The dreaded word is uttered: Procrastination. How can writers defeat such a loathsome monster? Want to hear a little secret? Procrastination is the scapegoat of much larger problems. You can break down procrastination into a couple key problem areas. The two major ones are writing distractions and lack of motivation.

That’s right. Most of your procrastination problems come down to these two little imps. So how do you turn them into ash?

3 Ways to Decrease Writing Distractions

Okay, so we know what distraction are. They’re those little nagging things that take us away from our work to procrastinate. Want to know how to lessen your procrastination? Get rid of your writing distractions. Here are three easy steps to decrease your writing distractions.

1. Turn Stuff Off

Turn off the Internet, your cell phone, or whatever electronic device is distracting you. You can get apps or plugins to limit what websites you visit  or calls you receive. To begin with, try turning things off for short periods of time, say twenty minutes. You can get a lot done in that amount of time.

2. Clean Stuff Up

Got a desk? Clear it off. Room? Organize it. This will offer fewer distractions from your priorities and eliminate time-wasters, such as toys or crossword puzzles or that novel you’ve been meaning to finish reading.

3. Meet Your Needs

This is all about the basics. Set up your water before you start working. Allow yourself a break to go to the bathroom. Stretch. If you can’t trust yourself to meet your own needs, how can you trust yourself to do your work? Also, it’s hard to type when you’re shivering. Grab a sweater.

Yes, it really is this simple. Have you ever looked up at the end of the day and wondered where all your time went? About a third of it went to fiddling with distractions that should have been easy to solve. By forcing yourself to deal with these things and then ignore them, you can then dedicate your extra time and willpower to fighting the urge to be distracted.

The Next Step: 5 Tips for Mastering Motivation

Fighting writing distractions is just one piece of the pie. Motivation is a fancy term for a special kind of excitement. So many people keep forgetting how easy it is to get excited about something! You can get motivated by something you read, watch, listen to, write, say, or see.

All it takes is an appeal to what you need to do. If one thought springs up, it creates a chain of thoughts. If we hear a child tell his mom he was going to be a doctor because he wanted to help people, we may be motivated to help someone or to reach our personal dreams. If we see people open doors for each other or pick litter off the street or sing in public… any of this could motivate us.

I’ve been really disappointed lately to see memes spring up on Facebook about the irrelevance of beautiful pictures and inspiring quotes or flavor text. This is the opposite of what we need. Everyone’s minds need that little push every now and again and a quote by Gandhi might be exactly the right thing. Half of motivation is allowing yourself to be motivated. Here are five tips:

1. If you find something that motivates you, make note of it. Chances are it will still motivate you later.

2. Seek out the wonders and mysteries of the world.

3. Find your passions.

4. Look for excitement.

5. Whenever you are motivated, remember and hold the feeling. Then when you need it most, you can think of it.

Overcoming the Lies About Motivation and Procrastination

Willpower is a depletable resource, but the more motivation you have, the less willpower you need.

Part of the problem is that we often reject the idea that such a large problem can be able to be managed so simply. We need to realize it can be.

Productivity arrives in baby steps. To lessen procrastination, you need to eliminate the things that make you procrastinate. To boost your productivity, you need to keep yourself motivated to do well. Constantly.

Granted, this is what makes the steps I outlined a little harder than they appear. Chances are you already do many of them, but if you’re reading this, I can almost guarantee you don’t do them consistently throughout your work day. You need to constantly take breaks and consistently do a self-check: Are you cold? Are you hungry? Have you lost the motivation you desperately need?

Remember, exercising productivity and overcoming writing distractions start with taking care of yourself!

Tell me your opinion: What is your greatest tip for overcoming writing distractions?