with the right people and atmosphere in order to accomplish your most important projects and to honor your priorities. King Solomon wrote, "He who walks with the wise will become wise, but one who associates with fools will suffer" (Proverbs 13:20). Your surroundings make a huge impact.

Turn off your phone and close extraneous browsers.  Try to consistently work in the same place.  Connect with others who are working on overcoming procrastination and who are implementing strategies to get rid of distractions.  Set up your environment and your mind for success.

3. Accept Limitations

If you're putting something off because you think you can't do a "good enough" job, you're usually right. In the perfect vision you have of how a project should unfold, there's no room for the mistakes and limitations that make you human -- and no room for the countless uncontrollable circumstances that will upset even the most careful plans.

So if you want to accomplish anything worthwhile, accept the limitations of being finite and human. You will never have "enough" time, and the result will never match the perfection of your imagination.

But here's the good news: Jewish wisdom teaches that having a finite amount of time means you're not expected to finish or perfect anything. As the Mishna teaches, "It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you free to desist from it" (Ethics of the Fathers, 2:16). There will always be something left unfinished or something that could be improved. But that's no excuse to avoid beginning just because you may never see the end.

Accepting your limitations will free you to begin.

When you procrastinate, you make the mistake of assuming you have an infinite tomorrow. "Not now" tells us there will be time later. No one has an infinite tomorrow, and not now often becomes never. "The day is short, the work is much, the workers are lazy, the reward is great, and the Master of the house is insistent” (Ethics of the Fathers, 2:15).

Your time here is limited. So get started.