The truth about overcoming procrastination

Overcoming procrastination is mostly about getting into the habit of not putting off for tomorrow what you can do today. Some surveys say that about 90% of the population has a real need for overcoming procrastination.

Despite all the books and articles on procrastination, everyone tends to postpone things. And then they wonder how to organize themselves and get things done. This habit plays havoc with every aspect of time management.

When you set out on the path of overcoming procrastination, you discover something very interesting. You find out that you tend to put of only those tasks that don't appeal to us.

If you're not successful at overcoming procrastination, you can expect results like these:

* Lower morale. Its easy to feel demoralized when you are mentally reviewing a pile of tasks left undone.
* If your boss notices your habit, he will usually put it down to lack of interest in the job or to sheer laziness. Not so good for your career.
* Have you noticed that jobs and tasks become less and less pleasant the more you postpone them?
* Unfinished tasks tend to create clutter. And that further saps your morale and work efficiency.
* Procrastination could mean creating a time bomb you don't notice until it blows up when you least expect it.

People complain of lack of time to do important tasks. Observation shows this is not true.

Procrastinators (which is almost all of us) put off tasks they do have plenty of time to do. Their mental picture of the task is dull and boring. Or perhaps painful and stress-creating. Those are the real reasons for putting off things.

On the other hand, when they think of doing something pleasant, like a day at the golf course, or out fishing, or a holiday at the beach, they don't seem to have a similar lack of time. Their planning and execution of those tasks is focused, motivated, driven.

But a routine visit to a dentist - that's something most of us don't have time for! We go only when driven to do so by real pain!

Time management skills are ultimately self-management skills.

Cut it which way you will, the real secret to overcoming procrastination is to just do it now. Like the well known shoe company line - 'just do it.'

Many folks have found that structured visualization techniques like those taught in NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) do help a lot. Plus, there are other simple ways to overcome procrastination and staying motivated.

If you are the least bit serious about overcoming procrastination, do the job right now. Most things you want to put off are tasks that are best done as early as possible. Just imagine the sigh of relief that you'll heave once that 'dreaded' task is finally complete!

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