Don’t Put Off Dealing with Procrastination

A deadline looms menacingly on the horizon, creeping closer with every passing minute – you know that you have to complete a task, but you simply can’t bring yourself to do it. You might have asked yourself – why? It seems like such a simple thing; just force yourself to do it, right? For many of us it’s not that simple.

For one reason or another, many people have problems with procrastination causing them to put off important work, miss deadlines, and otherwise have their life suffer simply because they cannot figure out how to force themselves into productivity. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to change those bad habits and learn to live procrastination-free.

Structure your time.

I know it sounds obvious, but many procrastinators complain about, “Not knowing where the time went.” By scheduling your daily activities, you begin to see where you are “wasting time” and what activities take more time to complete.

Figure out why you procrastinate.

Be honest with yourself and ask, “Why do I procrastinate?” Write down the most common activities you find yourself occupied with when you procrastinate – over the course of the week make a list of these activities and see which ones are most prevalent. Then limit those activities to your “leisure time.” You owe it to yourself to be honest about what it is that you are procrastinating from and why you fell into the bad habit.

Break larger tasks into small ones.

We all know the feeling – glancing numbly back and forth between a blank page and a project’s lengthy requirement list. Start with the framework of your project and bit by bit it will begin to come together. Decide what font and format you want to use, brainstorm titles, and create an outline. Completing even the tiniest of tasks can help take away that feeling of intimidation procrastinators feel when confronted with a large project. At first it will be difficult, but soon these tips will start to feel like second nature: structure your time, figure out why you procrastinate, break down large tasks into smaller ones, learn to love being productive, and incentivize your productivity. If you are wondering when it’s a good time to start, it’s now!