Beating Procrastination - Part 2

How to Overcome Procrastination:

Whatever the reason behind procrastination, it must be recognized, dealt with and controlled before you miss opportunities or your career is derailed.

Step 1: Recognize that you\'re Procrastinating

If you\'re honest with yourself, you probably know when you\'re procrastinating.
But to be sure, you first need to make sure you know your priorities. Putting off an unimportant task isn\'t procrastination, it\'s probably good prioritization. Use the Action Priority Matrix to identify your priorities, and then work from a Prioritized To Do List on a daily basis.

Some useful indicators which will help you pull yourself up as soon as you start procrastinating include:
8226; Filling your day with low priority tasks from your To Do List;
8226; Reading an e-mail or request that you\'ve noted in your notebook or on your To Do List more than once, without starting work on it or deciding when you\'re going to start work on it;
8226; Sitting down to start a high-priority task, and almost immediately going off to make a cup of coffee or check your e-mails;
8226; Leaving an item on your To Do list for a long time, even though you know it\'s important;
8226; Regularly saying Yes to unimportant tasks that others ask you to do, and filling your time with these instead of getting on with the important tasks already on your list.

Step 2: Work out WHY You\'re Procrastinating

Why you procrastinate can depend on both you and the task. But it\'s important to understand what the reasons for procrastination are for each situation, so that you can select the best approach for overcoming your reluctance to get going.
Common causes of procrastination were discussed in detail above, but they can often be reduced to two main reasons:
8226; You find the task unpleasant; or
8226; You find the task overwhelming

Step 3: Get over it!

If you are putting something off because you just don\'t want to do it, and you really can\'t delegate the work to someone else, you need to find ways of motivating yourself to get moving. The following approaches can be helpful here:
8226; Make up your own rewards. For example, promise yourself a piece of tasty flapjack at lunchtime if you\'ve completed a certain task.
8226; Ask someone else to check up on you. Peer pressure works! This is the principle behind slimming and other self-help groups, and it is widely recognized as a highly effective approach.
8226; Identify the unpleasant consequences of NOT doing the task.
8226; Work out the cost of your time to your employer. As your employers are paying you to do the things that they think are important, you\'re not delivering value for money if you\'re not doing those things. Shame yourself into getting going!
If you\'re putting off starting a project because you find it overwhelming, you need to take a different approach. Here are some tips:
8226; Break the project into a set of smaller, more manageable tasks. You may find it helpful to create an action plan.
8226; Start with some quick, small tasks if you can, even if these aren\'t the logical first actions. You\'ll feel that you\'re achieving things, and so perhaps the whole project won\'t be so overwhelming after all.

Key points:

To have a good chance of conquering procrastination, you need to spot straight away that you\'re doing it. Then, you need to identify why you\'re procrastinating and taken appropriate steps to overcome the block.
Part of the solution is to develop good time management, organizational and personal effectiveness habits, such as those described in Make Time for Success! This helps you establish the right priorities, and manage your time in such a way that you make the most of the opportunities open to you.
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I am not very satisfied the reading and it seems that I am not ready for the long article yet. But never harm to try.

The effective ways for me to deal with procrastination are finding a support group(for example, reading group) and starting from small. Keeping motivation and focusing on goals are helpful too.