7 Magical Ways To Stop Procrastination

What can you do to stop procrastination when it won't let you finish a job?

There are a number of techniques to help you stop procrastination once and for all. If you can stop procrastination in your life just think about what you could accomplish and how much better you would feel.

People who procrastinate in excess are prone to feelings of guilt, anxiety and powerlessness. Why does procrastination occur?

It could be as a result of not wanting to do things or of not being able to do things. It could also be a result of fear. Many of us fear failure as well as success. Still others procrastinate simply because it works for them.

Procrastination is not something we should live with. When procrastination occurs, nothing gets done. And when nothing gets done due to procrastination, that's when we feel down and worthless.

Feeling this way may be avoided with a number of techniques designed to stop procrastination:

1. You can stop procrastination by getting organized. Being unorganized leads to chaos and feelings of being overwhelmed. Stop procrastination by organizing your life.

2. Breakdown tasks into manageable units to stop procrastination. Smaller tasks are less overwhelming that large jobs.

3. Have discipline. Allow your desire for success to overcome your desire to put things off.

4. Positive motivation. Talk yourself up with encouraging quotes. Even very successful people feed their minds with positive input each day.

5. Get someone else´s help to stop procrastination. Ask someone to hold you accountable for completion of a task you have been procrastinating about.

For example, if you are putting off cleaning the garage ask you wife to question you about when it will be completed several days before the due date.

6. Do the easiest or most enjoyable task first so that you get off to a good start. This works for some people while the opposite works for others. Some people like to get the unpleasant work out of the way so they can enjoy the rest.

7. Giving yourself a deadline can stop procrastination.

Procrastination should not be something you should live with. Successful people do not tend to procrastinate, instead, they stop procrastination because they know what needs to get done must get done.

It is not because they necessarily enjoy the unpleasant tasks which others procrastinate about but rather the strength of their desire for success is greater than their desire to procrastinate.

Procrastination should not be a hindrance to achieving your goal. Take a moment to recognize the signs and do something to overcome it and stop procrastination.

If you begin by rewarding yourself for small successes and stop punishing yourself when you do procrastinate you will be able to develop new habits that, in time, will help stop procrastination.

The Three Best Tips for Overcoming Procrastination

We all procrastinate from time to time. However, some people are chronic procrastinators, and their procrastination takes a huge toll on the quality of their lives. Here are some of the characteristics of people who have a problem with procrastination:

- They are constantly late turning in their work assignments, and their opportunities for advancement are limited because of this. Not only do they hand their work in late, but, because they leave things until the very last minute, they usually turn in poor-quality work.
- Their friends and family members are constantly complaining that they're always late, and that they don't live up to their commitments.
- They have lots of ideas, but these ideas seldom make it past the drawing board stage. Even if they do get started with some of their ideas, they leave most projects half-finished.

If you recognize yourself in any of the three scenarios above, take solace in the knowledge that there are steps you can take in order to overcome procrastination. This article presents the three best tips for overcoming procrastination.

Chunk Down Big Projects

One of the reasons why people procrastinate is because they're overwhelmed by the size of the tasks that they have to take on, and they're not sure how to get started. Therefore, they prefer to work on unimportant tasks which don't take much time to complete, so that they can feel a sense of accomplishment at having gotten something done.

If your to-do list is filled with large tasks, such as, write a novel, declutter your apartment, or start a web site, it's no wonder that you feel overwhelmed. Try breaking down these tasks into much smaller pieces. When you have to face a small task, you won't be overwhelmed by it, and it's very likely that you'll do it.

For example, if you want to declutter your apartment, write down in your day planner that on Wednesday, at 10:00 a.m., you're going to declutter your top desk drawer. Once you do that, write down that on Thursday, at 8:00 a.m., you're going to declutter your second desk drawer. Continue in this way until you've decluttered your whole apartment.

Remove All Distractions

A second common cause of procrastination is becoming distracted by other things while you're trying to work on something that's important to you. As an illustration, you might be working on a report that your boss wants on his desk in two days. However, whenever you start working on the report, the following happens:

- You hear the "ding" that signifies that you got an email, so you interrupt your work to read it.
- Your phone rings, and you answer it.
- Someone sends you an instant message, and you decide to respond.

When you're constantly being interrupted by emails, phone calls, and instant messages, you won't get the important work done. Therefore, before you start working on that report, try to free your environment of all interruptions. Shut down your email and IM applications, set your phone so that your calls are directed to voice mail, and turn off anything else that might distract you.

Reward Yourself

Another way to get yourself to get to work on the tasks that are important to you is by giving yourself constant rewards. For example, if you're going to write a novel, write down in your day planner that you're going to write every morning, for an hour and a half. Then, each morning, after you've completed your writing for that day, treat yourself to a cappuccino and a scone at your favorite café.

Conclusion

By breaking large tasks down into small pieces, rewarding yourself each time that you complete one of these small tasks, and creating an interruption-free environment, you'll soon be able to overcome procrastination. You'll be a completely different person: one who gets things done on time and keeps their commitments.

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