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If you’ve found yourself here, it’s because you likely struggle with procrastination and you
might even have something you should be doing right now… But you’re not doing it…

… And you keep putting it off.

Well, if you want to get beyond the “I want to” or “I should do” stage and move into ACTION
and the DOING + GETTING SHIT DONE phase; welcome, welcome my friend, this checklist was
made for you…

I GUARANTEE that by the time you finish this checklist, you WILL be taking action on whatever
it is you happen to be putting off.

Follow the steps outlined below. DO the exercises. And you’ll be well on your way to ending
procrastination.

The exercises in here are easy. There’s nothing complex, tricky, or crazy to them. They’re
simple, practical, yet effective exercises designed to get you started on your task.

All you need for the exercises is a pen and some paper. So, go grab some now if you haven’t got
any on hand or nearby.

I’ll wait for you while you do that.

….

(Seriously, I’m waiting until you get some…)

Still waiting … *Twiddles thumb*

….

… Ah, there you are.

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Welcome back!
If you still haven’t gotten a pen and some paper, as your Surrogate Asian Father, “I am
disappoint”. If you’ve decided to take notes digitally, that’s cool, but if at all possible I highly
recommend pen and paper. There’s something magical about the pen-brain connection.

ALRIGHT, if you did grab a pen and paper, CONGRATUF*CKINGLATIONS on taking action…
Wasn’t too difficult hey?

Well, the following exercises are pretty much the same deal.

You’ll just be doing simple, easy tasks until you get through the checklist and then move on to
getting started on whatever you’re putting off.

So let’s get into it…

1. Empty Your Cup Head.

Get everything out of your head and onto paper!

Our brains are not designed for remembering a lot of things at once. Our short term memory
can only hold about 7 things at any single point in time.

So, write down all the major things you could, should, have or need to do over the next 7 days.

This includes any chores around the house, work obligations, project deadlines, school
assignments, social commitments etc. Write down ANYTHING that is gnawing away at your
conscience.

You don’t need to list EVERY single minor thing that needs to get done over the coming week;
just list the MAJOR things that are most important to you and you must get done. Your list
might consist of 5 tasks or 50+, it doesn’t matter, just get it down on paper.

Doing this provides you with mental clarity and frees you from anxiety thus allowing you to
think clearly. Also, your mind won’t be weighed down further by the burden of having to
remember everything.

Start your brain dump and write down your list now!

Don’t go on to the next page until you’ve finished writing your list.

……..

……..

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With your fresh list, go over it and put a big fat X next to the most IMPORTANT and URGENT
tasks. These are tasks that need to get done by the end of today or within the next 2-3 days.
Now, evaluate each task you’ve marked with an X. (It helps to write out a second list of only X
marked tasks.)

From this second list of X tasks, figure out which is the most important for you to get done first.
The most important task can be considered as the task, which if done first, would make the
other tasks on the list easier or irrelevant. Find the lead domino to knock over that will allow
you to easily accomplish the rest of the tasks on the list.

2. What IS Your End Outcome and Purpose?

You need to figure out exactly what it is you’re trying to achieve with your most important task.
Getting specific allows you to make sure you’re on track and makes it easier for you to hit the
mark.

So, what’s the underlying outcome you’re after here?

If you’re studying; are you doing it to just pass the exam or score at least 70%?

If you’re reaching out to potential clients; is it to get more sales or to gain insight into where
potential gaps are in the market?

To figure out your outcome, ask yourself “what” questions until you figure out what it is you’re
trying to accomplish.

“What am I trying to achieve by … (studying, reaching out to new clients, going to the gym)?”

Ask this question again for each answer you come up with until you can’t provide anymore
answers. You’ve now found your end outcome - write it down!

PURPOSE!

Knowing WHAT you want gets you to the start line.

Knowing WHY you want it – your purpose –gets you to the finish line.

So why do you want to do this thing? Why is it important to you?

Are you studying to please your parents or to open yourself up to greater opportunities in the
future?

Are you going to the gym so you can say that you went or are you going to exercise in order to
take your health and fitness to greater heights?

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Make sure you keep asking “Why?” to each answer you come up with.

Often the first answer isn’t the real purpose behind why you actually want to do something.
Asking why helps you dig deeper and discover the real purpose. Because my boss said so,
because I’m forced to, or because I have to are NOT real purposes.

3. Pain, Pleasure, and Purpose

Let’s get something straight here; this task of yours ISN’T something you have to do nor is it
something you’re forced to do.

It’s something you CHOOSE and WANT to do.

You’re in complete control and HAVE the power of not doing it, if you so wish. But you don’t
want to do that do you? … So that means you actually want to do it, right?!

Repeat the following phrase with me 3 times…

“I want to (task goes here)… because (your why/purpose here)”.

Pain and Pleasure

There are two questions below for you.

These questions are designed to shift the pain and pleasure of procrastinating and taking action
respectively, so they are more immediate and present in your life.

Spend a minute or more answering each question and write down your answers however you
like; bullet points, sentences, drawings, or any other means will do just fine.

The key to this exercise is to feel the raw emotions and feelings that you would feel if the
scenarios played out in real life. So if you’d already finished the task, how great would you
feel? Or if you’d put off the task until the last minute, how crippling would this make you feel?

The more painful or pleasurable it feels the better! Get yourself a box of tissues if necessary.

1. “What do I lose by doing this later or tomorrow, which I wouldn’t lose out on if I
started today?”

As you write out your answers, consider ALL the emotional, financial, mental, social, and
physical costs AND consequences of not following through.

How much more stress, frustration, overwhelm, and burden would you have in your life?

What pleasures, opportunities, and rewards would you miss out on because you would have to
do this task later or tomorrow?

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How negative and critical will others be towards you? How harshly will you judge and talk to
yourself if you don’t follow through?

How bad will it make you feel if you put the task off for later?

Take the time to realize, feel, and experience all of the pain, consequences, and costs of
procrastinating on this task as you write out your answers. This is the only part of the checklist
that is painful - trust me. The next part is much better…

2. “What is everything I stand to gain if I start this task right now and get it done as
quickly as possible?”

As you answer this question, focus on ALL of the pleasures, rewards, and benefits you’ll gain
and experience on an emotional, financial, mental, social, and physical level by starting and
eventually finishing this task.

How confident, accomplished, and satisfied would you feel by following through on your word?
How much peace and fulfillment would finishing this task bring you?
Will the load on your back and shoulders feel lighter or heavier after having done this?
Will negative feelings of resent, guilt, and frustration dissipate after you’ve taken action?
How great and wonderful will it be to know you’ve accomplished and completed this task?

4. Take Control of Your Environment and Distractions

Before you start getting shit done, you need to lockdown your environment and set up a:

Distraction-free Quarantine Zone

Inform anyone and everyone who may want to contact you in person, via text or phone that
you’ll be unavailable for the next 30 minutes, hour, or however long you’d like to make
progress on your task.

Put your phone on airplane mode and place it somewhere out of reach and out of sight. You
don’t want it to go off at all so make sure it’s on airplane mode.

Download ColdTurkey for PC or Self Control for Mac. These programs block access to the
internet but for some tasks you may need the internet. If that’s the case, customize the
programs to only block access to websites you waste time and procrastinate on.

You know what I’m talking about: Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, Medium, Quora etc etc.
Put in all your favorite forums, blogs, websites, and whatever else you can think of that might
pull you away and keep you distracted from your task.

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You want to block access to these distractions so that when you work, you don’t even think
about trying to check them because you won’t be able to. Or if you do, they won’t load!

Don’t Like Your Environment?

Change it! One of the best things you can do to overcome procrastination is to change your
environment and work somewhere else away from where you normally work/procrastinate.

Make this new place as THE place where you go to get shit done (e.g. library, coffee shop etc).
When you get there, follow the steps above to create your distraction-free quarantine zone.

Now you have the where of getting things done, it’s time to figure out the when and how.

When should be NOW - or immediately after you finish this checklist - if you’re procrastinating
at the moment and the how is the…

5. Next 3 Immediate Physical Actions

A major obstacle that prevents people from taking action is NOT KNOWING what they
physically need to do. In their head they have a big fat vague idea of what needs to get done
e.g. finish project, prepare speech or presentation, study for biology exam etc.

The vagueness and ambiguity of these “to-dos” allows our mind to play Jedi mind tricks on us
by generating a sense of overwhelm. The ambiguity allows the mind to make tasks seem more
difficult, complex, and daunting than they truly are.

That’s why we need to break them down.

To do this, figure out what the next 3 immediate physical actions are for you to make progress
on this thing.

Write down the 3 actions in a way so that you’re able to see yourself physically doing the action
in your mind when you read the actions. This is the key to doing this exercise.

To “finish a project”, this is what it might look like for the next 3 physical actions:

1. Search through files/emails and find the project outline + details

2. Read through the project outline and write down the most important points
3. Gather and put together the related materials and notes for the most important points
of the project (lecture notes, work documents, emails, textbooks etc.)

Make the steps as easy and painless as possible.

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These actions should take no longer than 10 minutes at most and generally only take a few
minutes to accomplish. If you think it might take over 10 minutes, break it down even further.

The action can be as simple as, oh, let’s say… grabbing a pen and some paper.

6. Execute!
Before you start taking action, schedule and decide how long you’ll be working for (20 or 25
minutes) then set a timer for that amount of time. Activate ColdTurkey/SelfControl for your
scheduled time slot and set up your distraction-free quarantine zone before you start.

It’s now time for you to take action…

Focus ONLY on your first action until it’s done.

When it’s finished, focus on the next action until completion and then rinse and repeat.

When you finish the first 3 actions - which shouldn’t take too long - keep the momentum going
and do the next thing that needs to get done in order to progress towards finishing the task.

Keep this up until the timer goes off.

As You Work…
If you like listening to music while you work, I have good news for you!

Playing a song on repeat (one you preferably know by heart so it doesn’t distract you) actually
helps you concentrate by blocking out internal distractions and external sounds.

Ambient soundtracks, sounds of nature, and classical music work great too.

Added Accountability
If you want to try something different for extra accountability, give FocusMate a shot. This
website pairs you up with a stranger where both of you share video screens of yourself with
each other. When the session starts, type out to the other person what you’re going to be
working on and then you bought get straight into it.

Having a stranger stare back at you on the screen is an oddly effective way to get things done.

7. Reward Yourself!
When your timer goes off, take a quick break (5 minutes) and most importantly, REWARD
YOURSELF during your break.

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Don’t reward yourself with things you procrastinate on, reward yourself with things that
actually make you feel better.

This might be going for a quick walk, stretching, meditating, or doing some pushups. Physical
movement and exercise works surprisingly well as a reward as it gets the blood pumping and
the movement itself makes it feel like you’ve made progress - just don’t go until exhaustion!

Some of the best rewards are the simplest and it could be just allowing yourself to feel a sense
of accomplishment for taking action, patting yourself on the back, shouting out a cheer,
pumping your fist, or doing a little dance and shaking your ass.

Once your break is over…

Read over your purpose and why this task is important for you to get done as well as your
answers to the pain and pleasure questions to get yourself right back into the swing of things.
Rinse and repeat these work sessions until you’re finished with the task (or your day)!

Upward Spiral
Keep taking action and rewarding yourself and you’ll soon begin to associate positive feelings
and emotions with taking action. This is the turning point of where you start WANTING to take
action rather than put things off!

Instead of spiraling downwards into a pit of negativity, procrastination, and heavily criticizing
yourself, you’ll ascend into an upward spiral of positivity, getting things done, and rewarding
and being kind to yourself.

Final Takeaway: make your definition of success as simple as GETTING STARTED.

When you get started, you’ve won half the battle. It’s much easier to keep going than it is to get
started. Once you’ve started and have momentum on your side, you can crush procrastination
and take it all the way to the end with your task, which is where we happen to be!

That is it and that is all. Thanks for reading. I hope you found this checklist valuable and I’m sure
you gained something from it if you followed through, did the exercises, and TOOK ACTION!

What are you waiting for?

Go, go, go and get started on your next actions now!

Enjoy and have fun with it - it doesn’t need to be a grind as long as you choose to make it fun.

With you in action,

Eric Kaisen a.k.a. Your Proud Surrogate Asian Father

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