Free Yourself From The Inessential

With any goal, our imaginations often run wild envisioning all the things that can go wrong. While it can be productive to think about the troubles that might lie ahead — the S...

Don’t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole… Stick with the situation at hand, and ask, “Why is this so unbearable? Why can’t I endure it?” You’ll be embarrassed to answer.—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations , 8.36

Fortunately, unlike our ancient counterparts, we have ages of wisdom to help us avoid the mental traps that lead us to procrastinate.

Here are seven anti-procrastination tactics that are rooted in ancient philosophy and can be applied in the modern world.

1. Action by action

Without a disciplined schedule, procrastination inevitably moves in with all the chaos, complacency, and confusion: What was I going to do? What do I wear? What should I eat? What should I do first? What should I do after that? What sort of work should I do? Should I scramble to address this prob...

The Roman-era Stoic philosopher Seneca once joked that the one thing fools all have in common is that they are always getting ready to live but never actually do.

That was 20 centuries ago. For tens of thousands of years, people have been procrastinating just like you do today: They put thi...

Yes, you can — if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable.—Marcus Aurelius

In many circumstances, we do not deal with our affairs in accordance with correct assumptions, but rather we follow thoughtless habit.—Musonius Rufus, Lectures and Fragments , 6.7

Stop letting yourself be distracted. That is not allowed. Instead, as if you were dying right now… Stop allowing your mind to be a slave, to be jerked about by selfish impulses, to kick against fate and the present, and to mistrust the future.—Marcus Aurelius

Epictetus once said that “every habit and capability is confirmed and grows in its corresponding actions, walking by walking, and running by running… therefore, if you want to ...

An adage of author and historian Cyril Northcote Parkinson was that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” Today, we know that principle as Parkinson’s law. So, if you have two weeks to write a paper for school, it will take two weeks. If you block off all day Sunday ...

Has procrastinating ever made your life less stressful and more efficient? I’m willing to bet the answer is no. This is why we must follow Aurelius’ lead and focus on the important tasks in front of us. If we can win that battle first, the rest of the day will be a breeze.

Oppose established habits, use the counterforce of training to get traction and make progress, and channel the negative impulse into something, anything, positive.

When a dog is barking loudly because someone is at the door, the worst thing you can do is yell. To the dog, it’s like you’re barking, too. When a dog is running away, it’s not helpful to chase it — again, now it’s like you’re both running. A better option in both scenarios is to give the dog som...

In the sports world, University of Alabama coach Nick Saban taught his players to ignore the big picture — important games, winning championships, the opponen...

Putting off our responsibilities is easy. Complaining is easy. Both are as natural to us as breathing. But what good has either ever done for anyone in the long run? Sure, shaking your fist at the sky and venting your frustrations can feel liberating in the moment, but has it ever changed your ci...

All the crises, distractions, and temptations we face today have their analogs in the past. So we should listen to the command that Aurelius gave himself on one of those days when he was struggling to stay focused: “Concentrate every minute like a Roman — like a man — on doing what’s in front of ...

The writer Haruki Murakami talks about why he follows the same routine every day. “The repetition itself becomes the important thing,” he says. “It’s a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind.” Procrastination feeds on our uncertainty. Routine eliminates that uncerta...

Well-being is attained by little and little, and nevertheless is no little thing itself.—Zeno

Follow this advice today and every day. So much of what we think we must do — and what we end up doing — is not essential. Rip off the chains of obligation to these things. Then you’ll be able to better do what is essential and get a taste of the tranquillity that Aurelius was talking about.

Since habit is such a powerful influence, and we’re used to pursuing our impulses to gain and avoid outside our own choice, we should set a contrary habit against that, and where appearances are really slippery, use the counterforce of our training. — Epictetus, Discourses , 3.12.16

We can use Parkinson’s law to our advantage. The Stoics did. Memento mori — the reflection on mortality — was their reminder. Remember that you are mortal. Remember that you ar...

The same goes for humans. When a bad habit reveals itself, counteract it with a commitment to a contrary virtue. Sometimes, when you find yourself procrastinating, it’s best not to dig in and fight it. Instead, get up and take a walk to clear your head. Try what artist

That’s torture. Seneca would call it a design problem. “Life without a design is erratic,” he wrote. “As soon as one is in place, principles become necessary. I think you’ll concede that nothing is more shameful than uncertain and wavering conduct, and beating a cowardly retreat. This will happen...

One gain per day. That’s it. This is the way to curbing our procrastinating tendencies: remembering that incremental, consistent, humble, persistent work is the way to improvem...

Seneca wrote a lot of letters to Roman knight Lucilius. Through them, we get the sense that Lucilius struggled with many of the things we all struggle with: anxiety, distraction, fear, temptation, and self-discipline.

It’s good that he had a friend like Seneca—someone who cared about him a...

As wonderful as it would be if there were no such thing as death, we can use death as a tool: We can use it as a spur to move us forward. We can use it as a reminder of what’s truly important and use our time accordingly.

From his stepfather Antoninus, Aurelius learned how to work long hours and “stay in the saddle.” He never shirked hard work or avoided his most unpleasant duties. He had a job to do and didn’t complain about it. “Never be overheard complaining,” he wrote, “not even to yourself.”

Procrastination can often be a product of overwhelm. We have so much on our to-do list that we don’t even know where to begin, so we don’t begin. Seneca liked to use the word “discursive.” When we have our attention pointed in so many different directions, we have it pointed nowhere. He compared ...

It was Aurelius’ simple recipe for improvement and for happiness. And the fact that it came from such a busy man with so many obligations and responsibilities should not be forgotten. “If you seek tranquillity,” he said, “do less.” And then he follows the note to himself with some clarification: ...