Procrastination tips

Yes, I do. A schedule. I have a planner. But I plan things so loose that there is ample time between tasks. Like I will block an hour for a task that might only take me 30-40 minutes. I schedule from the start of my workday 7am - 5 pm every day except Sunday. I also use a cube timer. I have a 15-20-30-60 minute one. It is an ADHD trick. I sit down to do a task and I set the timer for the time I have allotted in my planner for that task and I try to beat the timer. Then if I finish before the timer goes off, I can pea for 10 or 15 minutes or get up and walk around for a bit. And I will tell you, this makes me very, very efficient at work. When I am on a task, I am on a task. But I never feel like I am running to catch up with anything because there is unexpected downtime all day.

The only thing I will say, is that I also build in review time at work. Because I tend to be very efficient and I do have a bipolar/ADHD brain I need to go back to a report or project and review it before I submit it. I also block off 15 minutes before a meeting I'm leading (like expenditure report meetings) and pull out my documents to review and prep before the meeting.

But all of these strategies help my executive functioning. I am smart, very smart. I do quality work. But I could/would not if I didn't have these strategies in place.

The more time I have to do nothing, the more time I waste. My friend is the opposite and sees a weekend of no obligations as 48 hours to get stuff done. Bleh! I love Cass from Clutterbug on YouTube. One of her big pushes is that you do the stuff that is the easiest first. Get that checked off the list. I like to do the thing that will take me the least time or is the most fun. That way I see progress without hitting the he heaviest stuff first. I am currently purging closets that I usually do in May. Having a hard time getting motivated. When I see how good it looks when something is done, it does help me to move onto the next space a little more.

When I have a long list of to dos I highlight 2-4 things as must dos for the day and focus on them. If that's all I get done it is a win. If I have more energy then I can look at the rest of my list and usually pick something easy that is similar to what I'm already doing (computer work, cleaning, creating, etc).

Time blocking works really well for me when I have a busy day and lots of must dos. I am also better at getting things done early in the day or when no one else is home so I plan around that too.

The trick is not to have an on=going list. My list is day to day; at the most, week to week. Suppose--just suppose-- my garage needs cleaning. That is a huge job. My list might have items on it like collect the recyclables and put in a bin, or clean the garden shelf, or some job that takes an hour or less. So far, I got as far as cleaning the garage fridge and the corner around it. Yay! That's a win.

Having a deadline works, too. I DID finish cleaning the area of the basement we use for games, etc last week. Used the same system, one step/area at a time. The motivation for that was my dgk's are planning to come this week, so they needed a place to play.

I don't see the rest of the space as a loss, or even an obligation at that point. If I know I will probably not have time or energy to take it on this week, none of the garage jobs even go on the list. And I try to congratulate myself on the job done without kicking myself for what is not done. One thing about procrastinating a long time, the cleaning I DID do is really obvious and satisfying !

Another thing I forgot to mention is that if I am taking a break from a job, or have promised myself I will move on to a second job after a break, I set an alarm on my stove. When it dings, I get up and go to the next task.

Sometimes I just challenge myself for 15 minutes and it helps me get motivated overall. If not, well, I did 15 minutes more than I would have done.

I also agree that it sounds like you may just be done in and your body is telling you to rest. Go gently on yourself. If you don't listen to your body, it will force you to listen somehow, maybe not in a nice way. I hear you when you say you can't just 100% rest for now, but maybe you need to figure out how to let a few things go for right now and catch up on them later. Yeah, it might make "later" harder, but just think how hard it will be if you're hospitalized for exhaustion or something?

Treat yourself the way you'd tell one of us to treat ourselves. Please.

Yes. I call it starting with the low-hanging fruit. It helps to do something fun or easy to get my momentum going. 

Another hack I use is to tell myself that if it takes less than a minute to do, do it now. So many to-dos can be broken down into one minute tasks. And again, just getting that start helps me get moving on my projects. 

I learned here at two peas that everything doesn’t have to be completed in one day. Some have suggested taking fifteen minutes of time and complete some tasks. Lately, that works for me.

I don't really have anything to add since I'm procrastinating by spending time here rather than other things I ought to be doing.

I did want to say that your avatar is so cute! Sometimes when our bodies tell us we need a rest, we need a rest so be sure you aren't pushing yourself too much.

No, money doesn't have to be involved. 
A nap, a bubble bath, reading in bed for a couple(or three or four) hours, hot tea and cookies....all awesome rewards.