Well begun is half done

Unreached goal, unfinished task, undecided work, all of these bring to the word - Procrastination

Song of Tomorrow – Fu Qian in Ming Dynasty (~1500 AD)

• Tomorrow comes and again comes tomorrow,
• Tomorrows are like rivers that endlessly flow.
• If all my things are put off till tomorrow,
• My time wasted to no purpose will brew woe.
• All mortals are tired for the sake of tomorrow,
• The passage of time will make them old before they know.
• In the morning they see water eastward running,
• At dusky they see the sun in the west low hanging.
• How many tomorrows are in your lifetime, do you know?
• Please listen to me sing the Song of Tomorrow.

1.When?

• Doing creative work, time is not sensitive, unwilling to proceed
• Tip: Start with a small piece of work, first listing 5W and 1H like this assay.

2.Where?

• A lot of distractions nearby, such as snacks, pops and noises.
• Tip: Change your environment immediately, try to find where is out of your comfort zone, avoid studying alone, it matters and does worth it.

3.Who?

• Anyone experiences delaying tasks
• Tip: Lower your expectation of the work. It is not the end of the world.

4.Why?

• Born instinct to avoid stressful things, willing to do fun things first.
• Tip: If the above tips does not work, do allow yourself to have fun first, i.e, do whatever you want to do. Guilty usually comes from you wasted your time on hesitating and not had fun.

5.How?

• Have no ideas with current work, think it is a big challenge and not easy to finish, pursuing perfectness.
• Tip: Choose some easy work and focus on some mechanically work first.

6.What?

• Feel guilty and anxiety, think will do tomorrow.
• Tip: This might be the most important, battle with ourselves’ body, maintain healthy living habit and biological clock. According to The Art of War by Sun Tzu (~500 BC), Now a soldier's spirit is keenest in the morning; by noonday it has begun to flag; and in the evening, his mind is bent only on returning to camp. So it is imperative to get up early and do the tough task in the morning.

PS:

1. To improve working efficiency: stay away from distractions(Environment),choose the productive time of a day(Sunrise), exercise often to improve mind focus and insistence(Exercise)
2. To motivate yourself: declare accomplishment to your friends before having finished（Vanity stimulating), work in a team and keep the ball rolling(Teamwork spirit)，set rule and reward yourself(Good job)
3. If the above still do not work, classify your to-do list into four categories:
   1. Urgent and Important(U-I),
   2. Urgent but Not Important(U-NI),
   3. Not Urgent but important(NU-I),
   4. Not Urgent and Not Important(NU-NI).
4. Pritorize your work in an order: U-I » U-NI » NU-I » NU-NI.
5. Say “NO” to NU-NI and NU-I

<Xi Zhang, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow, Archibald Lab, Dalhousie University>

<Last updated by Xi Zhang on April 3rd,2022>