How to Stop Procrastinating: a simple Guide to Mastering Difficult Tasks and Breaking the Procrastination Habit

Practice #10: Build the Discomfort Habit
One of the best strategies you can use to permanently overcome
procrastination is to become comfortable being uncomfortable.
Mastering this skill can allow you to do pretty much anything. You can
stop procrastinating, begin that exercise regimen, eat healthier, get that

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degree, speak in public, and overcome specific challenges in your life.
Truthfully, most people choose to avoid being uncomfortable. Just the
thought of working hard or experiencing some level of pain is the main
reason they fail to change their habits.
For example, many people choose to live a sedentary life because
exercising takes too much effort. It is easier to simply sit at a desk or lie
on the couch all day. Now, exercise isn’t torture; it’s just something that
takes some effort and a willingness to experience discomfort.
Similarly, when people try to push aside their junk food and start eating a
healthy diet, they often discover that the new food on their plate is bland,
unexciting, and not filling. Changing what your taste buds are used to is a
bit uncomfortable, but to be honest, you can retrain your taste buds if you
are willing to push through a little discomfort.
Discomfort is not a bad thing—it’s just doing something that’s not part of
your normal routine. As people avoid discomfort, they pay the price of
not being able to change things in their lives, not living a healthy life, and
not being open to new adventures.
The important thing to remember here is that a little discomfort is
healthy. It can actually turn something you perceive as dreadful into an
enjoyable habit—if you’re willing to push yourself at first. So, let’s talk
about how to do that.
How to Master Discomfort
If you choose to master discomfort, you can do it comfortably. While this
may sound counterintuitive, it means that you do things at your own pace
and a little bit at a time. If you’re nervous about being uncomfortable and
try to beat your nerves with an overly grueling activity, there is a good
chance that you will give up and return to what you are familiar with.
Here are five steps to success (
as outlined by Leo Babauta in an article
titled “Discomfort Zone: How to Master the Universe”
):
1. Choose an easy task. Start with something small. If your goal is to
increase your activity level, start with walking outside for 30

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minutes a day. You already know how to walk, so this won’t add any
complications to something that you already do every day. Do not
worry about your pace or how far you are able to go—just walk.
2. Just do a little. If you don’t want to start with 30 minutes of
something that you are not used to doing, start with 5 minutes. It
doesn’t matter where you choose to start, just make sure that you
do.
3. Gradually push yourself out of your comfort zone. When you want
to stop, push yourself just a bit further. Begin to sit through the
moments of discomfort so you can get used to the feeling and see
how it comes and goes. Each time you go back and try to do
something, push through one more phase of discomfort to help you
gradually learn how to comfortably leave your comfort zone.
4. Pay attention to your discomfort. Pay attention to your thoughts as
you become uncomfortable. Do you start to have negative thoughts
or complain silently in your head? Do you start looking for a way
out? How do your thoughts change if you stick with the discomfort
and push your way through?
5. Smile. Learning how to smile while being uncomfortable can help
you be happy with discomfort. Smiling sends a message to your
brain that you are happy and everything is fine. It also sends the
message to other people that you are confident in what you are
doing, which will likely make you feel more comfortable as well.
Once you become comfortable with being uncomfortable, you’ll build the
mental willpower to get started on a task—even when you initially feel
like procrastinating.
Practicing discomfort is like building a muscle. If you work at accepting
discomfort regularly, you’ll realize that getting started with any task isn’t
as bad as you think. Even if you’re dreading beginning a task, challenge
yourself to do it for just five minutes. You’ll probably discover that it’s not
as bad as you anticipated it would be.

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