STOP PROCRASTINATION:

Overcome Procrastination, Increase Productivity, Stop Self

Sabotage and Get All Things Done
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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Definition Of Procrastination
Why do I procrastinate?
Some of the negatives of being a procrastinator
Do procrastinators act differently than others?
Types of Procrastinators
Reasons Why People Usually Procrastinate
1.Skill Deficiency
2. Lack of interest
3. Lack of motivation
4. Fear of failure
5. Fear of success
6. Resistance
How To Stop Procrastination
Step 1: Identify your triggers
Step 2: Start facing your triggers and get rid of them
Step 3: Take planned breaks
Step 4: Reward yourself
Step 5: Make the consequences of procrastination immediate
Step 6: Ensure that you keep track of your time
Step 7: Design your future actions
Step 8: Make all your tasks more achievable
Self Sabotage And The Role Of The Negative Self Talk
The role of self-compassion in procrastination
Learn to forgive yourself
Set Your Goals And Strategy To Achieve Them
Best Strategies to Avoid Procrastination
Get rid of the distractions
Start working right away
Split up the tasks that you need to do
 Talk to the other party about realistic deadlines
Pick out the most important task to get done first
Change up where you are working
Focus on the long-term benefits
Consider visual reminders
Kill the procrastination with kindness
Have a power song
Learn how to say “No”!
Figure out WHY you are procrastinating
Your Seven-Day Plan to Stop Procrastination Today
The Five-Minute Rule
Spend Time with a Power Hour
Have Others Set Your Deadlines
Prioritize Which Tasks to Be First
Pick the Best Time of Day to Get Work Done
Shorten Your List
Assessing Your Priorities
What Are Your Priorities?
How Can You Leverage Your Priorities?
Turning Priority-Based Goals into Plans
Cutting Out Distracting “Filler Goals”
Using Action to Turn “Someday” into “Today”
The Power of “To-Do Lists”
How Are To-Do Lists Misused?
How Can A To-Do List Help Me?
Creating a “Master List”
Organizing Daily Lists
Focusing on 5 High-Priority Tasks
Visualization Matters
How Does Visualization Work?
How Can I Use Visualization to Stop Procrastinating?
Visualize a Life Where You Get Into Action
Spend 5-10 Minutes Per Day Visualizing
Other Tips to Break Procrastination Habit
Simplify your life
Practical ways to simplify your life
Spend at least 10 minutes meditating
Work on your posture
Keep a food diary
Use your opposite hand
Correct your speech
Create and then meet self-imposed deadlines
Keep track of your spending
Be mindful of your automatic decisions
Conclusion
 INTRODUCTION
People have been procrastinating since time began.
Procrastination is not a new problem; it is the same old problem that keeps
coming back to haunt us every day until we decide to do something about
getting rid of it.
And that is where this handbook comes in!
This book will give you everything you need to break the bad habit of
procrastination and the cycle of failure and move into a life of success and
achievement.
I want you to be successful in your life! I want you to learn how it is
possible to turn your life around and make the kind of choices that will lead
you to a life of accomplishment and achievement. By using time-tested
methods to break the habit of procrastination you will change your life for
the better and become the successful person you have always wanted to be.
You will learn what procrastination is and the many reasons why people
procrastinate. You will also learn that you are not alone, by any stretch of
the imagination, because so many more people procrastinate than you might
ever think. Procrastination is a real problem in the world today and it affects
so many areas of our lives. Hence, this book will show you how to fix all of
that.
We will show you how procrastination becomes a habit so that you can
better understand how you got into this predicament. We will explain how
the mind works and how you can use the powers of the mind to create good,
new habits that will take you to achievement and success in every area of
your life.
Of course, the first step toward making any kind of real change is to admit
that a problem does exist.
The fact that you are here tells me you think there is a problem. We will
show you how to leave your bad habits in the past and look toward the
successes that will come in the future.
Further, we will give you the exact methods that you can use to change your
life.
We will show you how to exchange procrastination for accomplishment and
failure for success. While we can’t promise you overnight wealth or instant
fame, we can promise you a more fulfilling lifestyle once you use these
methods to get rid of procrastination once and for all.
Don’t procrastinate!
Don’t wait until tomorrow to do what you can do today. Use this handbook
to get yourself started on the path to your new, successful, well-
accomplished life.
It is waiting for you just around the corner and you can get there if you start
now.
Cheers to achieving all your goals!!
 DEFINITION OF
PROCRASTINATION
Procrastination is a word that most of us have associated with bad things,
even though most of us have had times when procrastination has taken over
our lives. There are times when we just do not want to do the work that is
there or when we are worn out and do not want to get started on the work. It
does not matter how well organized you are or how dedicated you are to a
cause; there are going to be sometimes when you will take a break and put
off work until later.
A little bit of procrastination is not going to be that big of a deal and will
not cause many issues. Most of the people who are suffering from
procrastination will only put things off for a day or two before getting back
to work. And usually, they have enough time to get all of the work done.
Often this procrastination is going to be a sign that you need to take a break
from working too much or that you need to just relax before getting back to
work. However, procrastination can go a little bit further. There is a chronic
procrastination that means you procrastinate all of the time and when this
happens, it can affect many different parts of your life, including your job,
your grades, and even your levels of stress.
Why do I procrastinate?

It is common for people to procrastinate on occasion. They may be tired

one day and feel that they need to have a break from the work that is at
hand. They may be worried about the project and feel that they will not be
able to get it done on time so they put it off. Or maybe there is something
fun to do that night so they go and have the fun rather than starting it right
away. As long as you only procrastinate on occasion and you are able to
still get the work done, this is not that big of a deal. Procrastination can help
you become more creative and will ensure that you think outside the box to
get things done on time.
There are times when procrastination can start to take over your life. It is
fine to put a project off for one day because you are tired and need a break
from being tired or having a long day. It is another thing to just sit around
and wait for the right mood to hit you before you even get started on the
project at hand. Learning the difference is going to help you understand
whether you are taking a break from the work or if you are a procrastinator.
So, why do people choose to procrastinate? Is it really that hard to get the
work started? While most of us will admit that the work would not be that
hard to just get started with and work hard on, there are many reasons why
people will avoid the work that they should be doing. Some of the common
reasons that people currently procrastinate include:
Overestimating how much time they have in order to get the
task done.
Overestimating how much motivation they will have to do the
task later on.
Underestimating how long it is going to take to finish the task
at hand.
Make the assumption that they need to have the right frame of
mind before they are able to start on a project.
By looking at that list, it is likely that you are able to think of a few times
already when you have used that kind of logic to put off your work until
you were able to get to it later. You may have decided once that the project
would not take too long to accomplish so you avoided it until later. Or you
may have thought you would have more motivation to work on a project
later so you waited until that happened. The issue is that these are going to
lead to some issues down the road and you may not get the work done at
all.
Another issue that you may face is one of self-doubt when it comes to how
much you procrastinate. If you end up receiving a project and you are not
sure about whether you have the abilities to do the work or you are not sure
about how to tackle the project, you may not have the incentive to even get
started. Learning how to just dive into the project, and maybe even asking
questions if you get confused, can help you to get the work done.
Some of the negatives of being a procrastinator

Research has shown that the group that is most likely to fall into
procrastination and be chronic procrastinators is students; there are plenty
of adults who are chronic procrastinators too. Here we are not talking about
someone who will put off a project on occasion because they are busy or
they just do not feel like doing the work; we are talking here about the
people who are chronic procrastinators, the ones who do this action so often
that it is now part of their personality. They may not pay their bills on time,
they will wait until as late as possible to work on deadlines, and nothing is
ever done on time with these kinds of people.
While being a procrastinator and falling behind on things on occasion is not
that big of a deal, it can sometimes turn into something worse. On occasion,
procrastination is seen as a good thing because it will teach you a good
lesson about getting things done on time and sometimes you can learn a
little creativity to get the work done faster next time. However, if you are a
chronic procrastinator and this becomes a regular habit, it is going to
become a part of your lifestyle. This means that it is going to impact many
different aspects of your life, including your stress levels.
There was one study that was completed in 2007, that found at the
beginning of a new term, students who were procrastinators were sick less
often, and they did not have to deal with as high of levels of stress
compared to those who did not see themselves as procrastinators. On the
other hand, by the time the semester ended, the ones who were
procrastinators were sick more often and had much higher stress levels.
This is just one example of how procrastination can take over your life and
impact your health. It can also take over some of your social relationships
as well. For example, if you keep putting off some of the tasks that should
be done now, you end up placing a lot of extra burden on those around you.
When working as part of a team, any time that you turn a project in at the
last minute or even late, it places an even tougher time limit on others to get
the work done faster than before. Those around you are going to become
more resentful because you add more work and pressure on them.
Do procrastinators act differently than others?

As mentioned before, procrastination is not usually going to be a huge

problem. It is a tendency that many people will have to deal with at one
point or another. You may actually be sick one day and decide to take a nap
rather than getting your work done or you just cannot figure out how to get
started so you wait until later. And as long as you do not let this become a
habit that you do all of the time, it is not a bit deal.
However, when procrastination starts to become a chronic condition, it
could have a big impact on your daily life and it can become a big issue. In
these cases, it is not just because you are having issues with time
management, it is becoming more of a maladaptive lifestyle.
As a non-procrastinator, you are someone who is able to focus on the tasks
that need to get done. They are not as concerned about social esteem as
much and they often have a stronger personal identity compared to others.
Often they are going to be conscientious to other people, meaning they want
to get the work done as soon as possible so that no one else has to worry
about their part or wait around for it. These people may also have some
other great personality traits such as personal responsibility, persistence,
and self-discipline.
On the other hand, those who are procrastinators are going to be different.
They will probably feel a low self-esteem because they are always late on
things and this affects how others are going to perceive them. They may not
have the motivation to get things done and they are not good at managing
their time to get the work done. They may spend their time on time wasters
rather than getting stuff done, which will often stress them out more than
the task at hand should.
The good news is that even if you are a chronic procrastinator, you can
make some changes to your lifestyle to see better results. Procrastination
may be a habit that is hard to break, but just like any habit that you may fall
into, it is one that you will be able to beat and overcome. You simply need
to have the motivation to make this happen and you need to put in the hard
work as well.
 TYPES OF
PROCRASTINATORS
It is important to know what kind of procrastinator you are so that you will
know how to address the problem and go forward toward a solution, a
solution that will set you on a path designed for achieving your goals and
changing your life. Each different type of procrastination, while they are all
ways to procrastinate, will have specific characteristics that will need to be
admitted to and accepted in order to be changed. Let’s look at each one
individually.

Perfectionist Procrastinator
If you procrastinate because you have a deeply rooted need for perfection
then you might possibly be the worst enemy you will ever face. Trying to
be perfect in all things will do nothing more than create stress-filled
situations that you cannot escape from. Somewhere in your life, you
learned, either intentionally or unintentionally, that anything less than
perfect was not good enough and would not be acceptable. Maybe your
work was never valued when you were a child. Maybe someone actually
told you that nothing less than perfect would be allowed. If the very idea of
turning in a poorly written proposal or term paper, or performing badly on a
test causes anxiety in your heart and soul, then you are afraid of how you
will look to others if you fail. You feel that your failures and successes are
the only measures of your personal worth. In your world there is no grey,
everything is black or white. You are not good enough if you just do well;
you feel you must be perfect. All of your performances must be unique and
exceptional. This constant drive for perfection will cause great anxiety in
your life. It probably already has.
There is a specific method of how your type of procrastination works. You
set exceedingly high standards for yourself and your personal performance.
You feel life has no guarantees that you will ever succeed at anything.
Anything that is less than perfect is never an option for you. The very idea
of being less than perfect makes you feel very uncomfortable. You have a
deep fear of feeling that uncomfortable feeling. So, to avoid the feeling of
discomfort you procrastinate and find something else to do that will allow
you to ignore the fact that you will probably fail anyway because you are
not perfect. You keep going around this cycle until people stop expecting
anything from you.
You will need to take a good look at yourself and identify one or two things
that you are good at. You do not need to be exceptional or better than
anyone else. You just need to have some mild talent at these things and they
need to be things you enjoy doing. Do you play an instrument? Do you play
a sport? Are there any of the creative arts that hold your attention? You
need to identify something that you like doing that you are somewhat good
at. Then do it, and do not do well. Play the piano the way you like playing it
whether it is concert worthy or not. Try out for a part in a local play and try
not to go off the deep end if you don’t get the part. On the same paper
where you listed your problem, make a list of all your talents. Write down
anything that you know how to do, even if it seems minuscule or common.
Can you cook? Sew? Shovel snow? Read? If you can do even one thing
then you are not without talent. You probably have many things written
down in your list of things you know how to do. So how can you be a
person of no worth if you are able to do so many things?
Daydreamer Procrastinator
Most people daydream at one time or another. Daydreaming is being awake
and enjoying thoughts that have nothing to do with what you are involved
in at the moment or what you are supposed to be doing. Daydreams are
usually very nice things to indulge in. People usually like to daydream
because they are thinking about places they have been or want to go
someday or things they would like to do. The problems start when you
decide to daydream instead of doing the task that is in front of you.
Daydreaming itself is not a bad thing. Daydreaming is good for increasing
creativity, imagining something in a daydream that later becomes a novel or
a song. But daydreaming that is done in place of the activity that should be
done is counterproductive. When daydreaming becomes a way to
procrastinate, it has then become a problem that is out of control. But there
are ways to control excessive daydreaming. You must work to become more
mindful of the fact that you are daydreaming to escape the real world and it
is time to pull yourself back. Mindfulness sounds like a fancy word but it is
nothing more than using the focusing power of your mind to pay full
attention to the task at hand. You will hear people say to practice
mindfulness while doing whatever. This just means that while you are
exercising you pay attention to how your body feels. While you are cooking
you pay attention to the foods you are working with, enjoy the sights and
the smells. And when you are faced with a particular task, you give your
full attention to that task. The very next time your boss asks you to gather
the last quarter’s sales figures you go straight to your computer and gather
them. You might need to make changes in your physical world to achieve
this level of concentration. For example, if you like to stare out the window
at the beautiful blue sky while daydreaming you might need to turn your
back to the window so you aren’t tempted to stare out there anymore.
The key to being more mindful is that it is nothing more than paying
attention to the task that is right in front of you, so it is relatively easy to
teach yourself to do this. Begin with practicing on small things. Be mindful
while brushing your teeth, vacuuming the living room, folding the clean
clothes. Pick up the tee shirt, smell the wonderfully clean smell that radiates
off it, feel the warmth from the dryer as you fold the shirt once, twice, three
times, and add it to the pile of other shirts. This exercise may seem like
nonsense at first but you are training your brain to pay attention and not
wander off somewhere it doesn’t need to be.

Distracted Procrastinator
The hard part about being a distracted procrastinator is admitting that you
are a distracted procrastinator. Because that feels like admitting to a fault
when it isn’t your fault that more important things get in the way of you
doing what you are supposed to be doing. It is not a fault; it is a flaw that
can be fixed. The key to being distracted is that it usually happens when
you are tasked with doing something that you don’t like doing. Keep a
journal for just one week and note the times you became distracted and
what you were supposed to be doing at that time. At the end of the week
look back over these instances and you will most likely see a pattern.
It is easier to be distracted when it is something you do not want to do. Do
not judge yourself here! This is merely an exercise to find out what makes
you distracted. By studying what you wrote down over the last week you
will see your own personal patterns of distraction. And then you can begin
to make a plane to become a more focused person.
You will most likely see that the times when you became distracted where
similar all week long, and they probably involved things that were just not
interesting. Practice being focused all the time no matter what the task is.
That will likely mean starting in small increments because no one can go
from total distraction to zero distraction in one day. Also, you might find
that you easily become distracted at the same time of day, say mid-
afternoon. You might want to schedule a little break in your activities at this
time. Get up, walk around, get a fresh cup of coffee or a soda, go to the
bathroom, or go outside and smell the fresh air. People cannot work for
eight, nine, ten hours without ever taking a break. The break will refresh
your mind and your body so that when you come back to your work you are
less easily distracted.

Defiant Procrastinator
Defiant procrastinators are fighting a war with themselves. They are really
two people in one. They are the part that tells them they must do something
and the part that says they aren’t going to do anything they don’t want to
do. This is an unconscious battle going on in your brain because you
usually don’t realize you are doing this. It can stem back to a time in
childhood when your life was controlled or dominated fully by an adult.
You may have thought to yourself that when you became an adult you
would no longer wear your hair a certain way or make your bed every day
or clean the house when you didn’t want to. It is a simple rebellion. The
problem now is that procrastination can ruin your life if you don’t take hold
of it and get rid of it as much as possible. But your defiant side loves your
procrastinating little self.
You must realize that giving in to the side of yourself that tells you to work
is not giving up who you are. You are still you and that means you can do
whatever you want to do. The problem is that if you continue
procrastinating at schoolwork you will flunk out, if you continue
procrastinating at work you will be fired, and so on. Your rational self does
not want anything bad to happen to you so you need to learn to channel
your defiance into less harmful practices. Dress the way you want to within
the boundaries of whatever dress code you must adhere to. Do your hair the
way you prefer; again, remember the dress code. You need to find ways to
be defiant and be your own person that does not interfere with getting the
job done in a timely manner. Give your defiant self its own space and tell it
to stay there.

Overdoing Procrastinator
Overdoing procrastinators have too much to do and no time to do it all in.
Actually, they think they have too much to do because they are trying to be
everything to everybody and they really do not have enough hours in the
day to do all the things that they have promised they will get done. They
don’t knowingly intend to procrastinate but they have no choice given all
the tasks they have set for themselves to do.
If you can relate to this then you simply have too much to do and you need
to eliminate from your life some of the things you think you need to do. It is
easy to want to be there for everyone and everything, but eventually,
something will need to get bumped off the list and this leads to feelings of
guilt and unworthiness. You think if you were more organized or if you
were a better person then you would be able to get everything done. It is
simply not possible to stuff twenty-five hours’ worth of work in a twenty-
four-hour day. No one could do that, no matter how wonderful they are.
If this sounds like you then you will need to evaluate all of the
commitments in your life and see which ones you can get rid of. It is natural
to want to be there for other people but you can’t take on more than you
really have time for. The word ‘no’ is not a dirty word. Start by saying ‘no’
to any new commitments. And there is no need to explain your decision. A
simple ‘no’ will do. If the person pressing for your help asks for an
explanation you can give them one if you want, but do not let them talk you
out of your decision to say ‘no’. Once you have stopped taking on any new
obligations, then you can begin sifting through all your current obligations
and seeing which ones you can let go of.
And remember, you are not a bad person if you are not able to help every
person all of the time. No one could keep up that schedule. If you have
absolutely no time for yourself and the things you want to do then you have
taken on too much. And if you have no time to do anything because your
schedule is so full of the things you are already doing, then maybe you need
to cut out a few activities.

Crisis Procrastinator
Do you wait until the very last possible moment to do anything? Then you
are a crisis procrastinator. Do you wait until the night before the term paper
is due to write it? Do you pull sales figures for the meeting one hour before
the meeting is scheduled to start? Do you begin packing for a vacation the
morning you are supposed to leave? If these questions sound like you then
you are a crisis procrastinator. You have a special ability to ramp up your
efforts at the last minute and take control of the situation. You might be
supremely proud of your ability. You might also be slightly embarrassed by
it because you know you would not have that ability if you never made the
situation in the first place. You might also feel that you have no control over
this scenario and it is probably true because you have set up your life to
work this way.
So why do crisis procrastinators only take action when the situation is on
fire and action must be taken now? There are several reasons why you do
what you do. If you are an adrenaline junkie you like the feeling of the rush
that last-minute success gives you. You might be someone who refuses to
fail but also isn’t interested in a project or task until the deadline looms over
your head. And you might do it because you enjoy the feeling of
importance you get from everyone knowing your amazing talent.
Part of the problem is that you just do not find the activity to be interesting
so you procrastinate doing it until you have no choice. You might need to
turn that thinking around and remind yourself that the task will become
interesting once you have begun working on it. It is just like the little kid
who doesn’t want to take a shower but then doesn’t want to get out once he
is in. Put your focus into the task itself and not just the doing of the task so
that your mind will have something that it finds interesting to work with.

Worrying Procrastinator
Are you stuck at the starting point with no real idea of where to start? Do
you make up all sorts of grand complications in your mind about all the
things that could possibly go wrong? Do you make the task seem so huge
and complicated that you know you will never get it done so you just don’t
begin? Do you fully intend to do everything yourself with no assistance
from anyone else? Then you are a worrying procrastinator.
You fully intend to get everything done eventually; you just don’t know
where to begin. You don’t want to give any of your jobs away because they
are your jobs and no one else should do them. But you look at the task as a
whole and become overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of it all and all the
little details involved and you decide to do it tomorrow because it is just too
stressful.
You need to tell yourself that there is no reason to think that this task all
needs to be done at once. Most tasks are multi-level tasks that need to be
done in stages or steps. So look at the task and make a list of the things that
need to be done in order to get the task done. Let’s say the living room is a
total disaster and need to be cleaned spotlessly. You might begin by picking
up any clothing items and taking them straight to the laundry room. Don’t
put them in a basket because that is just making another task. Then pick up
all the dirty dishes and take them directly to the kitchen sink. By breaking
the large task down into many small tasks, the job suddenly is no longer
overwhelming.

List-Making Procrastinator
There is so much to do that you make a list so that you won’t forget
anything you need to do. It is a beautiful list. It has everything on it that you
really need to do today. So how much of your list actually got done today
and how much of it will end up on tomorrow’s list? That’s part of the
problem with making a list of things to be done. If we do not finish all of
the tasks on the list then it becomes a reminder of our failures, right there in
black and white.
There is nothing wrong with making a to-do list. Some of the greatest
minds in the world make a list periodically of things that need to be done.
Anytime you attend an all-day meeting with an agenda, that agenda is
nothing more than a list of what the meeting organizers intend to cover that
day. The problem comes when the creation of the list becomes more
important than actually doing the work itself. The list is not an important
item, the task is. But it gets buried on a to-do list and probably will not get
done. It is just a way to avoid any actual work. You know the job needs to
get done, you plan to do the job, and you just never do it.
It might be more productive to make the dreaded task the only thing on the
to-do list. Put that task right at the top of the list. Now fill up the remainder
of the to-do list, not with other tasks you can do to avoid this big task, but
with smaller sub-tasks that will assist you in getting the major task
completed. If your major number one task is to clean out the garage, then
the remainder of your to-do list might be filled with things like take the
garbage cans to the curb, put the broken items in a pile in the driveway and
call for a junk pickup, put away all the tools left lying on the workbench,
etc. Now you have a list of manageable tasks to focus on, and when the last
task is done the major task should be at or nearly completed.

Delay Procrastinator
Can you think of a reason to avoid doing anything you really don’t want to
do, no matter how silly that excuse might sound coming out of your mouth?
Do you procrastinate because this job is too
boring/hard/easy/confusing/meaningless? If this is how your procrastination
operates then you are a delay procrastinator. You will put off doing anything
for any reason that comes to mind. This job is boring. This job looks too
hard. This job doesn’t make any sense. This job isn’t going to mean
anything whether I do it or not.
The real truth is that everyone is faced with doing things from time to time
that they would rather not do. No one finds every aspect of their job to be
exciting, so everyone who goes to work is faced with doing something that
is boring. And there is absolutely no way that everyone finds dusting and
vacuuming to be exciting. Someone finds it boring. The key is in knowing
the task needs to be done and getting it done. Some tasks will be difficult to
do and might need some instruction from another person. There are times in
everyone’s life when they need to do something, and do it well, when they
think the task has no value. Why does a future medical student need to take
a class in English Composition? Writing a good story has nothing to do
with being a good doctor one day, but the student knows he must pass this
class in order to be able to move on.
So, it will be necessary to accept the fact that life is not all fun and games
and there will be times when we will need to do things we do not want to
do. The best way is to put those tasks at the top of the list and get them done
first. Then they are no longer hanging over your head.
Brantley is a defiant procrastinator. He does not see the need to regularly
turn in his homework or even to show up at class since his focus right now
is on his soccer game. There will be enough time in the future to tighten up
and get all his work done on time when he is in law school. He just doesn’t
see the need for College Algebra and Basic Biology when he plans on
becoming an attorney.
Amanda is a distracted procrastinator. She looks at the quantity of jobs that
she is behind on and cannot decide exactly where to start. She knows she is
behind on everything and finds it impossible to decide where she should
start first in trying to get her life, and her family’s life, back in order.
Jessie is a delaying procrastinator. She chronically puts off doing tasks
because she really does not know how to do things for herself, much less
for other people. Jessie needs to take control of her own life and begin to
act like the adult she knows she is supposed to be, she just has no idea
where to start.
George is a worrying procrastinator. He has a decent job and pays all his
own bills, but he constantly worries that his style of life is not good enough
for his family. Since all four of his siblings are professional people with
their own homes and families, George wonders if they think less of him
because he works in a warehouse and lives in a rented condo. George also
wonders if there might be more out there for him, but since his life is going
pretty well right now, he wonders why he should try to change anything.
Melanie is an overdoing procrastinator. She is trying to be everything to
everyone. Melanie drives her parents to all their doctor’s appointments and
to any kind of shopping they need to do. She has a job doing bookkeeping
which luckily, she does from home, but honoring all her commitments
means she sometimes works far into the night. She worries that one time
she is going to make a mistake with a client’s financial information. Also,
she would like to go back to school and get her accountant’s degree, but
there is currently no time for that. Both of her brothers tell her Aunt
Melanie is the only babysitter her nieces and nephews want. And her church
choir practices twice a week, not to mention the work she does with the
education department and the nursery department.
Ronnie is a daydreaming procrastinator. He has grand plans for turning his
life around. He is going to start a diet and an exercise plan so that he can get
his body into good shape. Then he plans to buy a new, more modern
wardrobe so that he looks better when he goes to work. He firmly believes
his current appearance is holding him back from promotions in the
marketing firm where he has worked since college, and he believes that a
few changes in his appearance will get him to where he wants to be. He
plans to pay for the gym membership in a few months when he gets his
income tax refund. In the meantime, he is content just reading bodybuilding
magazines and looking at the pictures of the way he imagines he will look
eventually.
The first step in correcting any problem is to admit that a problem does
exist and that you want to change for the better. Procrastination is no
different. Procrastination is a problem that will affect every area of your life
unless you get control of it now. It will affect your school life, work life,
and even your mental and physical health. There is absolutely no need to
allow this to happen. Admit that procrastination exists, and decide that you
want to improve your life. And then you will be ready to take back control
and make your life what you want it to be.
 REASONS WHY PEOPLE
USUALLY PROCRASTINATE
Let’s learn a little about why people procrastinate. Most people are more
than capable of achieving great things in their life, but many fail to do so.
Procrastination is probably one of the biggest obstacles that hinder a person
from being able to achieve greater things. Everyone has procrastinated
before, and anyone is capable of it. Many times, people don’t even know
that they are procrastinating. However, there are also those moments where
people know that they are procrastinating but fail to do anything to stop the
process. So why do people procrastinate anyways, although they are self-
aware? There are numerous reasons why people begin procrastinating; let’s
take a look at the most common ones:
1.Skill Deficiency

In order for a person to achieve their goals, it requires them to learn and to
have personal growth. People will have to develop new skills and
knowledge related to their set goals. This is a huge part of their journey.
However, people often fail to see this fact. They see their lack of skill or
knowledge as an obstacle that is permanent and cannot be overcome. This
mindset causes people to give up on their goals before they have even done
anything to start it. Rather than giving up, people need to be able to assess
the skills and knowledge that are required to achieve their goal and then
compare it to their own skills and knowledge that they possess. The
difference between the two is nothing more than just an opportunity to learn
and train. Instead of just giving up, people need to create a plan that will
help them develop and learn the skills needed in order to bridge that gap. So
is it procrastination if you are pushing the date of your goal achievement
back? Absolutely not. This is just effective planning. By understanding that
you require more time to reach your goal means that you are identifying the
right steps you need to take to reach your goal.
2. Lack of interest

Everyone has their own special set of interests. Just because your friend is
passionate about a particular topic or job, it does not mean that everyone
else is interested in the same thing. People have the tendency to put off
doing jobs that they do not find interesting because it is more difficult to
find motivation. There are multiple ways that people can deal with jobs that
they have no interest in depending on if you are the person that is actually
doing the job or if they are the person that is simply assigning the task.
Let’s take a look at the perspective of a person that is physically doing the
job; they could try the following things:
Check to see if this task actually has to be done
Ask yourself if there is someone else who is much better suited
to completing this task. If possible, you may be able to swap it
or delegate it (e.g., if someone else likes that job better, you can
trade with them for theirs that you might like better)
If your tolerance for frustration is low, try to break down this
job into smaller pieces and complete them one at a time
If your tolerance for frustration is higher, you can schedule a
block of time where you take away all distractions and just do
this task until it is done
From the perspective of the person who is assigning the job/task, you will
likely find more success if you assign this specific task to someone who you
know will be passionate about it. By choosing someone who has an interest
in that task, the job will be completed in a much faster fashion and at a
higher standard as well.
3. Lack of motivation

People often have the wrong mindset where they think that they need to feel
fully motivated before they start working on a task/job. This mindset is
unrealistic. People’s motivation often does not arrive until they have started
that task and is beginning to see progress. When people see progress, they
start to see the fruits to their labor, and they become even more motivated to
keep working until they have completed their task. You might be wondering
what about the motivation that is needed in order to start working
altogether? The answer to this is that a person needs to have a good
understanding of the ‘why’ and the vision of that particular job. Before you
even begin working on it, you should know what the benefits are going to
be. You would be surprised at how many people waste a lot of time doing
work that actually does not need to be completed. Moreover, people should
be using prioritization in order to get the most urgent and important work
out of the way first. By understanding the benefits of completing a task or
job, you will fully be able to estimate its importance. In terms of smaller
tasks/jobs, simply understanding what the benefits are of completing that
task should be enough for motivation. For larger tasks and jobs, it is
important that you have a way to measure your progress so you can further
gain motivation and confidence from your work.
4. Fear of failure

There are a lot of people who have the belief that failure is devastating.
They often see failure as a final result that is set in stone and cannot be
rectified or changed. This lack of confidence causes them to avoid taking
action on tasks where they are not 100% absolutely confident in its success.
Keep in mind that in the era that we live in today, many tasks that people
face will be new to them, and it is entirely impossible to be able to be 100%
confident in every single chance of success. Due to this, procrastination is
something that happens frequently and in an endless spiral.
On the contrary, there are the people out there who see failure as a stepping
stone towards success and a learning opportunity. They have the
understanding and belief that mistakes are unavoidable, and they will be
made. Their attitude consists mostly of realistic optimism, which enables
them to believe that they will be able to successfully achieve their goal/task
even if it’s something that requires more than one try. As you might be able
to tell, these types of people have a much lower tendency to procrastinate.
Instead, they often approach new challenges with excitement and
preparedness to deal with obstacles.
Since learning and growth are important parts of a successful life, it is
unrealistic to believe that you can succeed without experiencing any
obstacles or failures in your journey. If you are constantly worrying and are
scared at the idea of failure, try to identify extra steps or measures that you
can take in order to lower the chances of failure and increase the chances of
success. Factor in time that you can take to review and assess your own
actions and try to learn something from every experience. You will soon
start to change your mindset into one where you see every challenge as an
opportunity for learning and growth.
5. Fear of success

Many professionals of the self-help industry have talked or theorized about

the fact that people’s biggest fear wasn’t necessarily a failure, but our
biggest fear is actually the fear of success. Many people view success as
stress and pressure. When they think about achieving greater and more
things, they often think about the negative aspects that come with it. For
example, they believe that when a person achieves more, people will begin
to demand and expect more from you. They often doubt their ability to deal
with the increased expectations, so they decide to procrastinate to sabotage
their own chances of success.
The reality here is that there is no reason that a person should fear success.
As a person begins to succeed by overcoming the challenges of all
difficulties, they begin to become more knowledgeable and have developed
new skills. Their resilience will begin to increase. If a person is able to learn
the necessary skills of personal organization, it really doesn’t matter what
type of task or work that they are doing, they will be able to find a way
through. Long story short, every task is simply just a task that needs to be
completed. When you are able to break down every large task into a number
of smaller tasks, there should be nothing that would be able to overwhelm
you.
6. Resistance

You might have experienced this phenomenon before, where there are times
that it would be easier for you to just complete a task than procrastinate but
yet you still chose to procrastinate! The main reason for this is rebellion.
There is a class of procrastinators called the ‘rebellious procrastinators.’
They are very common. This type of procrastination can be done by
anyone, especially if they feel like they have been mistreated.
The reasons that cause people to procrastinate are different for every
individual. The exact reason why for each individual, may not be obvious,
but the obvious reasons may be caused by something that is underlying. On
the contrary, the reasons that we had just discussed are seen as the most
common ones. Trying to avoid this type of behavior is not an easy task as it
often involves a person to identify their bad habits and actively try to break
them down and create new ones. Whether you are the procrastinator or you
are suffering at the hands of one, the important part here is to take action
immediately. You have to take action in order to correct your situation.
Keep in mind that procrastination is a serious issue that, if left unresolved
for a long time, can cause some serious and long-lasting problems in your
life.
 HOW TO STOP
PROCRASTINATION
There are quite several steps you can follow to stop procrastination. Some
of these steps include:
Step 1: Identify your triggers

This is the very first step to overcoming procrastination. You cannot stop
something if you do not know what it is you are stopping in the first place.
The only way you are going to stop procrastinating is by knowing what
kind of procrastinator you are. Here are some of the procrastinator types
and what triggers each type has.

Perfectionist
Well, every perfectionist takes pleasure in always being perfect in what they
do. Even though perfection means doing the work impeccably down to the
details, you have to realize that while you are in pursuit of perfection, you
risk getting cold feet to do the work. The reason being, you may be scared
to show imperfections while at it.
Because of this, there is a high likelihood that you fail to bring projects to
completion as required. Mainly because you are waiting for the perfect
time, the perfect approach, the perfect team, among others. In other words,
you allow your desire for perfection to get in the way of your work, and you
get trapped in a vicious cycle of additions, deletions, and edits.

Ostrich
This is someone that often prefers staying in the dreaming phase. This
means that they keep postponing work just so that they do not work or deal
with the negative impact of work stress. It is through dreaming that such
procrastinators get a sense of false achievement. In their minds, they always
envision big and overly ambitious plans that they do not get to start working
towards them. In other words, all their dreams and plans remain just as they
are - Dreams!

Self-saboteur
These are the kind of procrastinators who often believe that by not doing
anything, they are safe from bad things happening. In other words, this kind
of people often has a strong fear of making mistakes or doing things the
wrong way. Therefore, they choose to sit back and do nothing about it just
so that they avoid such mishaps. Eventually, they make few mistakes, but
not forgetting the fact that they also do not accomplish much.

Daredevil
This is another type of procrastinator who believes that deadlines push them
to perform better. In other words, they prefer engaging in activities that
please them before the deadline date comes. They like to think that they
work best under pressure.
It often comes to them as an unconscious thing. All they think is that if they
started doing the work soon as they get it, they are sacrificing all the time
they would otherwise be spending doing things that are enjoyable and
pleasurable to them. This is often a belief that grows in them based on the
number of times they have spent in the past, burning the midnight oil.
However, what they fail to realize is that they end up sacrificing the quality
of their work because of having to rush through it all to beat the deadlines.

Chicken
This kind of people cannot prioritize their work. In other words, they often
do what they feel like doing instead of thinking through all the tasks at hand
and then prioritizing them based on the urgency of each task.
It is interesting to note that, such people tend to feel that since prioritizing
takes a bit of extra time from their schedules, it is not worth it. Because of
that, they end up engaging in tasks that are effortless and do not contribute
to the end goals of the project in any way. They spend too much of their
time buried in low-impact projects and oblivious on high-priority tasks.
Step 2: Start facing your triggers and get rid of them

Whether your trigger is a fear of failure, avoidance, overwhelming

emotions or even trying to convince yourself that you are too busy on other
things to get this one done, the truth is that you can work towards
improving your abilities so that you not only eliminate these procrastination
triggers but also improve your productivity.

Perfectionist
If you are a perfectionist, it is high time you reclarify your goals. Most of
the time, you will notice that you are procrastinating because those goals do
not make your heart beat anymore. There is no more spark in them and have
outgrown them.
Realize that, you are an evolving human being, and so are your goals and
dreams. This means that you have to look over your goals and ask yourself
whether they are the things that you still want to achieve.
It is critical that you take the time you need to regroup and make a new list
of all the things that you would like to achieve. Ask yourself what steps you
would like to follow, do the things you are currently engaging in the mirror
your dreams, and are there things that need a change in your life to
accomplish your heart's desires? Write all these things down on a piece of
paper and pin them where you will see every morning you get up to remind
you of where you are going!

Ostriches
For ostriches, the first thing that you should do is learn to take on difficult
tasks first. Even though you may not be a morning person, you have to
accept that this is the time when your brain is most active and productive
than other times of the day. Therefore, utilize this time to engage in quite
hectic projects.
Understand that if you leave these tasks to other times of the day when you
are exhausted or lack the motivation, the chances are that you will put them
off or you will deliver average quality. When you complete lots of simple
tasks in the morning, you get a false sense of productivity when, in fact, all
you have done is read emails and attend meetings!

Self-saboteurs
For you, it is important that you work on writing down a to-do list as well
as a not-to-do list at the beginning of each day. Research studies have
shown that when you write down things, it is very powerful at improving
your abilities psychologically and hence have the zeal to get things done.
Therefore, ensure that you make it a habit to create a list of tasks you aim at
working on throughout the day and another of all the things you should
avoid. When you do this, all the difficult tasks are drawn to your mind’s
focus rather than having them locked away in avoidance mode. Once you
accomplish tasks, cross them one at a time on the list. Trust, it is so
satisfying to check them off your list and offers you more motivation to
work on what is still pending.

Daredevils
If you are a daredevil, the first thing that you have to work on is creating a
timeline with deadlines. Well, it is quite common to have deadlines for a
goal, and this might seem to you as a good idea. However, this is just an
open invitation to postponing. It is simply a deadline that you created with
no pressure attached to it. This means that each day, something comes up,
and you push it back and feel as though you have not done enough to
accomplish them.
The secret to overcoming these problems is creating a bigger timeline, and
then within it, establish deadlines as you go. The beauty of doing this is that
once each deadline is checked off, you set the next one for the next task in
line. This way, you remain on track, and you are upbeat and accountable for
aligning with the overall bigger timeline.

Chicken
For chickens, it is important that you break tasks into smaller chunks that
you can easily bite. Most of the time, the reason why you procrastinate is
that what you have on your plate is overwhelming. It feels as though
everything is too much for you, and you may not be able to handle it. That
way, you get confused, not knowing where to begin. It also applies to
instances where you have set yourself vague goals that are not clear and
lack proper directions.
The trick here is to break those goals into smaller tasks or micro-goals that
you can perform daily or weekly basis. When you have smaller tasks or
steps to follow, everything becomes easier and enjoyable. It may appear as a
slower approach to achieving the goals, but eventually, when they all come
together, you will have met your big goal as fast as possible because of the
powerful momentum that micro-goals have.
Step 3: Take planned breaks

One mistake that people often make is working continuously and risks
getting tired and having a burnout. It is important to note that the human
brain gets tired and need to rest from time to time. One reason why you
may be procrastinating may be because you are working continuously
without allowing yourself time to rest.
The trick here is to ensure that you have regular and well-structured breaks
in between tasks so that when you get back to work, you are refreshed, and
energetic to take on activities with enthusiasm and hence, boost your
productivity levels.
Taking a short break of even five minutes is quite sufficient to renew your
mind, keep it sharp and focused while warding off fatigue. You can
download the Pomodoro time tracker to your mobile phone and use it to
help you set breaks at intervals. With this online timer, you can start a 5, 15,
or 25-minute timer depending on how much you feel is sufficient for you,
and then follow the prompts after that.
Step 4: Reward yourself

When you achieve a goal, however small it may be, it is important that you
appreciate yourself for that. The best way to do that is to have a reward
system for each task. This goes a long way in boosting your sense of
motivation, and each time you accomplish something, you trigger the
release of feel-good hormones which comes bursting and lifts your spirits
and mood spurring you to achieve more.
It is important that each reward you get is proportional to the task
accomplished. For instance, a micro-goal can get you your favorite coffee
and snack at a special place. If the task was bigger/harder, you could choose
to treat yourself to a spa-massage, weekend getaway, among others.
You can also use such apps as Forest to help you stay focused. This app
helps turn productivity into a fun game in which you can plant virtual trees
at the start of your time. If you keep that focus for the duration the timer
runs, you grow as many trees in your forest as much as possible. What is
very much fulfilling is working hard to ensure that at the end of the game or
by the time the timer goes off, you will have grown a forest.
You can also make the rewards more immediate to make it easy to avoid
procrastination. The best approach is to bring all future rewards into the
present moment using temptation bundling strategy. This is a concept that
came from behavioral economics research, and it suggests that you bundle a
good habit in the long-term with a good one in the short-term.
For instance, you can listen to good audiobooks while working out, get a
pedicure while processing work emails, or watch your favorite show while
folding clothes, among others.
Step 5: Make the consequences of procrastination immediate

Just like you have made the rewards of achieving a task immediately, it is
also important that you make the consequences of procrastination
immediate. There are so many ways in which you can punish yourself for
procrastinating. For instance; if you are working out alone, by skipping
your workout time the next time will not impact much on your life. It will
not make your health or weight deteriorate immediately. However, if you
have been working out with a friend, then skipping the workout makes you
look like a jerk. In other words, the results of skipping that workout are felt
immediately.
Another strategy you can employ in this case is using services like Stickk to
make bets. This means that, if you fail to accomplish the task you were
supposed to within the right time, then you give money to a charity you
hate. In other words, you are putting more skin in the game while creating
consequences that are rather immediate if your tasks are not done the right
way and within the right time.
Step 6: Ensure that you keep track of your time

If you want to get rid of the bad habit of procrastination, keep track of how
you spend your time each day. When you have clarity of where your time
goes, the truth is, you will be more focused on ensuring that you review
how productive you have been and areas that need improvement.
Yes, it may not be easy to keep track of your time down to every minute of
the day, but with an app like Rescue time, that can be possible. It helps you
classify how you spend your time and helps you find out how much time
each task takes. You also choose to label every activity as either productive
or non-productive. This way, you can always ensure that you block any
possible distractions as much as you can.
Step 7: Design your future actions

Did you know that there is a tool that psychologists use to overcome
procrastination? Well, this tool is referred to as a commitment device. This
tool plays a very significant role in helping you stop procrastination by
simply designing what your future actions will be even before you can get
there.
For instance, you can curb your eating habits by simply buying foods in
packages rather than having them in one huge pack. You can also stop
wasting too much of your time on your phone by getting rid of social media
apps you have installed.
In the same way, you can lower your chances of spending too much time
watching mindless channel surfing by simply hiding your TV in a closet
and having it out when it matters most. If you are addicted to gambling, you
can ask that you be added to the banned list of online gambling sites as well
as local casinos to ensure that you do not engage in gambling in the future.
You can also build an emergency fund by simply having the bank create
automatic fund transfers to your savings account. All these are small
commitment devices that will help you stop procrastination.
Step 8: Make all your tasks more achievable

As already discussed, the friction that procrastination creates is centered

around developing a new habit. Once you get started, the truth is that the
pain involved reduces and this helps motivate you to keep working. This
goes a long way in helping you visualize your habits as small and easy to
get rid of and hence lowering the likelihood of your procrastinating.
To make these habits quite easy to overcome, employ the use of the 2-
minute rule. This rule states that when you start a new habit, it will take less
than two minutes actually to do it. The idea underlying this is to ensure that
it is as easy as possible to start and trust that the push is sufficient to carry
you through the task once you get started.
It is important to note that, once you get started on a certain task, it is easier
to keep doing it as opposed to when you have not started at all. It is the use
of the 2-minute rule that procrastination becomes something of the past,
making you proactive and ready to act when needed too.
The importance of making tasks more achievable includes:
When you take small measures of progress, you ensure that the
momentum is maintained over a long period meaning that there
is a high likelihood of completing the tasks.
The sooner you finish a task, the more quickly you develop
new habits, attitudes or productivity and working efficiently.
 SELF SABOTAGE AND
THE ROLE OF THE
NEGATIVE SELF TALK
Self-criticism is one of the key motivators of fear. Whenever we fail, one of
the most unpleasant things is criticizing ourselves for allowing failure. In
most cases, the kind of self-criticism we pass on ourselves is similar to
pointing a gun to our head and hoping that the situation will make us stop
being complacent. We often think to ourselves, if I do not do this, I will beat
myself, or I must force myself to do this otherwise that.
Well, this approach may work to a certain extent. However, there are many
disadvantages associated with this approach. The truth is, when we
constantly pass threats on ourselves, we are simply stirring up anxiety and
worry, which in turn undermines our productivity. You have to understand
that pressure does nothing but hinder you from performing at your best.
Secondly, self-criticism has been shown to lead to self-handicapping. This
means that we self-sabotage our performance just so that we can save our
ego whenever we fail. In other words, you aim at sabotaging yourself so
that if you fail, you avoid feeling unworthy by just blaming that the reason
why you failed is that you did not try or did not have adequate time to work.
In her book “Self-Compassion," Kristin Neff explains that there is a less
likelihood of self-critics attaining their goals as a result of self-
handicapping strategy. In one study, college students were asked to describe
their academic, health, and social related goals and give a report of the
progress they had made towards achieving these goals. The results showed
that self-critics made less progress and that they often procrastinated.
From these findings, it is clear that one of the reasons why people
procrastinate is because of self-criticism. However, let’s think of this for a
second “what if we criticize ourselves for procrastinating?” once we have
procrastinated, is there a chance that this could keep us from repeating the
same in future?
Well, the answer to these questions is NO! According to research, there is
evidence that shows self-forgiveness after procrastinating goes a long way
in lowering procrastination. In other words, when you spend too much time
beating yourself up for procrastinating, you are not adding any value. You
are making things even worse.
The role of self-compassion in procrastination

According to research, there are so many ways in which you can use self-
compassion to boost your motivation and performance. All these works
well in lowering your chances of procrastinating. Self-compassionate
people have been shown to experience less anxiety and worry, something
that, in turn, allows them to take more risks and act more. When you have
less fear of the unknown, you will not require a plausible excuse for failure
and hence fewer chances of self-handicapping.
So, the question is, why are that person who are self-compassionate
experience less failure? The truth is, at the back of their minds, they know
that even if they fail, in the end, they will be just fine. In other words, they
do not have to be afraid of self-punishment. Rather, they understand that
people fuck up and they forgive themselves for the mistakes they make.
Such people allow themselves to experience failure like something that is
neutral or even better - positive! Research has shown that people who have
self-compassion often perceive failure as something worth embracing
instead of fearing. They view it as an opportunity to grow, learn, and
become better at what they do rather than seeing it as a measure of their
self-worth.
This explains the reason why such people are willing and able to take risks
and trying out new things without necessarily having to feel anxious about
punishments in case they fail. Realize that self-compassion is creating a
safe surrounding that allows you to feel safe, calm, and confident. When
you allow yourself to operate from that place, then you will not have a
reason to fear failure or feel the need to procrastinate just so that you can
keep your ego.
Learn to forgive yourself

One research paper published in the Journal of Personality and individual

difference explains that self-forgiveness plays a critical role in lowering the
occurrence if procrastination. One thing that you have to bear in mind is
that forgiveness is not something that we do for people. It is something that
we do it for ourselves so that we can get well and move on with our life.
When you choose to forgive yourself for procrastinating a task in the
present, what you are doing in effect is that you are lowering your chances
of procrastinating in the future. This is a relationship that is mediated by
negative effects that by expressing self-forgiveness, you lower
procrastination and in effect, reduce negative emotions.
The truth is, you should not feel bad about the choices that you made at
first. The most important thing is for you to accept that you are not perfect
and are prone to making mistakes. The best thing you do to yourself is
forgiveness. When we fail to express self-forgiveness, then we risk avoiding
motivation and hence increase our likelihood of procrastinating more in the
future.
That said, it is correct to note that self-criticism causes us to procrastinate
more while self-compassion causes us to procrastinate less. Therefore, if
you are going to stop procrastination, it is important that you do these;
First, forgive yourself for procrastinating. When you choose to beat yourself
up for the mistakes that you have made, you make the whole situation
worse than it already is. Situations happen and cause us to procrastinate,
and that is natural. Each one of us has done it, and there is no point being so
overly critical of you. It is also okay if you felt a little guilt and
dissatisfaction. Rather than trying to sweep these feelings under the carpet,
acknowledge, accept, and resolve them so that you can do better in the
future.
Secondly, develop genuine self-compassion. This serves as a great start,
especially when you have procrastinated. It is the thing that tells you that
you can do better and have lots of room to improve. When you have
genuine compassion, the truth is that you will procrastinate less, live a
healthy life, and achieve more as you go along.
 SET YOUR GOALS AND
STRATEGY TO ACHIEVE THEM
Your day to day life is precious and you want to get the most out of it.
Everyone wants to make their time count and this chapter is going to help
you do just that. There are many ways that you can use these tips and apply
them to you daily life. So let’s get started.
The first step to solving a procrastination problem is to eliminate
distractions and this could include environmental distractions or digital
distractions. Environmental distractions come in many different forms so
it’s important that you are able to recognize the difference between the two.
You need to make sure that you're not getting distracted by what's around
you. If you have a lot of family members in a room with you and they're
trying to talk to and hang out with you, obviously some family time is
important but if you're under a deadline then you should go to a place where
you're by yourself so you can concentrate.
This is a great example of getting distracted easily. If your surrounded by
pillows and comfort and you notice that you're falling asleep, this could be
another way your body is trying to procrastinate against what you're doing.
If you are watching television or listening to the radio this can distract you
as well. When we're talking about environmental distractions, we are
talking about anything that's around you or the environment that you're in
that could serve as a way to steal focus from whatever it is that your
attempting to focus on.
A digital distraction is more from what you're getting from your phone. As
mentioned, before we live in an age where everyone is glued to their cell
phones and there is so much technology available to you that you can find
yourself to getting distracted for years if you really wanted to. Your phone
offers games, texting, emailing, Facebook, the internet, apps made for
everything in your life, and they all serve as a way to be one major
distraction.
Many people argue that they set a timer on their phone to complete tasks
and while that's a good idea in theory, it's not practical because you'll see
that your phone is on and as such you will know that you can do things with
it and it will serve to distract you. If you're doing things in your home it's
more than likely that your phone is not the only available source you have
to tell time. If you're at work that shouldn't be true either. You should
always have something else that will be a good timing device for you.
The reason you need to understand how and why you should avoid
procrastination is to get rid of the distractions around you is because they
are only going to pull you further in to that trap. Something is distracting
you and if that is the case then you need to remove yourself from it as a
simple rule. If you do not you’ll find that you won’t be able to focus on
anything.
If you have to, then put yourself in a room with nothing in front of you but
the work that you are trying to get done because then you'll be
concentrating on what actually needs to be done instead of letting yourself
fall behind.
Limit your options to only one. Instead of picking multiple projects that you
may not be able to finish, choose one at a time and work through it before
picking another. This will limit the feelings of being overwhelmed and
unneeded frustration.
Learn to stay no. This isn’t being rude to people. If you always say yes
when you can’t do things, you’re hurting yourself. All you have to
understand is the ability to be polite and kind when you say no. Let the
person you are saying no to understand that it doesn’t come from a place of
not wanting to help them, but it comes from a place of you not being able
to. When we are unable to say no, you find yourself taking on multiple
projects and more than likely you will be attempting them all and using
procrastination as a way to avoid all of them.
These tips also help you realize why you should focus on one step at a time.
It keeps your mind focused on a single task. Focusing on a single task will
help you stay focused on a single task and helps you realize that you can get
a single task done before moving on to another one. This is going to be one
of the biggest tools that you can you utilize for yourself. Learning how to
do one task at a time will help you keep your stress levels down but also
help you feel more accomplished because your able to get more tasks done
by making your focus stronger and going through them individually instead
of leaving half projects everywhere.
If you have a lot of little tasks that don’t require a lot of your attention then
you should endeavor to do those first. They will be quick, and they won’t
split your focus if you employ the other tips because they are small enough
that they should be able to keep your attention. If the do not, use the tip
we’ve outlined above and pic one at a time. Because these tasks are small,
you will get a boost of self esteem and pride in yourself that you were able
to accomplish the tasks you set you for yourself. This will boost your mood
and make you want to accomplish more.
It offers consistency to treat your habits like a single action instead of
individual tasks. So what you need to do is you need to have it be
professional. It's going to require different elements and you're going to
want to stick to it. If you treat each component as an individual action, then
you'll have to create a reminder and track each different behavior.
It will also be easier to complete it on a consistent basis. The key to have
habit stacking success is to start with a small expectation and then you can
build your muscle memory and complete routines once you have mastered
it and gotten more efficient with it.
The first thing you could do is make a five minute block. For example if
you want to write every day then you would create a goal of writing just
one paragraph a day. Once you finish the paragraph, you consider that a
complete a task for the day. It's also called mini habits because the habits
are small. The next step would be to focus on small ones by giving yourself
easy tasks that require little willpower.
These no brainer activities are going to eliminate the likelihood that you'll
skip a day or a few days so you're gaining your momentum and you're
overcoming procrastination as well. Building routines around habits that
don't require effort while also help you because they're easier to complete.
This in turn means that you have less stress and you have more feelings of
self confidence in yourself. You should also pick a time and a location. For
instance do you want to write that paragraph at work in the morning or do
you want to do it at home at breakfast?
Using a trigger can help you here too. If you were writing the paragraph at
breakfast you'd be smelling the breakfast that you will be eating and that
would help you remember that you need to write a paragraph.
Create a logical checklist. This is important because the checklist is one of
the most important parts of the stack. It should include a sequence of
actions. How long it takes to complete each one and where it is you're
going to do them. You also need to hold yourself accountable because if
you don't then you're going to skip them, and this is something that you
don't want to skip. This is because you're trying to overcome procrastination
and that's the ultimate goal. You should also focus on repetition and remind
yourself that you get a reward because that's going to encourage you to
finish and it's going to keep you motivated. The biggest thing with habit
stacking is that you should expect setbacks because there are setbacks to
everything in life, but you shouldn't let them overcome you. Know that it is
going to happen and then make sure that you will be able to move on from
it.
When you're habit stacking, you need to be sure not to break the chain. Go
the way it needs to be done. Scheduling the frequency of a task is also
important. Once you have the first step of the process down and you've
been doing this for long enough to get the hang of it, you can scale up your
stack and build on one routine at a time.
Mini habits are small habits and it said that you can learn more by doing
less. Sometimes when you're learning something new it feels easy and
almost effortless, but this is really true if the task at hand is a small one.
Mini habits are habits that you can achieve more by doing less.
They are small little actions that you do on a daily basis that you don't even
really need any willpower to perform them. This goes back to the habit
stacking, where you're doing tasks that are so small that you can accomplish
them easily. It doesn't even feel like you're using any brainpower at all with
these tasks.
A classic example of what a mini habit would look like is exercise. If you
want to start exercising and getting into shape you have to set small goals.
Like beginning to go to the gym. But setting big goals like going to the gym
six times a week is unrealistic because you know that you're going to skip
those days.
Instead you have to start small so you could make a mini habit of doing a
single task every day such as one sit up. It sounds like that's completely
silly, but it actually works wonders because as you commit to do that daily
task, there is a greater chance that you'll do more. Maybe before you go
about your day, you'll do an entire set and before you know it you've
actually done three repetitions without even realizing it!
Mini habits work because they go on the idea that you need a very little
willpower, so you get a feeling of achievement easily and daily. It's easy to
be consistent and it's easy to keep going. The first thing that you need to do
is choose your habit and then choose your mini habit. Attach the mini habit
to your existing routine and then track it. Once you've done this, you'll
realize that it's so easy that it's basically impossible to skip it. Even if you
do don't feel guilty. Just make sure that you keep going next time. As
mentioned above setbacks are a part of anything that you do so if you miss
a few tasks don't beat yourself up and let yourself get yourself down. Just
make sure that you try again and try not to miss it again. You can still find
success with this. You just have to try and stay as positive as you can.
If you've heard of the Eisenhower matrix this can also help. The
Eisenhower Matrix is the difference between making urgent and important
decisions. President Eisenhower served as a general in the army and as a
supreme commander during World War II. During his time in the army, he
was faced with many decisions concerning tasks. He had to focus every day
on tasks, so he had to invent a principle that helps prioritize the tasks by
urgency and the tasks by importance. The Eisenhower Matrix is that
principle. It results in four different quadrants with various strategies on
how to help you do this.
The first quadrant is important and urgent. It needs to be done right away as
it is either critical for your life or your career and it needs to be finished
without any hesitation.
An example of a quadrant one task would be answering a time sensitive
email from your boss but an example for your life might be a crying child, a
medical emergency or something of that nature. The second quadrant is
deciding when this is a task that is important but not necessarily completely
urgent. An example of this type of task would be exercising. This is
important to your health but it's not an urgent matter (in most cases). It is
also important to spend time with your family but again this can be aligned
with your schedule. Although some agree that spending time with your
family is urgent, so this really just depends on the person.
Quadrant three is delegate. If you ever feel like you're putting too much
importance on a task that in hindsight is not really very important, delegate
it. You're in good company if you do this. Everyone has moments like this
and it's common to delegate especially in business. This doesn't mean
delegate everything. Just what really needs it.
To wonder if it really needs to be delegated or not is a personal call but a
task that is unimportant could be something like answering your phone all
day, constantly checking your emails and doing things of that nature. It's
very easy to delegate that to someone else so that you can concentrate on
what's more important. Quadrant four is delete. You really want to avoid
quadrant four tasks. These tasks are wasting your time and they should be
eliminated completely if possible. If you're able to identify and eliminate all
of them, you'll free up time to spend in quadrant two instead.
Examples are playing video games, watching television shows that you
have seen a million times or mindless browsing or online shopping and just
looking through an entire website at every single thing they offer and then
not buying anything. That doesn't mean that quadrant four shouldn't be a
part of your life. The challenge here is that you spend more time in quadrant
two and that you don't spend twenty four hours playing video games and
staying in quadrant four. This may seem like it's an old school idea because
it has been advised to you and me by a former president, but it's been
widely accepted to work.
It's hard for procrastinators to figure out why they're procrastinating in the
first place and a great way to understand this is to monitor your activities
for a week and see what quadrant you're spending the most time in. If you
find that your spending more time in quadrants three and four and not
enough in two, then you'll need to start working on this concept to see how
you can fit more time in quadrant two tasks instead of quadrant three or
four.
So what you should do is begin using this principle and separating your
tasks into which quadrant you think they belong in and then start tackling
them. Just like with lists or the planning and everything else we've talked
about, set aside the tasks that you know are important and which ones aren't
and following this principle you might be thinking about your tasks in a
different way. This means that you will be able to begin to overcome your
procrastination. This quadrant tool will help you benefit by saving you time.
Time is often mismanaged by people, but this tool gives you the
opportunity to think about the time you unconsciously waste every day.
Applying these practices to your professional and personal life, you'll be
able to increase your effectiveness, boost your efficiency, and you'll be able
to plan ahead. You'll also be able to manage work with available time and
you won't have time to procrastinate because you'll be concentrating on
tasks that are actually important. This will help you decrease your stress and
it will help you avoid burnout.
The last tip that we have for you is apps for procrastination. Apps can be a
really helpful tool to use for yourself and because we're glued to our phones
throughout the day for many hours anyway, you might as well put the time
you put to your phone to use. In addition to this there is actually a new trend
that is happening among adults (no matter the age) and it's called
gamifying. Gamifying has actually been shown to help across the nation
though it might seem like the opposite due to the name.
There is a note to be made here. We have said in this book that video games
are quadrant four and you shouldn’t stay in that area. That is true. We have
also stated that you shouldn’t spend hours on your phone procrastinating.
That is also true. The reason that we are recommending this tool is because
it serves as a tool for you to motivate yourself. If you find that these apps
serve to distract you, then you should most definitely delete them and go
back to the other methods we have outlined instead.
Gamifying is known as gaming in your life. For example, if you are trying
to drink more water and you're having trouble staying on track with it there
is an app for that where you grow a plant and the less you drink the less
your plant lives. Eventually if you don't drink enough you could kill your
plant. These types of apps have actually been proven very effective in
helping you do more throughout the day because it doesn't turn it into a
chore. It makes it more fun. So the first apps that were going to recommend
are apps that are more serious and then the last app that were going to
recommend is an app that tends to have a more fun and gamey feel to it.
The first app that were going to recommend is called Yelling Mom. Have
you ever thought that your mother nagged you? Now you can have a
nagging mom on your phone. This app serves as a prodder. When you have
a task and you have scheduled it on your phone it will remind you with
obnoxious alerts. They even include a diva sound. The app is easy to
manage, and you can lock and item as well. This is going to cost you $1.99
if you choose to download it.
The second app we are going to tell you about is Procrastination Hack. This
works off of the work, then take a short break. You will work for a period of
time and then get a short break. Its times you and helps you to stay on top
of what you are doing and help you stay productive. This is also $1.99.
The third is AppDetox. This app can restrict your other apps like Facebook
and not let you use it. You can set the detox terms yourself and you can
restrict what you want. It’s not playing around either it will keep records of
violations. This is free.
The fourth app is Finish. This app combats procrastination by sorting your
tasks into short-term and long-term due dates. As time goes on you move
through your tasks and it reminds you every step of the way. This also
offers a focus mode which shows your pressing tasks first. This will be
$0.99.
The fifth app is Procraster. This prompts you to work but get a short term
reward as well. It helps you tackle projects and you can select the ones you
are working on. It also gives you advice about your issues and helps you
work through them. This is going to be $0.99.
The sixth app is called Epic Win and it’s a gaming type of app. You get to
choose a character for yourself and if you want to level them up, you have
to get stuff done. You set what type of task it is and how many points and
when the task is done mark it off and you can level up your character. This
can be a fun and motivating tool for you to get up and start going to avoid
procrastination or at least to get better at dealing with it.
 BEST STRATEGIES TO AVOID
PROCRASTINATION
Getting rid of procrastination is hard. It is not something that you will be
able to get rid of in just a few days. However, it is something that you are
able to work on, something that you can improve if you have the right
strategies and dedication in place to make it happen. If you have been
dealing with procrastination for a long time and you are ready to get it
under control so that you can live the life that you want, then here are the
best strategies that you can follow in order to avoid procrastination for
good.
Get rid of the distractions

Take a look at your workspace. How many distractions are you able to find,
things that will keep you away from the work that you are supposed to be
done? Do you have your phone on and sitting right next to you? Is your
email tab open with the notifications dinging each time you receive a new
one? How many times have you taken a look at your social media account
for the day? Is your door open so that others are able to walk in and just
start talking?
All of these distractions provide you with an easy way to avoid doing your
work. You will often spend your time checking social media, your phone, or
even talking to others in the office. How are you supposed to find the
motivation to get the work done?
If you are having issues with procrastination, it may be time to get rid of
some of the distractions that are in your workspace. First, turn off the
phone. There is very little reason that you will need it while doing your
work to turn it off and leave it on the other side of the room so you are not
tempted at all.
When it comes to your social media accounts and your email, do not even
turn these on right now. They are just going to distract you and make you
concentrate on the wrong things. If you are able to do your project or your
work without the computer, then do not even turn it on. If you need the
computer on, only open up the tabs that you need and ignore everything
else for now.
While it may seem rude and unsociable to avoid your coworkers,
socializing with them during the morning when you need to get work done
is going to waste so much time. Consider closing the door and the blinds so
that others know you are busy and not to disturb you. If someone really
needs you, they will knock on the door and ask for you. However, closing
the door will help to keep away those who just want to catch up.
Start working right away

Many people will get to the office and mess around for some time. They
will check their email, check their phone messages, and even check out
their Facebook and other social media accounts. Sometimes they will even
wander around the office for a bit and talk to some other co-workers. This
may be something that you are used to doing each day but think of all the
time that you are wasting. Before you even started on any work, you have
wasted half the morning and your motivation may have already started to
fade.
One way to avoid this kind of procrastination and get more work done is
just to start with work right when you show up. Your emails and phone calls
can wait and you can catch up with others in the office during lunchtime.
When you sit down and concentrate on getting your work done right from
the beginning of the day, without any distractions being in the way, you will
be surprised at how quickly that work will finish up.
Split up the tasks that you need to do

It is easy to fall into the trap of procrastination when you get a really big
project. You may feel that the project is too big or that there is no way that
you will be able to get the whole thing done. This can take away your
motivation and can make it difficult to get any of the project done.
One way to avoid this is to split up the task. All big tasks and even the
small ones can be split up into smaller pieces. When you split these up, it is
much easier to get the work done. You can focus on the one small part that
you are doing right now, rather than the whole thing. When you are done
with one part, you can move on to the other part and so on. Before you
know it, everything is caught up and done, without seeming as difficult as it
did in the beginning.
Talk to the other party about realistic deadlines

There are times when you will get a project for work and the deadline is
going to be way too close for the amount of work that needs to be done.
Rather than trying to get it started, you may put it off and even ignore it,
knowing that there is no way that you will be able to get the work done to
start with. This is a bad plan to go with. It is going to make you fall behind
and can make you look poorly with a client or with management.
Rather than procrastinating or not doing the work, it is better to talk to the
other party about a realistic deadline on the project. Sit down and come up
with some deadlines that you are able to meet for this project and that you
can use to show the client that the work just cannot be completed on the
timeline that they want. In most cases, the client did not realize how long
the work would take and they will be happy to add some more time to help
you get it done.
However, for this to work, you need to get started on that timeline right
away. If you avoid the project too long and then ask for an extension just a
few days before the deadline, you are going to end up with trouble. The
other party is not likely to listen to you and will assume you just did not put
in enough effort on the project. If you plan ahead and get things done, you
are going to impress the client and they are more likely to work with you,
even if you ask for more time to get a project done.
Pick out the most important task to get done first

In the perfect world, you will just receive one project to work on at a time.
You would get enough time to work on that project and to complete it to
perfection, and you would not have to worry about anything else during that
time. However, anyone who has ever spent time in the real world knows,
this is not reality. It is common to get a few different projects to work on at
the same time, and learning how to manage those projects so they all get
done can make a big difference on your levels of stress and how much you
are able to get done.
If you are looking to get more than one project done at a time, you will need
to spend some of your energy sorting out the projects that need to be done
first. Often people will choose to split up the projects based on what needs
to be done first, but there are a few other methods that you can use and be
successful as well. For example, some people like to get the little projects
done, the busy work, first so that they can focus all their energy on the
bigger projects without feeling as nothing else has been done. Others like to
work on the big project so they can make some headway with that one and
not have to worry.
The method that you use is not as important as figuring out how to get all
the work done in a timely fashion without being late on any of it. If you like
to check things off a list, then working on the small tasks first may be the
best option for you. If you like to procrastinate a lot or you just can’t get
any work done if there is a big project looming around, then it is probably
better to go with the second method. The important part is to come up with
a plan that will help you to get the work done.
Change up where you are working

One of the reasons that you may be dealing with procrastination is because
of the area you are working in. If your area is distracting in some way, then
it is not a good place to get work done. For example, if you like to have it
quiet when you are working, it does not make sense to work in a busy
coffee shop. It is also not a good idea to work somewhere like your
bedroom because you are more likely to want to curl up and go to bed
rather than get the work done.
You need to find a place where you are able to get the work done without
having to deal with distractions. Having a few places available can make a
big difference as well. This allows you to switch up your working
environment and still get more done. There are going to be times when one
of your regular working spots is not going to be the best (you may get tired
of it, need a change of scenery, or just need something new), and having a
few spots available helps to avoid this issue.
Focus on the long-term benefits

We live in a world where it is common to go for the instant gratification

rather than worrying about what is going to happen in the future. We want
to be happy and to have a good time right now, regardless of the
punishments that may happen in the future. While there really is not
anything wrong with this kind of instant gratification, you have to
remember that it is going to make you miss out on the gratification that you
could be feeling in the future.
Many times it may seem like the preferable action is to do what you want
right now, but often these are going to be missing a real sense of
achievement and you will end up with a worse situation later on. For
example, you may decide that it would be more fun to go out with friends
tonight than to work on your project, but when you fall behind on that
project you will be stressed out trying to catch up. And if you do not get the
project done on time, you could get in trouble with your boss and even
fired.
Learning how to focus on some of the long-term benefits of your actions,
rather than the instant gratification, can help to prevent procrastination.
When you focus on how getting the project done could help make your boss
(your client) happy and may put you up for a promotion, it is much more
motivating to get to work rather than just let it all slide.
Consider visual reminders

If you are a visual person, this is something that you will need to consider.
Visual reminders can help you to get back to work, even when the mind is
ready to wander off or you are ready to give up on the work. Post-it notes
are great for doing this because you can simply write down a few little
reminders to yourself and then post them wherever you need the most
motivation.
There are a lot of distractions that can hit us up at any time of the day.
Having some visual reminders that you can do the work and that you should
get it done now can make a difference. Place some on your computer at
work, a few in the car where you are able to see them, and even around the
house and see if this is able to help you out.
Kill the procrastination with kindness

One of the worse things that you can do when you are dealing with
procrastination is to blame yourself or get mad at yourself. While this may
be seen as a way to motivate yourself along the way, it is actually going to
make things worse. You already know that you are not doing the best job
that you can, and you may even lower your self-esteem and make the
situation worse than you intended.
A better method to work with when it comes to ending procrastination is to
kill it with kindness. There is research that shows how if you are able to
forgive yourself for being a procrastinator in the past, it becomes a lot easier
to overcome your current issues with procrastination. You are even more
likely to take some action to change your current procrastination. Use the
past procrastination as a learning lesson, forgive yourself and then move
on.
Have a power song

Some people find that music can be a good way to motivate themselves to
get work done. Sometimes having a good beat to listen to while getting
work done will make all the difference and can help them to at least get
started on the projects that they have been putting off. And when they are
able to get started, it becomes so much easier to keep on going until the
work is done.
For this to work, you need to find a song that can really get you energized
and pumped up. Then when you are going to tackle a big project or
something that you have been putting off for too long, you will be able to
turn on that song as a motivation to get started. The brain likes this because
it is like a trigger to getting started with your new habit of no
procrastination. In addition, this song will likely make you feel better,
which makes it easier for you to follow through.
Learn how to say “No”!

It is common for people to take on way too much work than they are able to
handle. They may not realize all of the work that they already have on their
list or they may be unable to say no to other people. They do not want
people to be mad or disappointed in them, so they end up taking on more
work than they can handle. And when they see all of the work that they
need to get done, they feel overwhelmed and like it is better to give up
rather than even try to get the work done.
If you find that your to-do list is getting too long, it is time to cut out some
things. Even the most dedicated worker is going to face procrastination
when they have too many things to be done during the day. There are bound
to be at least a few things on that list that you cannot get done, or that you
will never reach, and learning how to get rid of them is a good idea. You
have to give yourself permission to let these things go through. Yes, that
means that there will be sometimes when you have to say now, but overall it
will be you to become more productive and get better results.
Figure out WHY you are procrastinating

There are a lot of different reasons why people end up procrastinating.

Some people feel that there is more time to get the work done then there is.
Some may feel overwhelmed by getting the work done. Others may feel
that they are going to fail at the work right from the beginning so they do
not even want to try. And still others will choose to do other things that they
think are more fun now rather than getting started on their work.
If you want to stop procrastination, you need to have a good understanding
of why you are procrastinating in the first place. When you understand this
a little bit better, you will be able to solve that issue and work on the
procrastination better than ever before.
Procrastination is something that all of us will face at some time or other.
We may decide that we are not in the right mood to get started or we may
underestimate the amount of time that it will take to get the project started.
This becomes an issue though when procrastination is a way of life for you
and you are barely able to get anything done, at least not until the last
minute. The good news is that when you implement some of the strategies
above, you will be able to get rid of your procrastination and you can
actually see some results in no time.
 YOUR SEVEN-DAY PLAN TO STOP
PROCRASTINATION TODAY
Now that we have spent some time talking about procrastination and how it
can negatively affect your life, it is time to come up with a plan that will
stop procrastination in its path. This plan is going to help those who realize
that procrastination has gone from a thing they do on occasion to something
that they regularly do. It will provide you with some simple steps that you
can take over the next week to improve your levels of procrastination so
you can finally get things done.
For this plan, you should concentrate on each of the following items below.
If possible, consider adding these to each day. Most of them are not going
to take too long, and if you can implement them daily, you will get the best
results. If you would like to split things up a little bit more (which is
another suggestion that is provided), then go ahead and work on each part
one day of the week. The overall goal is to implement all these into your
daily schedule so that you can kick out procrastination and see results.
The Five-Minute Rule

One of the things that you need to do during this week is called the five-
minute rule. It is going to change the way that you do things daily
completely and will make sure that you can win the fight against your
procrastination. With the five-minute rule, you are required to ask yourself
what action you can accomplish right now or sometime today that will take
five minutes or less and will move you forward in life. It does not matter
how far forward it moves you; it just needs to move you at least a little bit.
When you have identified this kind of action, bring out a timer and set it for
the five minutes that you want to work. Then get to work for that whole
time. Anyone can sit down and work for five-minutes so throw all those
excuses out the window. The amazing thing is that research has shown that
once you have gotten started on something, you are more likely to finish it.
Therefore, you may start with five minutes on that big report at work, but
once you get started, you are more likely to stick with it and get more work,
if not all of it, done.
The reason that this works is the Zeigarnik effect. This effect states that
tasks that are unfinished are more likely to become stuck in your memory.
Your mind is likely to be stuck in a loop about all of the things that you
have not been able to complete. Even if you are busy and only able to work
for a bit on that project, it is now going to be stuck in your brain, and you
are more likely to finish it. Even a small action will propel you forward. If
you have time, you may finish that project after spending just five minutes
on it. If you are busy, at least you have gotten it started and stuck in your
memory to work on later.
Spend Time with a Power Hour

This can be a great way for you to concentrate just on your work and get
started on something that you may have been putting off until now. It is
only an hour of your time, so it is pretty easy to fit into your day, but you
will be amazed at how much you can get done in this time and even the
amount of motivation that you will find if you can stick it out. For each day
of this seven-day plan, set aside a whole hour and call it your power hour,
so you can get the work done.
So what are you supposed to do during this power hour? During this time,
you are going to start with putting all the distractions away and then work
for concentrated pieces of time. As a beginner, it is best to work for about
twenty minutes at a time so you will get three sessions into the hour. In
between each of these sessions, you will take a short rest to give your brain
a little bit of a break from what you are doing.
This may seem a little bit counterintuitive. You may feel that taking breaks
is going to slow you down and make it hard to get anything done, but
having spurts of concentrated work with some short breaks, even just five
minutes away from the computer screens and the work you are doing, can
help you to get the most performance out of your brain. You will get a lot of
work done, and you may even consider adding this kind of power hour to
all parts of your day so you can catch up in no time.
Have Others Set Your Deadlines

It can be hard to be objective about deadlines when you need to plan them
out on your own. You may think that you have more time to work on
something or that it won’t take you long to work on a particular deadline,
but you may be way off. Sometimes you need more time to finish
something, and other times, you may be way too generous with yourself.
This is why it can be helpful to have someone else set the deadlines for you,
at least in the beginning while you are learning the ropes and getting done
with your procrastination.
Find someone you trust and ask them if they would be able to look over
some of your projects and come up with deadlines that you should meet.
Put those deadlines into your schedule and then stick with them no matter
what. This will help you to get the work done on time, and it can be a great
way to hold yourself accountable.
Prioritize Which Tasks to Be First

Prioritizing the work that you need to will make a big difference in how
much you are going to get done during the day. If you are messing around
with some of the smaller projects during the day, you may feel that you are
getting a lot of work done during the day, but you are still not getting to
some of the bigger projects that need to be done.
To get started with this one, you need first to make a list of all the projects
that you need to complete. This includes all of them—whether you need to
finish them today, later in the week, or in a month. Write down everything
no matter how important they may be so that you do not forget anything.
Once you have this list ready, it is time to figure out all the ones that are the
most important to work on right now. Pick out a highlighter color and use it
to mark up all the things that you need to accomplish that day. These are
projects due in the next few days, things that are going to take you a bit
longer so you want to get started on, and so on. This part of the list will
probably only have a few items highlighted, but they are the things that you
need to get finished as soon as possible.
Now, pick out another highlighter color and highlight all the things that
need to be done soon but still have a little time and are not as important as
the other items on the list. These can include items like those due at the end
of the week rather than the ones due tomorrow. Finally, you can pick out a
third color to highlight all the other tasks, the ones that you can get to later
on. When it is time to get to work, you can go down this list, finishing
things on the list in order of the colors that you picked until they are done.
You will need to rewrite this list each day, working to change up which
items are the most important based on where you are in the week and
adding in more items as you need to work on them. As you go through the
list, try to get as much done each day, but focus your energy on the items
that are considered the most important.
Pick the Best Time of Day to Get Work Done

Everyone has a different part of the day when he or she gets the most work
done. For most people, getting started on their work right away in the
morning, before they are tired and worn out, is one of the best decisions.
However, many people do their best work in the late afternoon or evening
hours. No matter what time works for you, try to structure your day so that
you can focus your energy on getting work done during that time.
When you try to do work outside of your peak time, you are going to waste
a lot of time. No one can get a lot of work done when they are off their peak
time, and this can throw off your motivation so much. On the other hand, if
you learn when your peak time is and focus most of your work time then,
you will be able to zip through the work without feeling like you are
working as hard.
It is likely that you already know when your peak time is even if you have
never thought of it before. Think about the times when you can get the most
work done when it does not feel like you had to put in as much effort to get
the work done. This is your peak time. If you do not know when your peak
time is, then it is time to experiment a little bit. Try out a few different times
during the day and see when it seems to work the best for you to get a lot of
work done.
Once you figure out that time when you need to do your work, each day
when you come into the office, make sure that you work your schedule
around this peak time so that you can get a ton of stuff done. It does not
matter whether your peak time is in the morning, noon, or later in the day.
Make sure that you schedule everything else so that you can work on things
during this time.
Shorten Your List

You should also consider shortening up your list. Hopefully, you have
already found that writing out a list of all the things that you need to be
done during the day will help you never to forget something again.
However, as you take a look at this list and as you watch it grow as the
week goes on, you may notice that the list is getting kind of long. Long to-
do lists are not very motivating to anyone. Sure, it can feel nice to check
things off the list as you get them done, but it is not motivating to look into
the future and see a lot of work that needs to be done.
After your list has been filled out, the first thing that you need to do is
figure out what things you can cut. On any list that you make, there are
always things that you can cut out. Is there an activity during the week that
you had scheduled for the kids that you can miss if things get too busy? Are
there some personal tasks that you wanted to be done but you do not think
will fit in now that you see what else needs to be done? Are there some
tasks at work that you can delegate to others or at least ask if someone else
can help you with?
When you can cut down this list by even a little bit, it is going to make a big
difference in how motivated you can be to get the work done. The work will
seem more manageable, and you may even be excited to get going on the
work. But first, you need to figure out the best way to make that list a little
bit smaller.
Once you have made that list smaller, work hard to keep it small. It is not
going to do you much good to cut out a whole bunch of stuff from your list
and then add on ten more from work or other sources. This part is going to
be hard for some people who do not like to tell others no, but it is for the
better good of beating your procrastination. Only choose to take on the
tasks that you can handle, and the rest will fall into place.

Learn What Your Distractions Are and Avoid Them

There are so many distractions that can keep you from your work. Whether
you are always checking your phone, looking at the emails that come up
when a new notification happens, or always being on your social media
account, some distractions are around and preventing you from doing your
work. You may even feel like you are doing a lot of work on a project when
in reality you are mostly just doing little distractions that are filling up your
time.
If you would like to get some work done, those distractions need to go
away. Turn off that phone and place it in the desk drawer or on the other
side of the room. Get to work on your projects first thing in the morning
rather than checking email or your social media accounts. Keep the door
closed so that none of your coworkers is going to come and distract you
unless they need something. The important thing here is to learn what your
distractions are and then avoid them as much as possible.
It is hard to get rid of distraction once it becomes a habit in your daily life.
You have become so used to it that when someone hands you a new project,
your first instinct is to just put it off until later; but when you implement
some of these simple suggestions into your daily life, you will find that you
are well on your way to fighting off procrastination and getting your life
back.
Assessing Your Priorities

Like values, priorities are another measure of urgency that can massively
help increase your sense of motivation and keep you in motion. Not having
your priorities in order, or not aligning your day based on your priorities for
that day, can leave you feeling like there is no sense of urgency to get
anything done. Through this, you find yourself with plenty of reasons as to
why you can put everything off and wait until the last possible minute.
If you assess your priorities, you can schedule your day in a way that
emphasizes the urgency behind the things that you need to get done. This
will leave you feeling just the right amount of pressure to jump into action,
but not so much that you feel overwhelmed or intimidated by your
schedule. As a result, you are going to find it is a lot easier for you to get
motivated and get things done.
What Are Your Priorities?

Priorities are areas of your life that are meaningful and important to you.
You likely have many priorities in your life, each of which feels incredibly
important to you. Which priority feels the most important will depend on
what you are doing, what questions are being asked, and what priorities you
are being forced to choose between. Each person, however, tends to have an
order of priority for the things that matter most to them. Some of those
things will all be around the same level, but there will still be a clearly
defined sense of what they truly care about more than anything else, in
order.
Your priorities might consist of activities, relationships, or practices that
you engage in throughout your life that add value to your life. Chances are,
you feel a sense of pride and fulfillment every time you engage with your
priorities because they bring you a sense of satisfaction and joy. Because of
how powerful they are and how much they can fill us with gratification, our
priorities are little nuggets of gold that can help us completely transform
our procrastinating tendencies.
Finding your priorities is as important as knowing what they are will afford
you the opportunity to use your priorities to guide you in life. They will
help guide you on daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly goals. They will help
guide you in general, and in specific ways to ensure that you are always
behaving in a way that feels right for you. And, they will give you the best
opportunity to create a life that feels enjoyable and exciting, and therefore
motivates you to get up and work toward what you desire every day rather
than sit around and struggle to get motivated.
Getting clear on your own priorities is going to help you in many ways.
However, it all starts with getting clear on what they are. The easiest way to
do this is to sit down and list the 10-15 things that are most important to
you in your life. Then, organize them based on most-to-least important so
that you can see exactly what your priorities are, and in what order.
How Can You Leverage Your Priorities?

Once you know what your priorities are, you can leverage them to help you
improve your time management skills, create goals that are relevant to you,
and motivate you into action. Priorities will give you a reason greater than
yourself and your desire to stay committed to what you are doing and
continue going forward, even if it feels challenging or overwhelming.
Simply put, priorities are an excellent tool to help you jump out of
procrastination and into action in your life.
The best way to leverage priorities is through identifying what your short
term vs. long term priorities are, turning them into goals, cutting out
distractions, and acting on those goals so that “someday” becomes “today.”
Short Term VS. Long Term Priorities
In your life, there will always be two visions you are holding: what is
important now, and what is important later. For procrastinators, what is
important now always seems to hold a stronger sense of urgency than what
is important in the future, which is what leads to procrastinators behaving
the way they do. Many feel that if they behave in a way that contributes to
them getting what they want in the future, it will require them denying
themselves of what they want right now. However, if your goals are all
made with your priorities in mind then your short term and long-term goals
should all be leading in the same direction.
I encourage you right now to begin to establishing some short-term
objectives for yourself that will aid you in work toward your long-term
goals, based on what your priorities and values are. This way, your goals
are aligned in a way that makes working toward your short term goals and
your long term goals the same thing which means your motivation levels
are going to accelerate, rapidly. When you begin to realize that you get the
instant gratification that serves your long-term gratification, too, it is a
complete game-changer.
Turning Priority-Based Goals into Plans

Having a goal is not effective if you are not going to put the effort into
turning that goal into a plan and put that plan into action. For that reason,
you want to take those short term and long-term goals you have made for
yourself and begin to actually plan them out.
This is where having a healthy relationship with deadlines is going to help,
as your goal and deadlines share something similar: they both define an
outcome. A goal defines an outcome of desires, whereas a deadline defines
an outcome of timing and schedules. Combining the two is going to help
you move into serious action. You can start this by using your renewed
relationship to create a definitive guideline for what you want your outcome
to look like. Then, you want to take your goal and put a deadline on it.
When do you want to have achieved that goal by? Set a date for both your
long term and short-term goals so that you can stay on track with both of
them.
Once you have set your deadlines, you want to create a schedule filled with
steps that are going to help you achieve that goal and deadline on time. This
schedule can be reverse-engineered starting at your goal and working all the
way back to where you are now. When that is done, you officially have a
plan for how you are going to move forward and achieve your goals.
Cutting Out Distracting “Filler Goals”

Part of knowing what your priorities are is knowing how you can cut out
distraction goals or “filler goals” from your life. Many people who are
unaware of exactly what they want, including procrastinators, have a
tendency to create small pointless goals that are meant to help them feel
good, but that never actually lead them to what they desire in life. For
example, they might set the goal of beating level 10 on their video game.
Although this is a fun goal for a hobby, keeping something like this as your
only goal, or prioritizing this goal over more important goals, such as
launching your own business or investing money into a 401K, is not
responsible. Doing this will waste your time and set you back on the more
important goals that you should be working toward in life. This is where
priorities are really going to help you define what you want and how to get
there.
In your day-to-day life, be particularly cautious anytime you notice yourself
creating goals that are not actually going to help you get to where you want
to go. If you do find you, have set these goals and decide that they serve
you in some way, such as by adding more fun to your life, make sure that
you prioritize them accordingly. Although fun is important, it should never
take the majority of your attention and turn you away from achieving other
equally important things, like creating financial freedom or strengthening
relationships you cherish with people you value. Keep your balance and
always remember what your overall priorities are, then plan accordingly.
Using Action to Turn “Someday” into “Today”

Priorities come with a sense of urgency that leaves us feeling like we have
to snap into action if we are going to get anywhere in our lives. Plus,
because our priorities are often something beyond just ourselves, or related
to something beyond just ourselves, it becomes easier for us to see why
they are so important. We want to make sure that we do what is best for
ourselves, while also in some way doing something that is great for other
people.
For example, let us say your relationships are a priority: this is about both
you and the people you love having better experiences. Alternatively, let us
say your health is a priority. This is likely about you being able to
experience a better quality of life while also being able to share that quality
of life with the people you love. Because these priorities have meanings that
exist within yourself and beyond yourself, they are easier to motivate
yourself into because you can see how they will positively impact everyone.
Once you begin to sense that urgency in your priorities, make sure that you
jump into action. Taking action when you feel that sense of urgency will
help you develop a positive momentum. From that momentum, you can
keep going and creating more energy that builds toward you reaching your
goals, which will help you keep going even further. Never discredit the
power of urgency, action, and momentum when it comes to motivating
yourself and growing beyond your expectations in life.
The Power of “To-Do Lists”

To-do lists are something most people know well, and likely use at various
points throughout their lives. Some people use them daily as a way to track
what needs to be done and get those lists accomplished. Despite how
popular they are, not many people know how to use to-do lists as a strategy
that can help motivate you and keep you in action. Most people believe that
simply having a list is enough to motivate them to get moving when in
reality this is not always the case. In fact, if the to-do list is not managed
properly it may reduce their motivation, overwhelm them, or prevent them
from getting important tasks done. Having a proper strategy for how you
utilize to-do lists is a critical measure for turning those lists into something
useful.
If you are not using to-do lists at all, you are going to want to start using
them after you read this chapter. You will quickly realize that having a to-do
list and using it properly is one of the best ways that you can launch
yourself into action every day and create the results that you desire. These
are a crucial tool in helping you achieve incremental success every single
day, which will enable you to begin building that important momentum
toward your goals.
How Are To-Do Lists Misused?

To-do lists are often misused by people who are unaware of how powerful a
to-do list can actually be. Many people think this tool is exclusively used to
keep track of tasks that need to be done, and that is exactly true. However,
as you begin to fill out a to-do list you will likely notice just how many
tasks you actually have to do, and that can be incredibly overwhelming.
Many people find themselves attempting to navigate to-do lists that are
excessively long, filled with filler tasks, and ultimately intimidating to look
at. As a result, the list itself becomes a chore and they fail to actually use
the list. Instead, it just serves as a growing list of what needs to be done,
being overseen by a person who is becoming increasingly unwilling to
actually try to complete anything on the list itself.
If you have a to-do list where you add things with reckless abandon, you are
likely creating a list of intimidation rather than a list of motivation. As your
tasks stack up, you begin overwhelmed and less willing to look at the list
and pick a place to start. And, since you do not currently have a strategy for
how you will manage your list and get things done, the idea of doing
anything on that list seems incredibly unlikely. Instead, it just continues to
serve as a point of guilt that makes you feel worse about yourself every
time a day goes by and nothing gets done.
How Can A To-Do List Help Me?

After reading the last few paragraphs, you might be thinking to do lists are
not the way to go. After all, overwhelming and intimidating yourself is only
going to lead to inaction, not action, right. Right. Still, when used properly,
to do lists will actually lead to more motivation and action rather than
inaction. As long as you manage your to do list properly and are very
intentional about what goes on it, you will find yourself creating a list that
inspires you to get moving. Plus, as you check the tasks off of that list it
will feel incredible, which will inspire you to keep going.
The best way to create a strong to do list strategy that will motivate you to
snap out of procrastination, rather than feed your procrastination, is to
follow a simple strategy. That strategy starts with having a master list,
which then feeds daily lists. You should also use 5 simple tasks and
prioritizing to help you really leverage your to do list to help you get things
done. This way, you are more likely to see results from your to do list rather
than overwhelm.
Creating a “Master List”

Your master list is the simple first step to creating a strong to do list
strategy. A master list is what most people’s only to do list looks like, as it
consists of everything you need or want to get done. You will use your
master list to keep track of everything that comes up in your mind, so keep
that list handy and write everything and anything on it. Do not be afraid to
hold back on this list, as getting it out of your mind and onto a list will
prevent you from trying to “hold onto it” in your mind. When you do this,
you stop feeling an immediate sense of urgency to jump into action on that
particular task because you have already released it from your mind into a
spot where you feel confident you will not forget it.
Organizing Daily Lists

After you have created your master list, you can start creating daily lists.
Daily lists are the lists you are going to follow every single day as you go
about planning your day and getting things done. Your daily list should be
structured from activities that are drawn from your master list, and they
should never be too long, or too overwhelming. They should always consist
of any time-sensitive tasks that need to be done on that particular day, as
well as tasks that you feel are urgent or important for that day. Once you
have put together your daily to do list, refrain from adding anything else to
it as this will result in unnecessary overwhelm and an added excuse for you
not to get moving on your list.
Ideally, you should make your to do list somewhat of a ritual that you
engage in every single day. Each night before you go to bed, you should
create your to-do list for the next day so you know everything that needs to
get done the following day. This helps you stay organized while also
creating an opportunity for you to mentally prepare for your day ahead of
you, both of which will keep you on track with getting your to do list
completed on a day to day basis.
Focusing on 5 High-Priority Tasks

Each day as you build your to-do list, it is important that you only add high-
priority tasks to that list that are important to you or to your success in
achieving your goals. Filling your to do list with filler or distractions is only
going to reinforce your procrastination, which will leave you feeling worse
off in the long run.
Adding 5 high-priority tasks to your to do list will ensure that everything
important always gets done every single day. Then, any time you have
leftover can be spent doing the mindless tasks that were previously wasting
space on your to do list by causing you to feel overwhelmed and
intimidated by the size of it. This is where you get to engage in your
balanced instant gratification time and achieve those goals that are not
particularly important to your success in higher priority goals.
If you find that you add 5 high-priority goals to your to do list and you do
not get them done, make sure you add those tasks to your next day’s to do
list. This way, you are staying focused on high-priority tasks until they are
completed, which means you are more likely to see them through all the
way until done.
 VISUALIZATION MATTERS
If 17 or 68 seconds of holding a new thought can change your behavior,
imagine what daily visualization can do for you. Science has proven
repeatedly that our visualization powers can change our lives, yet not many
people genuinely believe that. Or, worse, some do believe it yet they fail to
implement it because they think it will be too hard, too challenging, to
strange, or because it impedes with their existing habits.
Regardless of where you fall in your belief system, visualization is a
powerful tool that can change your life and it is something that you should
absolutely work on implementing in your own life every single day. If you
can offer even just 5-10 minutes of your day to visualizing something new,
you will afford yourself the opportunity to make drastic changes in your
life. Once again, this is something that is completely founded in the science
so you can feel confident that in visualizing you actually are taking
significant action in making a change in your life.
How Does Visualization Work?

Science has proven that your brain does not know the difference between
what you are physically seeing in front of you, and what you are visualizing
in your mind. This means that every time you engage in visualization, your
brain does not realize that what you are visualizing is not actually
happening in real life. Instead, it behaves as if it is happening in real life,
and produces the feelings, thoughts, and beliefs that go along with whatever
it is that you are visualizing.
When you visualize on a consistent basis, you train your mind to foster the
feelings, thoughts, and beliefs that it would have if you were actually
engaging in that visual experience in real life. This means that, if done
consistently enough, you can train yourself to behave in a way that reflects
these new feelings, thoughts, and beliefs.
A great example of this working is when Dr. Biasiotto of the University of
Chicago conducted a study on the school’s basketball team. He conducted
the study by having some students practice, as usual, some students do
absolutely nothing, and some students visualize their practices but never
physically practice basketball. They engaged in this for an entire month and
by the end of the month, those who had visualized practice and those who
had actually engaged in practice increased their skills by the same amount.
Those who did neither did not improve in their skills nor had to continue
practicing to get up to speed with the other players.
How Can I Use Visualization to Stop Procrastinating?

When it comes to overcoming procrastination, you can do so by visualizing

yourself eliminating procrastination from your “skill set.” It is likely that as
of right now, anytime you think about yourself and your ability to get things
done you immediately go to envisioning yourself not making any progress.
In your mind, you might see yourself waiting until the very last minute and
then stressing out over getting the job done because you have so much to
do. Naturally, if visualization has as much power as science says it does,
this reinforces your procrastinating behaviors rather than your ability to
grow beyond procrastinating.
To use visualization to help you change this behavior, you want to focus on
including visualization into your daily practice in two ways. The first way is
that anytime you think about your ability to get something done, you
visualize yourself moving through that task easily and without any of your
problematic procrastinating behaviors. By using this visualization instead of
your typical visualization, you reinforce your ability to get through tasks
without first procrastinating and then making it extremely stressful for you
to get through. If you want, you can implement this visualization practice
into your 17-68 seconds of positive, productive thinking to help you change
your behaviors. Combining these two practices is an excellent way to boost
your new habits.
The second time you want to visualize should be something that you do
intentionally every single day for about 5-10 minutes. During this session,
you should focus on visualizing yourself as being a person who does not
procrastinate, whatsoever. Visualize yourself moving into action as soon as
you have something to get done and what it would feel like to get
everything done in a timely manner. Visualize the results you would have,
including the tangible benefits and the way it would make you feel to know
that everything had been completed, as you had wanted it to be.
Visualizing your response to procrastination in this way will behave in the
same way that Dr. Biscotto’s basketball team practice worked. Because you
are visualizing yourself getting better and moving through your tasks with
ease, your brain will start to recognize this as being the best way possible.
As a result, you will find that physically turning this into your reality
becomes easier, too, and you will find that your procrastinating behaviors
will stop being quite so problematic.
Visualize a Life Where You Get Into Action

It is important that you know exactly what you should be visualizing when
you begin visualizing on a day-to-day basis to improve your procrastinating
tendencies. A great way to do this is to visualize yourself looking at your
daily to do list and getting into action on each and every single task.
Visualize what your process for getting into action looks like, and make it
personal in a way that feels good for you and that actually motivates you to
get into motion. If you are motivated to get into motion just by doing it
right away without thinking, make that your visualization. If you find you
are motivated by taking 5 minutes or so to prepare for your tasks and set
everything up so that you can be comfortable while you do the task,
visualize that. No matter what your process is for starting something,
visualize yourself doing that repeatedly with every single task that you need
to get done.
The best way to really make this work and to see improvements as soon as
possible is to use this strategy with tasks that are actually on your to do list.
For example, if right now you need to get up and cook yourself a healthy
dinner so you do not wait until it is too late and find yourself eating cereal
for dinner, you should visualize your behavior around that particular task.
Using real tasks that you are truly in need of completing helps you see your
visualizations as believable, which helps you anchor them in and act on
them much quicker. Plus, when you do actually have to get into action on
that task, you will have already visualized what it should look like so you
can go ahead and do that right away.
Visualize What the Outcome Would Be Like
In addition to visualizing yourself actually starting tasks, you want to
visualize what the outcome is going to be like every time you complete a
task, too. If you have a task on your to do list that is particularly challenging
or that you are not too interested in completing but you know you need to
get it done, this is a great task to engage in your visualization with.
Otherwise, you can visualize what you will feel like after completing any
task in general, as this will help you get down the feeling of that “reward”
you get when you complete something that you know you needed to
complete.
When you spend, time visualizing the outcome, always think about the
tangible and intangible benefits that you gain from completing your tasks.
Think about how you are going to feel, what you are going to do, and what
benefits you are going to gain from having completed this task. Think about
what it will be like for you to no longer have to look at your to do list and
see that task there anymore. Think about what it will feel like to tell other
people that your task is complete and that you no longer have to wait for the
energy or motivation to bring it to come to fruition. Think about the
successful feelings you will have knowing that you can tell yourself and
everyone else that you have successfully completed a task that you needed
to get done.
The more you can energize yourself around this feeling, the more your
brain is really going to feel like getting tasks complete is rewarding and
therefore worth the energy. As a result, you are going to have a much easier
time talking yourself into action with each and every task that you need to
get done on a day-to-day basis.
Spend 5-10 Minutes Per Day Visualizing

Ideally, you should spend anywhere between 5-10 minutes per day, up to 20
minutes per day visualizing what you want more of in your life in order to
really set your mind up to help you achieve it. The more time you can spend
visualizing, the more your brain is going to see that what you are
visualizing is true and is possible for you. The content of these
visualizations will stop feeling abnormal or like a reach to you and you will
start to feel like you are fully capable of achieving what you visualized for
yourself. You should focus on visualizing every single day for the rest of
your life, however starting with just 40 days will give you everything you
need to grow beyond your problematic procrastinating behaviors.
It is also advised that when you do visualize, you end your 5-10 minute
session with a few minutes of writing down in a journal. Even just jotting
down your experience in point-form can help you reinforce what you saw;
felt, and experienced and how excited you are to bring that through into
your reality. Furthermore, having this information jotted down in a
notebook means that as you grow you can look back and see how far you
have come. Many people find that noticing their growth on a day-to-day
basis is not exactly easy, however reflecting on notes from where they were
in the past versus where they are now really showing them their
improvements. Then, after seeing how far they have come, they feel
motivated and inspired to go even further. This extra “push” can be helpful
during times when your procrastination is particularly difficult, so it is a
good idea to make this a part of your own day to day practice, too.
 OTHER TIPS TO BREAK
PROCRASTINATION HABIT
Everyone procrastinates to some degree. Procrastination itself is not always
a bad thing. When it becomes a habit that prevents us from being our best
selves, then it becomes a problem that we need to correct. Sometimes, we
procrastinate because we know this is not what we should be working on
right now. Sometimes, our brain is trying to tell us that we need a moment
to relax before attacking this task. Sometimes, we are just being lazy.
Whatever the reason we procrastinate, now is the time to change the
problem. Let’s look at a few tips that can be used to help you break the
procrastination habit.
The workday begins with work. Don’t start a day of study or work by
surfing the web or checking email. Start your workday by actually working
for one hour. After that hour then you can take a break and do a bit of
surfing.
Be aware of what triggers you to procrastinate. Whenever you feel the need
to procrastinate you will know because your thoughts begin to wander from
the task at hand. Try resisting that little voice that tells you to let your mind
wander off. If you resist long enough, the urge will go away by itself.
Do not allow distractions. The energy that is used resisting distraction is the
energy you could use for productive work. The longer you work, the
wearier you become, the more likely you are to wander off somewhere else
on the internet. There are many forms of software available today that will
prevent you from going to certain websites that serve to distract you from
your work.
Make a schedule for the tasks that are important to do. Once you have
scheduled them, do them. It’s just like setting up a coffee date with a good
friend. You wouldn’t blow them off and fail to show up, would you? You
owe your important tasks the same level of respect.
Make it a habit to commit before you begin. So if you are one of these
people who say they work best under pressure, this might be a way to stop
that. Last minute cramming for a big test is not the way to go. It certainly
gets you motivated to open the book, but it doesn’t do much for retaining
the information. One solution that works, although it is a bit extreme, will
give you the opportunity to commit to reaching a goal before you begin,
and to set a specific date for completion. There are websites devoted to
helping you with this. Before you are able to set up your task and your goal,
you create a profile and pay the amount of money that you have agreed to
pay (it is rather like making a bet with yourself). If you do not hit your
deadline the money is donated to a charity. And it isn’t a charity you
approve of. You have to pick the one you don’t like or approve of.
Create huge goals and little quotas. It is okay to create a huge goal for
yourself. Goals are what keep us dreaming and working toward something
better. So, set that enormously huge goal. Now set regular daily quotas that
are small, tiny even. So, you set a goal to organize your library
alphabetically, and you have one thousand books. No problem. Do one
letter of the alphabet every day. On day one, you get all the ‘A’ titles and
put them together, on day two, you do the ‘B’ titles, etc. After twenty-six
days, your books are in alphabetical order. You can take another twenty-six
days and put each individual letter in alphabetical order if you like. Need a
few more examples? If you want to eat healthier, make a commitment to eat
one piece of fruit every day. If you need to increase your sales then make a
commitment to make a sales call first thing every morning. Are you
planning to write the Great American Novel? Then write one paragraph
every day, no matter what happens. Begin with small successes and work
your way up to bigger things.
Start the day the night before. Many successful executives use this
technique. Before you call it a day, make a list of the top five things you
want to do tomorrow morning. Then when tomorrow morning gets here,
you already have a list of the tasks you need to accomplish first.
Do something right now. If you have a to-do list in front of you, pick one
thing off it and do it right now. The beginning is usually the hardest thing
for people to do, so practice beginning immediately by picking one random
task and do it right now.
Perfection is not the goal. Perfect results are not what we are seeking here.
We are looking for some effort to be used in trying to stop procrastination.
So stop worrying about how good the result looks and just create a result,
and then enjoy it for what it is.
Do not be afraid of action. If you decide to do this task today, what is the
absolute most awful thing that might happen? Maybe you won’t do it right.
Maybe you won’t finish it. But maybe you will succeed in getting the task
done and be really proud of yourself. Don’t ever be afraid to get started.
Do anything. You really can’t stop yourself from procrastinating right now.
You are supposed to be gathering sales figures for the meeting tomorrow
and the laundry needs folding. Fine. Go fold the laundry. You won’t be able
to forget about it until you do it, so just do it. But promise yourself that
when the laundry is folded, you go right back to the sales figures.
Analyze your job choice. Sometimes people procrastinate at work because
they are working at a job that just doesn’t do or say anything meaningful to
them. And that is okay because not all jobs are for all people. If you are
working at a job that you really don’t like or you really find boring, maybe
it is time to start looking for a new one. But do your best to do your work
now so you keep a boring job while you look for an amazing job.
Complete a daily review. First thing in the morning go over your to-do list
and see what is on it that absolutely must be done today, and then make a
commitment to do those things. Everything else will be negotiated at the
time you get to them.
Can this become an emergency? Of course, we can’t predict a true
emergency because things happen that make us drop everything and run.
But it’s a good idea to address those things that might become an
emergency in case you can keep the situation from reaching that critical
emergency point. If you just don’t feel like yourself for several days in a
row your body may be trying to tell you something. Make a doctor’s
appointment, have some tests done, and then try not to worry about it until
you know something conclusive. Did you get an official looking letter from
your bank and you are afraid to open it? Just open it and get it over with.
Sometimes, banks send out good letters, like an offer to refinance your
mortgage at a lower rate. You will never know if you don’t open it.
Do the worst job first. There is nothing worse than knowing that something
awful is hanging over your head just waiting to fall on you. That is why
many experts recommend doing the worst job first and getting it out of the
way. Then once you have completed that worst job you can spend the rest
of the day knowing that nothing worse can happen to you.
Do the little tasks now. How often do we procrastinate on those little tasks
that would only take a few minutes to do but you procrastinate and then the
job seems to take forever? When faced with a small task, like emptying the
trash or loading the dishwasher, just do it and get it over with. By putting
off these little tasks they just become bigger and bigger in our minds until
they seem overwhelming. Or we have put off so many little tasks that the
list seems overwhelming. So just get it done now.
Only touch it once. How many times do we touch something, and then
touch it again, and again? Think of the email you just opened that requires a
response, so you procrastinate on it and then you have to open it up again.
How often do you take a dish to the sink, rinse it, and then lay it in the sink?
Whenever you start something, go ahead and finish it right then. When you
get a voice mail, give them a return call if it is needed. When changing
clothes, put the clothes you remove in the laundry hamper or back in the
closet as is appropriate, not on the floor or the chair. Junk mail that you
have no intention of looking at goes right into recycling or the trash can. Put
that dish in the dishwasher after you rinse it. And when you take the time to
check your email make sure you respond to the ones that require a response.
Sprint more and run less. People will usually work really well for a short
period of time, and the quality of their work begins to slow down the longer
they do that task. Anyone who has ever worked a double shift can attest to
this. In the first few hours, you are ready and willing, and as time goes on,
your feet start dragging. That is why it is better to sprint for a short period
of time rather than trying to do a cross country run every day at work. The
main point of this method is to work hard and then take a break. You
complete a certain amount of work in a pre-designated period of time, and
then that job or that part of the job is done and it is break time.
Accept being uncomfortable. If you can do this, then you can probably do
anything. Many people procrastinate simply because they do not want to
feel uncomfortable. We stay sitting on the sofa instead of beginning to
exercise because sitting in the sofa is comfortable and exercising is not
comfortable. We don’t go back to school to get that degree because that
would require giving up fun time for studying and we like our fun time. We
keep sofa-sitting and getting bigger while we are stuck in our dead-end job.
Feeling uncomfortable is not a bad thing if it causes us to make a change
that we need to make. It’s like exchanging healthy foods for junk foods.
Those junk foods taste so good and healthy foods are boring and bland. It is
all a matter of retraining our taste buds to like the healthy food and that
involves discomfort. So be willing to give yourself a little shove in the right
direction and embrace the temporary feeling of discomfort it brings to you.
Make little changes first and work your way up to the big ones.
Make the temptation part of the job. When we procrastinate, we find
something to do that is more fun than doing the task we are supposed to be
doing. This is because the task is boring and fun—well, it is fun. With this
technique, you only allow yourself access to this fun diversion if you are
doing something that is productive. Some examples of this are that you only
allow yourself to watch your favorite television show while you are
exercising. You can get a pedicure if you are busy answering all of those
emails from work you have been putting off. You can listen to that new
podcast or audiobook but only while you are doing housework. This works
especially great if you link a favorite activity to an act that is part of a long
term goal. Say you want to lose fifty pounds and you have begun an
exercise routine. So, listen to that audiobook or blast your favorite music
while you work out. This will allow you to enjoy your favorite things while
accomplishing something that you might have procrastinated on.
All tasks are part of something bigger. We procrastinate when we are faced
with doing a task we really don’t want to do. This is quite normal. But a
good way to stop this procrastination is to realize that all tasks belong to a
more important activity. Look at it this way: no one likes cleaning the
bathroom but it needs to be cleaned. You clean the bathroom for whatever
reason you want to use to make yourself feel special about cleaning the
bathroom. You clean the bathroom because your baby deserves a clean
place to bathe or because your wife likes to live in a clean house and you
love your wife or you clean the bathroom because that really cute neighbor
is coming to visit. Whatever reason works for you, use it. This method
works well for any task that you would normally procrastinate on.
Be accountable to your commitments. We make commitments all the time
of things we fully intend to do and then we procrastinate and don’t do them
unless or until someone or something holds us accountable. We don’t do our
homework assignments until we learn we are in danger of failing, so we try
to play catch up and get them all done. School holds us accountable. We put
off doing needed jobs at work until our boss asks us why the report isn’t on
his desk like he asked and we need to hurry up and get it finished. Our boss
holds us accountable. But we don’t always have someone standing over us,
and in reality, we should not need anyone but ourselves to keep us on track.
So, make an action plan to reach a goal and then find someone to help you
be accountable. That can be a weekly support group, a family member, or
one of the many apps on the internet that will help you build good habits.
Hang up a calendar of events. Write down the important tasks that need to
get done by a certain date on a wall calendar and hang it up where you will
see it daily. Don’t overfill the calendar with unimportant tasks. This
calendar is only for important things that you regularly ‘forget’ to do or you
procrastinate on. Once you have completed the task you can mark a line
through it or highlight it or stick a star sticker on it, whatever method works
best for you to let you know you succeeded.
Do the little jobs first. We make a to-do list so we know what needs to be
done and then look at it and groan. How did the list get to be so long?
Sometimes, just looking at a long list can make us procrastinate because
who wants to be that busy? So do the little things first and cut the list down
considerably. Set a time, say five minutes, and do any task that can be done
in those five minutes. Then do all the tasks that can be accomplished in ten
minutes. Keep going up on your time limit and soon the entire list will be
completed. This technique works to make the to-do list get finished quickly
and also gets you going quickly on your tasks so you can be amazed at the
progress you have made.
Baby steps will get you there. Some projects and tasks just beg to be
procrastinated on. Some things just look so huge at first glance that we
automatically run the other way. There is absolutely no need to fear a
project just because it is the size of Mount Rushmore. The large projects are
easily broken down into small, easily manageable chunks of effort because
let’s be honest here, you aren’t going to accomplish the whole project in one
day anyway. It makes more sense to break large tasks down into small parts
that you do on a regular basis that will get you to the finished project. When
you have completed the first few steps, you will feel much better about the
completion of the project. And getting a few steps done will make you more
likely to want to complete more steps.
Develop tunnel vision for best sight. When you have committed to working
on a task you are working on only that task, not three or four at one time.
You will find it very difficult to make any kind of meaningful
accomplishment if you are trying to do several things at once. Focus on the
task that is right in front of you until that task is completed. This way you
will work at maximum efficiency and you will be so proud of yourself at
the end of the day.
Options are limited. It is very tempting, when looking at a task on a to-do
list, to make it more complicated than it needs to be. You give yourself
choices by telling yourself “Well, I could do it this way, or this way, or that
way”. Stop! You will spend your entire day thinking of options for
completing this task and then you will never complete the task. Pick a task
to do, pick one option for completing that task, and then complete the task.
You might find when you are finished, that the option you chose was
probably not the best option given the situation you were in. That’s okay.
Next time you know not to pick that option.
No digital distractions. This one is simple and probably self-explanatory.
Turn off all of the digital distractions that keep you from doing your work.
No cell phone, no tablet, no television or radio, unless you have the radio
turned on to create background noise and extra motivation while you clean
the house. If your phone is turned off you won’t be tempted to stop work
and check on every little notification when the notification noise sounds.
Change your environment. And after you get rid of the digital distractions,
you might need to change your environment. If your desk faces the window
and you find yourself staring out at the trees, you might need to turn your
desk around. Take your laptop to a quieter room in the house to work on
that term paper. Leave the house and go to the library. Do whatever you
need to do to remove the distractions from your environment so that you
can concentrate on your work.
Rewind and repeat. Sometimes, we need to look at the goals we have
chosen for ourselves and decide if they are still valid for us or not. So once
a week look over your goals and decide how much progress you have made
in the last week and if this goal is still one that you want to continue
working on. And if you decide that a current goal is worth keeping, then
you need to look at the steps you have taken and make sure they are still
valid for achieving your goal.
Remain optimistic. We procrastinate because we have doubts about our
ability to accomplish those things we need to accomplish. We have so little
faith in ourselves sometimes. So, begin by thinking optimistically. Put the
focus on the positive things in your life and give negative things as little
attention as possible. Ask yourself why you think you can’t accomplish this
task. Then challenge yourself. Ask that inner voice why it is being so
negative to you. Make a list of your strengths and your past successes.
Make a note of tasks that you have successfully completed already. Put your
mind’s focus very heavily on why you will be successful and why you are
able to do this, and ignore the little voice that keeps saying that you can’t.
Procrastination is bad. Keep telling yourself this. You know that
procrastination is bad. You have seen what procrastination has done to
affect your life negatively. So why would you want to resume that bad
habit? Well, bad habits are strong and they may take a while to break but
they can be broken and eliminated. So just keep reminding yourself that
procrastination is bad and achievement is good and you will be successful.
Admit that you are afraid. We procrastinate because we are afraid that we
will fail. We also procrastinate because we are afraid that we will be
successful and people might expect more from us. Success can be a heavy
burden to carry, and it brings a great responsibility with it to achieve even
more success. It is so much easier on the soul to procrastinate so that no one
will expect too much from us, but that is no way to live. Admit that there
will be fear, face the fear when it happens, and use the energy from the fear
to fuel your successes.
Don’t wait for the mood to strike. One thing that fuels procrastination is the
idea that we need to be in the mood to accomplish our tasks, so if we aren’t
in the mood right now then we should wait until the mood strikes. That idea
is so far from the reality of what you need to set you free. If you wait until
the mood strikes, it never will. Set a time to work on the tasks and begin on
time. Oftentimes, procrastination is an emotional response to a task and not
a problem of time management. With the emotions taken out of the
equation, there will be nothing standing in your way.
Peer pressure is a good thing. Deadlines cause us to act on a task because
we understand the negative consequences that are associated with failing to
meet the deadline. Peer pressure can work for us in the same way. If your
natural tendency is toward procrastination then you need to use every
method possible to break the cycle. And if you don’t have a partner in this
project who can spur you on to completion, then find someone who will act
as your partner in accountability. This person will get in touch with you on
a regular basis and make sure you stay on track to get your tasks done. They
might possibly be better than a deadline because they will be in your face
and very vocal if you fail.
The process of learning how to end procrastination and begin achieving can
sometimes feel really hard, if not impossible. But have faith and you will do
it. Be willing to admit that you cannot always count on yourself to do the
right thing at all times. You are human. To make a real change, we need to
force ourselves to succeed by starting the habits and systems that will make
us successful. Use the strategies in this book to start on your new path to
achievement and success. Begin small and slowly and work your way up to
bigger accomplishments. And if you fail and fall back into procrastination,
get up, dust yourself off, forgive yourself and move on.
There is absolutely no reason to let procrastination ruin your life any longer.
The power is within you to stop procrastinating if you really want to and
you really put a little effort into overcoming procrastination. And never
forget to give yourself a little reward when you are successful in not
procrastinating.
Reward yourself. Once you have gotten to the place where you can begin a
task and see it through to completion, then you deserve a reward. Don’t be
afraid to reward yourself. By making task completion seem like a favorable
thing and not a negative thing you begin to create a good habit that will
overpower the negative habit. Just remember to keep the reward in line with
the accomplishment and remember to enjoy yourself.
 SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE
One of the things that so many people fail to understand is that working too
hard can be counterproductive. Yes, that is right! You have to realize that
the secret to having fantastic productivity is not just about hard work. It is
about working smart and making your life as simplified as possible so that
you can focus on what truly matters.
So, what does it mean to work smart and live a simplified life?
If you are going to be very productive in what you do, one thing that you
have to learn how to say NO! Turning something down is a sign that you
are not giving your all just so that you can work, work and work.
Sometimes, all you have to tell that friend is that you will not be able to
hang out with them today because your schedule is full. Meeting your
deadlines should not take away your happiness and sunshine. The trick is
for you to learn to prioritize tasks so that once you have completed the most
important ones, you can take a break to breathe.
Realize that people are not going to respect at the workplace if all you do is
say yes to everything. It would help if you learned how to be assertive. This
is mainly because, if you choose to stretch yourself too thin, the chances are
that the quality of work you will deliver will be poor.
Simplifying your life is about ensuring that your focus is narrowed down to
things that matter most and then learning to let go of all else. Assess the
activities in your work and determine which ones are very important.
Determine also those that you need to be doing, but you do them as a
tradition or habit. Say no to these activities so that you can focus on the
most important tasks and complete them in time while still delivering high
quality.
To work smart is to know when to take breaks throughout your day. For
instance, after working for 2 hours continuously, your concentration might
have started going down and hence the need for a short break or even taking
a walk around campus to get fresh air before getting back. Yes, it may be
heroic to work for 6 hours non-stop without even getting off your chair for a
second, but it is not effective. The level of productivity might be lower than
that of someone that works two hours and takes regular breaks in between.
Take some time to stretch, breath, or even regroup. If you are working from
home, you can do some exercises to increase your concentration. Just
getting off that computer can help you lower the stress levels. Breaks are
supposed to be just that - breaks! If you are still half-working while on
break, then the truth is that it will not yield the same positive effects on your
level of productivity. Ensure that breaks are true breaks where you relax
away from work.
You have to realize that you do not need to accomplish everything at once.
That is the reason why people make schedules or to-do lists. If you allow
yourself to get too busy on conflicting priorities, then you might not be able
to get quality work done, and you might end up procrastinating on what
matters most. In other words, you will find yourself having lots of things to
do but NEVER getting any done.
Rather than stressing yourself about too much work on your plate, take a
deep breath and relax. Choose your top priorities or high-impact tasks and
focus on them. The truth is, the more you live in peace with the fact that
you cannot get everything done at once, the happier you will be, and the
more productive you get.
You will end up less effective if you try to juggle up everything at the same
time. The truth is, when you have your attention spread across many tasks
at the same time, you will not deliver everything at the right time, and you
will end up frustrated and anxious.
The other way to simplify your life is to ensure that you have time each day
to unwind. You can use that time to go to the gym, or even watch your
favorite show. The essence of having technology is so that we can still be
contacted throughout the day and night. Taking time to clear your head goes
a long way in helping you think through your goals and reorganize them in
such a way that you are comfortable with. Take a walk and live your phone
behind so that you are not distracted while you relax and get things in
perspective.
When simplifying your life, think of the following questions to help you
make things more workable and peaceful for you;
What are the low priority and high priority activities?
Is there a way I can feel at peace despite a very long to-do list?
Are there things that are I need to say NO to so that I can
improve my productivity?
Practical ways to simplify your life

Spend at least 10 minutes meditating

Meditation is one of the fastest ways in which you can simplify your life
and improve your willpower. When you meditate, you are simply allowing
your brain to focus and resist rumination. According to research, spending
2-3 days practicing 10 minutes of meditation improves your brain's focus,
boosts energy, and lowers stress. There are so many meditation techniques
that are available online, and you can practice them every morning you get
up for a chance to seize the day.
Work on your posture

According to studies, posture plays a very critical role in strengthening

one's willpower. Each time you find yourself slouching, all you have to do
is allow yourself to sit upright/straight. This simple technique makes your
life easy by boosting your degree of perseverance.
To get started, allow yourself to correct your posture each time you find
yourself slouching, whether at the workplace or home. Trust me; it takes so
much willpower to sit up straight. Each time you sit up straight, you are
doing an exercise of your willpower muscle. What better way to make your
life easy and simplified?
Keep a food diary

The other way you can make your life simplified is keeping a food diary.
Interestingly, most people do not log all the food they eat. However, when
you do this, you are in effect, improving your willpower. Plus, this has the
benefit of ensuring that you keep track of what you eat and that everything
on your food diary is healthy and offers you all the nutrients you need for a
healthy body and mind.
One of the Apps you can download to help you do this is the MyFitnessPal
app. This is a simple food diary application with a large database of foods
and their nutritional information. With just two weeks of a food diary, trust
me; you will be better placed to resist temptations.
Use your opposite hand

Just as you did with your posture, try to use your left hand if you are right-
handed or right hand if you are left-handed. The truth is, your brain is wired
to use a certain hand dominantly. However, when you start using the other
hand, you are simply engaging your brain to train itself to do what would
otherwise be “impossible.” The good thing is that as you practice using the
opposite hand, you are improving your willpower.
To get started with this exercise, all you have to do is select sometime
during the day when you can dedicate to using your left hand. It does not
necessarily have to take over an hour to get results. From experience, more
than an hour only tires you, and your willpower is drained. When you
finally get around to using your hand, you will realize how easy it is and
hence learn to see possibilities as far as your tasks and goals are concerned.
Correct your speech

You can also try to change your natural way of speech so that instead of
saying "hi" or "hey," you say "hello." If you train your conscience to
instinctively correct speech, the truth is that you are increasing your
willpower to perform better and improve your productivity at work and
home.
To get started, choose some part of the day when you can practice
correcting your speech. You can choose the words that you would like to
start with. For instance, you can start with trying not to use contractions
such that instead of saying don't, you simply say do not! Just like the other
exercises, when you do this for two weeks, your willpower and level of
productivity will be vastly improved.
Create and then meet self-imposed deadlines

If you have been in college before, then it is familiar to you how last-minute
studying for a test can be like. You have a few hours to cram for the test! At
this point, what is happening is that your willpower is taxed with trying as
much as possible to shut out all forms of distractions so that you can focus
on studying.
Using the same principle, studies showed that when you create self-imposed
timelines, you are simply challenging yourself to work better and respond
better to timelines on serious projects, hence avoiding procrastination. It
will allow your willpower if significantly strengthened.
To get started, select a task from your to-do list that you have been
postponing for too long. Set a deadline for getting the task done and ensure
that you adhere to it. If you keep doing this for at least two weeks, you will
finally be able to clear your backlog, boost your self-discipline, and
improve your productivity.
Keep track of your spending

Just as most of us do not track what we eat, so do our spending. When you
start keeping track of how much you spend each day and on what items,
you are training your mind and willpower to stick to things that matter
most.
Simply start by downloading a budgeting app such as Mint to your mobile
phone. The good thing with such an app as Mint is that it connects to your
bank account. When you review your spending daily, this in effect increases
your focus and ability to resist the temptation to spend on unnecessary
things, and this will also translate to your level of productivity.
Be mindful of your automatic decisions

Most of the time, the reason why we keep putting off tasks is that we allow
ourselves to get lost in thought that we do not think twice about what
actions we take and they happen automatically. One thing that you need to
train your brain is to take time to think about what actions to take and
decisions to make to increase the ability to focus on what is important while
resisting the urge to yield to temptations.
To get started, it is important that you try as much as possible to catch
yourself in an automatic habit and then take a minute to reflect on why you
are doing it. You may want to question why you take a certain route to work
instead of the other, which is even shorter, why you take three sugars in
your tea when one tastes just fine. You can think of other things that you
typically do and start changing them. This has the impact of improving both
your level of concentration and self-control.
That said one thing that you have to note is that all your body muscles play
a role in what you are and how you perform tasks, whether at home or in
the workplace. They contribute to your willpower, and with the right
practice, you can use them to simplify your life. These exercises go a long
way in helping you improve your level of concentration, perseverance, and
self-control, all of which have a role to play in combating procrastination
and improving your productivity.
Think of training your willpower as though you are training for a marathon.
When you are starting, you may not be able to run all 26 miles or so.
However, with practice, you can perfect your skills and complete the
marathon. In the same way, we have discussed quite several ways that can
help simplify your life, improve your willpower, and boost your
productivity. The truth is, when you are just getting started, it is hard to
move from procrastinating directly to not procrastinating. However, with
the right practice, you can slowly train your brain to take on important tasks
to completion with the accepted timelines.
 CONCLUSION
Procrastination is indeed a very serious problem that impacts your life
negatively in so many ways. Naturally, human beings have always been
inclined to have the least amount of resistance to procrastination. Well, the
truth is, each time we put off something we know that we should be doing,
there is a voice inside telling us to stop procrastinating. What is unfortunate
is that we silence that voice by telling it that we still have more time the
next day to complete it, and before we know it, the deadline is just a few
hours away.
Today, procrastination has a huge role to play in our lives; whether at the
workplace or home. It can come from anywhere. What makes us
procrastinate too much varies from one individual and situation to another.
In most cases, we waste so much time on tasks that we think are
“enjoyable” and put off those that we think are “boring” yet these are the
most important and urgent of them all. Sometimes, we think that we should
put off the tasks at hand until we have a better angle to solve them.
It is important to note that when we keep putting off tasks that we should be
doing, we are increasing chances of anxiety and stress, and this eventually
rubs off on our performance and level of productivity. In this book, we have
discussed in depth the steps that you can take to overcome procrastination
and the various actionable tips to help you start your day on fire.
Realize that, is no one that is perfect and so you will never be able to attain
perfection even if you tried. Even the most successful people in the world
are far from being perfect. However, the most important thing is for you to
express your willingness to give yourself a chance to try and learn as you
go. You have to step out of your comfort zone so that you can tap into your
growth mindset. You will be surprised just how smart and equipped you
are!
Consistency is really the key here when you are looking to improve
something in your mind. We learned about how habits are the engrained
neural pathways in our brain that become more ingrained over time. If it
took you 10 years to get into the bad habit of eating junk food all the time,
it'd likely take you many years to get out of it. Although that sounds
daunting, I promise you it will get easier the more consistent you are with
it. Learning good habits is just the same. By being consistent with your
mindfulness and changing your unhelpful thinking styles, you will get into
the habit of having a positive mindset over a bad one. Once your good
habits are deeply engrained, you won’t even have to think about it anymore.
That’s the level that you want to get to.
So, what are you still waiting for? Practice the exercises we have discussed
in this book, and you will be on your way to kicking procrastination,
embracing change, pursuing your goals, and attaining success and
happiness in life.