Today is Fight Procrastination Day! I’m Amy with Amy Plans Things. I’m a content creator who focuses on creativity and planning using stickers, craft supplies, and of course, Zebra Pen products. My Instagram handle is @amyplansthings, so make sure to give me a follow for a creative take on planning and getting things done.
Fight Procrastination Day is September 6th, and this holiday is all about taking charge of procrastination and finding ways to combat the urge to put off important tasks for later.
Procrastination has been linked to anxiety and poor impulse control. It can be a snowball effect where things start to pile up and increase anxiety and stress. For many people, procrastination is a habit, and we have tools to help us break these habits that don’t serve us and instead form good habits!
Tip #1: Use a planner or notebook to plan your days ahead of time.
Using a paper planner or notebook is a great way to focus on the things that are important to you and let go of things that aren’t serving you. Of course, you can always do these things digitally, but there’s a reason I prefer paper and pens. There’s a sensory experience to physically writing tasks down. I also tend to remember things better when I write them down.
I use a weekly planner to set my priorities each week and overcome procrastination. It helps me to visualize my day and keep track of the most important parts of each day. You don’t have to decorate your planner, but I love to. It makes me actually want to open the planner and use it day after day!
Tip #2: Clear out the mental clutter so you can FOCUS.
I have started making a monthly brain dump page using my Zebra Pen MILDLINER Double-Ended Creative Highlighters and Dual-Tip Brush Pens. I list out everything that’s in my brain. I feel less stressed simply by getting things out of my brain and onto paper. Then, I keep that as an extra page in my planner to work from when I’m filling out my planner each week and day. I also like to color code my brain dump page using MILDLINER. I use different colors to mark if something is a home task, kid task, and so on. This truly helps clear the mental clutter. I know that the tasks and decisions I need to make are on my brain dump page, so I can focus on one thing at a time.
Tip #3: Form habits so you have fewer decisions to make.
I love to use a habit tracker every single month! I usually track 5-6 habits that I’m trying to work on. By marking off the habits each day with MILDLINER, I’m reinforcing positive behaviors and combating procrastination with some of the habits that I’ve selected for the month. There are so many habits that can be cultivated that can lessen the number of decisions you make each day and serve your well-being.
Whatever you do to fight procrastination, paper and pen can help you succeed!