How to beat procrastination and finish anything you start

How to beat procrastination and finish anything you startHow to beat procrastination and finish anything you startIn July 1830, a young twenty-eight-year-old named Victor Hugo, struggled with procrastination, andalmost gave up on writing his book.Hugo welches due to submit the book to his publisher by April 1829, but he missed the deadline- in fact, he hadnt written a single word. And as a result of this, Hugos publisher threatened to pursue legal actions against him. 1After much pleading and negotiations, Hugos publisher agreed to extend the deadline till December 1830. But once again, Hugo procrastinated on writing the book and missed the second deadline.This time, Hugos publisher had had enough and gave Hugo an ultimatum if the book wasnt submitted in five months, Hugo would pay a fine of 1,000 francs for each week it was late (the equivalent of 13,000 dollars today). 2Hugo knew he had to do something drastic and figure out a way to beat procrastination, and finish writing the boo k.Heres what he did next.You are under House ArrestShortly afterwards, Hugo bought a grey woolen body-stocking that covered his body from head to toe, a new bottle of ink, and locked his clothes in the wardrobe to prevent himself from leaving the house.According to Hugos wife, Adele Hugo He entered his novel as if it were a prison. 3Each day, from dusk till dawn, Hugo would write his book, and only leave his working desk to eat, sleep, or read the drafts of the book to his friends, for an hour after supper. 4In short, Hugo self-imposed a house arrest. And after a few months, his strategy finally paid off.On the 14th of January, 1831, Hugo finished writing the book- weeks before the deadline- and named itThe Hunchback of Notre-Dame(French for Notre-Dame de Paris).Within the first 18 months of the books publication, it sold three thousand copies- a lot for the early 1830s- and today it is widely regarded as one of thegreatest books ever written. 5But Hugo couldnt have overcome procras tination and finish writing his best-selling book without using a special strategy.This strategy is called thehouse arrest strategy,and hereshow you can also use it to beat procrastination and finish anything you start today.How to beat procrastination using the House Arrest StrategyHere are three simple steps to use thehouse arrest strategyto beat procrastination.Step 1 Write down a deadline in the near future.Deadlines are one of thefive things to doto overcome procrastination and follow through on your plans.A good deadline is short enough to force you to take immediate action and long enough to finish the task at hand.In Hugos scenario, the publishers five month deadline forced him to get started on writing his book.Step 2 Create negative consequences for inactionThe next step is to usestakesor negative consequence, to punish yourself if you fail to meet the deadline.For example, Hugos negative consequence for failure to meet his publishers deadline was a fine of 1,000 franc per week of delay.Step 3 Design your desired future actionThe final step is to put something in place today that will lock in your actions tomorrow- this is what psychologist call commitment devices. 6Examples include buying small plates to avoid overeating, locking away credit cards to avoid getting into debt and paying upfront for exercise classes.Hugos commitment device was locking away his formal clothes and buying a bottle of ink to start writing his book, and prevent himself from leaving the house.Personally, Ive also used commitment devices to stick to my writing habits.On May 2017, I announced to the public that Id write and publish an article each week, and aside from two short sabbatical, Ive written at least onearticleevery single week since then. This is just another example of the power ofdesigning your environment.The best way to get started with commitment devices is to announce your plans to the public- friends, family and colleagues- and keep them updated on your progr ess on a weekly basis. This way youll be held accountable to finish anything you start.Motivation isnt enoughJust like Hugo- prior to writing his book- we tend to rely solely on motivation and willpower to beat procrastination, but this often leads to failure to meet deadlines and follow through on our plans.A better way to beat procrastination is to use thehouse arrest strategyin three simple steps write down a deadline, create negative consequences for inaction and design your desired future action.And just like Hugo, youll finally break the curse of procrastination thats been holding you back from your achieving your potential.Mayo Oshin writes atMayoOshin.Com, where he shares the best practical ideas based on proven science and the habits of highly successful people for stress-free productivity and improved mental performance. To get these strategies to stop procrastinating, get more things by doing less and improve your focus,join his free weekly newsletter.A version of thisart icleoriginally appeared atmayooshin.comasVictor Hugos House Arrest Strategy How to Beat Procrastination and Finish Anything You Start.FootnotesBarbour, Alfred. Victor Hugo and His Times (1883)Thefranc was in the Latin MonetaryUnion, which used the gold standard around 1873. At the time, the franc was the equivalent to 0.2903225 grams of gold. Thats the equivalent to 0.0102408248 ounces.Todays price of gold is approximately $1240 per ounce, which leads to one franc (in 1830) being worth about $12.70 today.Hugo, V. (1978). Notre-Dame of Paris. (Trans. J. Sturrock)Hugo, Adele. Victor Hugo A life Related by One Who Has Witnessed It (1863)Victor Hugo by Graham RobbGharad Bryan, Dean Karlan, and Scott Nelson, Commitment Devices, Annual Review of Economics 2, no. 1 (2010), doi10.1146/annurev.economics.102308.124324.