Procastination: A guide to overcome this as a creative professional
Last updated:
February 1, 2025
Dealing with procastination
As an entrepreneur, staying motivated and organised can be a real challenge. With over 10 years of entrepreneurial knowledge, Marrallisa Kreijkes has also known what this immense pressure can do.
Being an entrepreneur is like having a relationship. Your performance in your business directly mirrors the quality and organisation of your personal life. When life gets you down or run into multiple disappointments, you tend to just keep on going.
At the time of procastionation, you tend to not realise there is a reason your body is ‘pulling the emergency brake’. So on top of already having too much going on,you tend to beat yourself up over being lazy, overindulging in behaviours like netflix binging, buying and overeating junk food and scrolling on social media.
The worst part is: You dont even like enjoy giving in to all your ‘desires’ it at the time. You just feel some constant, bugging undertone of restlessness because you know you can do so much better. Why was i so much productiver earlier in the week?
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How to recognise procastination
You can recognise you are procastinating when you recognise the following statements:
- If you think about the things you need to do, you feel demotivated.
- You have no clear idea and order of the things you need to do to get back on track
- You would prefer to to to bed and just not think about anything
- You feel like the world is annoying and agitating (Even your phone and software seem to not work properly anymore and basic tasks become agitating and draining, a lot more than usual,)
mostly technology and websites are my favourite point of irritation, hence the reason that my life’s mission is to create websites that work fluent and don't add any mental loads on your brain than life already does.
Google asking you to log in for the 100th time this month... apple forcing you with jumping app icons HARASSING your brain to check something you absolutely don’t care about or a browser deciding to stop memorising your passwords... FaceID not recognising all of the sudden… Just thinking about this gives me a headache.
The causes of procastination
While what i mentioned above is (very, VERY) annoying, it’s not something new about life.
Moreover, it’s a part of life we can not change anything about. (well, i can and i am trying to make the web better, site by site.) Unfortunately, there is no way to make the web entirely annoyance proof.
There are multiple causes of procastination / psuedo depressive episodes. Ill list a few examples here.
- You do not have a clear focus. (when i ask you now what your focus is this week, can you answer it? )
- A cluttered living environment, resulting in spending a lot of time trying to do the basic things in life.
- The above mentioned point, automatically also means that something inside your brain is also cluttered.
How to break free from procastination and get back into the flow state, at will.
Are you in a rut right now? Follow these steps and break free.
- Make an easy deal with yourself and reward yourself with continuing your destructing behavior after doing something constructive for once.
How to lower the chance of slipping back into procastination in the future
There are some things you can do to prevent slipping back into a rut. From my experience, equipping yourself with knowledge is very helpful. You just need to realise what is happening in your body so you can prepare yourself better.
- Make it a habit to learn more about your brain regularly by checking out experts like Jordan Peterson, Andrew Huberman and other health specialists. (More about my favourite podcasts at the bottom of this blog)
- Inform yourself about spiritual teachings like Taoism, Stoicism and christianity. My advice is to start with one direction that sparks most of your interest, but not stick with just one direction. All spiritual teachings have their own powers and they solve different problems. My idealogy is that there are never enough tools to equip in your toolbox, so try to be open to anything. Starting out with this may seem cryptic in the beginning, so i’ll embed some of my favourite youtube videos about this in the bottom of this blog.
Your evening routine: All about making succes in the next day unpreventable.
There are a few things you can do in a day to ensure the next day becomes easier. I would
Here’s what i do in the evening where i always thank myself for in the mornings:
- 15 minute cleanup: Take a good look around your living space and see if there is anything in your eyesight that is bothering you. Walk some circles in your house and pick everything up that is not in the place where it belongs and put it away. Fold some laundry. Replace your sheets. Remove some stains from your mirror.
- ! (Maak een custom divje met een kleur voor ditsoort stukken zodat het gespant kan worden) Keep in mind that it’s really important to stick to maximum 20 minute duration! if you clean longer, you might burn up too much energy which will result into sleeping too late or waking up agitated.
- When you wake up, drink 1 liter of water (There are multiple types of water, i won’t tap into that subject here now. Hydration is important and you can research an optimal way to do it if you like)
- Delay your caffeine intake at least 1,5 hours after waking up. (There is adenosine in your body has to break down after your wake up. Caffeine stops this process and it will cause an afternoon slump! )
Your ideal ‘Depresh recipe’
As you become more aware of yourself, try to keep yourself up to date with common mistakes you tend to make when it comes to slipping into a rut. Just like you have a clear idea of the things you have to do to stay on track, you need to know the recipe of what makes you feel miserable.
This list is personal, but i think my list may give you a good place to start. The reason this list is important, is because if you check one of your depresh recipes, the other ones follow easier. They seem to strenghten eachother. Preventing a rut is easier than getting out of one.
It all just starts with recognising when you are getting sidetracked.
- Get as less sunlight in my eyes as possible & late as possible.
- Don't go outside all day to ensure maximal miserableness.
- When i feel like i want to do something productive, just keep thinking about it instead of writing it down and picking one thing. Just keep doubting what to choose, and choose to do nothing, because effort is boring!
- Get optimal results from this choice paralysis by delaying any choices and cancel deadlines and plans so that the things that have to be done stack up even further.
- Lay eat and scroll in bed as much as possible.
- Don’t clean up your mess after you make some food or throw your clothes on the floor when you undress.
A few things to keep in mind
We are very, very weird machines. Our brains are extremely complex. Fortunately, learning how our brains work, acknowledging our basic needs instead of being ashamed of them helps a lot. Make it a habit to learn about who you are as a human. Make it a habit to learn more about your brain. I have a playlist on youtube that never fails to help me understand my brain and allows me to get back to my life quicker. On the bottom of this blog, I will embed my favourite youtube video’s.
Podcasts about understanding your psychology better:
Here are a few of my favourite videos that always help me snap out of my slumpiness. This is the link to the full playlist, if you would like to save it for the future.
Getting out of a rut:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd_Lcub_OxA&list=PLeoYj4tdAOXOZ47eCinGW4RvJ5cmvNI31
Regain control
Optimising your routines and learn what your body needs to perform better:
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