My Articles Related to Procrastination and Laziness

I have posted a few articles related to overcoming procrastination, goal setting and time management on this blog, on a few other blogs or websites and even on article directories such as ezine articles etc.

I want to list out my articles about how to overcome procrastination and about motivation here. Please go through the articles if you have time and let me know if you found them useful and what else you would like to read about related to this topic.

1. Tips to Overcome Procrastination - This article was posted on ezinearticles and deals with how to make long term changes to yourself in order to end procrastination problem.

2. Simple Procrastination Help - Simple strategy for dealing with procrastination and putting a full stop to it.

3. Why is Goal Setting Important - The benefits of goals and how they can help us avoid procrastination problem

4. Tips to Overcome Tiredness - Is tiredness stopping you from going after your goals? Read these tips

5. Overcoming Laziness - Do people often accuse you of laziness. These tips should be helpful to you then.

6. Strategies to Overcome Procrastination - Incase I forget, here are some brilliant strategies to avoid procrastination.

Overcome Procrastination by Taking More Time to Do Things

If you face a problem of procrastination because you overburden or over-commit yourself, then struggle to finish off the tasks on time which you assumed earlier that you will finish with ease, then you may be suffering from a problem similar to mine.

I too would think that I will do such and such a thing within this time and then do another thing etc. I would underestimate the time or effort required to do the task.

Needless to say, I would soon feel overwhelmed or disappointed even frustrated when I fail to achieve the objective within my time frame.

Here are a few helpful tips to handle such problem. We should set healthy deadlines. D not set too tight deadlines for yourself. A yourself the time frame to complete tasks without hurrying up or difficulty, even after taking breaks in between and maybe even lazing off for some time in between.

A Neat Little Trick:
Double or triple your estimated time to complete tasks and see how easy it becomes for you to get started with enthusiasm and attack the task with such aggression which you previously didn't imagine possible.

Since our original problem was underestimating the time required for a task, what we can do is increase our estimated time. Life becomes so easy then!

You can avoid putting too much burden on yourself so that you don't feel like even starting the work. I allow myself the luxury of completing tasks without too much time pressure and this has gained me so much peace of mind - thank you.

Procrastination Gone:
By allowing myself a long time frame to complete tasks at leisurely pace, I find so much peace of mind. I immediately find it so easy to motivate myself to go after these tasks with new found enthusiasm and aggression. My procrastination problem is all of a sudden automatically completely cured or atleast reduced to a considerable extent.

Its so much fun to work on things when you aren't pressured by time constraints. The work quality can improve greatly as you now have the time to focus even on minor details and do them to perfection.

More Creativity and Better Work
Your creativity can also be enhanced as you have more time to think and plan on how you will approach and complete the task and what improvements you can think of making. This kind of thinking can help in getting your juices flowing and completely transform you from a procrastinator to someone who seems so passionate about this particular task.

You may surprise yourself and others greatly by this transformation. It may seem unbelievable even to yourself at first. And all this after making just a small change - i.e. increasing your time estimate and giving yourself a lot more time to finish off the task at a comfortable and healthy pace.

What this does is that it almost immediately relaxes you and puts you in a more positive frame of mind. Your apprehensions might fade away and a new positive beliefs overtake them. Just try it out a few times and judge the results yourself!

No More Excuse for Procrastination
Another benefit is that it removes any weak excuses you might have about not finishing the work. Now you have allowed yourself sufficient time to think about, plan in detail, research, draft, edit and improvise your work till you are satisfied.

I tend to feel shameful if I am still unable to complete my work even after so much time I have alloted to it. So I will try my level best not to put myself to shame and do the work with fierce determination. Wow! I didn't know before that I was blessed with such determination and strength.

So most of the time I will complete my tasks on time. That too without putting too much pressure or burden on myself and taking breaks in between and working at a pace I find comfortable and not too exhausting.

Sometimes even if I don't finish off within the time limit, its not such a big problem because most of the work might have been done by then. Only a small percentage would be remaining which can be easily knocked off quickly.

Removing Distractions
Sometimes its a great tool for preventing distraction. As your time limit is nearing end, you will feel compelled and motivated to finish off whatever remains of your task.

Initially you might have given in to certain distractions because you had a lot of time on your hands, but when nearing the end you can find great determination to fight off distractions and laziness. Isn't it cool?

I have observed this phenomena when experimenting with this strategy. This is because of the above mentioned reason - you don't want to feel ashamed of not completing the task even after allowing yourself so much time for it.

Want to hear another benefit of this strategy - it allows time for any unforeseen delays like some unexpected phone call or visitor or any other urgent work which is quite possible to come up and keeps you away from your work. You will now have the time to deal with these delays and still make it within your specified deadline. Ok, enough said, now go out and actually try out this technique if you want to defeat procrastination problem and avoid feeling overwhelmed or over-scheduling yourself.

Am I taking more time than necessary?
You might argue that by following this advice it will take a lot of extra time to get things done because you are setting huge time frames for each task.

In reply to this above doubt, I will pose 1 simple question to you - isn't it immensely better to get things done a little bit late than not to get them done at all?

Moreover, you might have wrongly estimated the time frame initially when you planned to get some work done in few minutes or hours. It might have taken you almost this much amount of time anyways because you were in the habit of wrongly underestimating the time required for any task.

Atleast this strategy will prevent you from certain breaking of confidence and lowering of self-esteem by far exceeding your initial under-estimation of time.

If you want to change your habits and eliminate bad habits from your life so that you can enjoy a successful and fun-filled, happy life - click here: Say Goodbye to bad habits in 21 days or less

If you feel too sluggish or low on energy, if you are going through each day of your life feeling constant fatigue and tiredness then you need to address this problem. Constant tiredness and low energy are indications of some underlying issue which should not be ignored for long. Here is an excellent resource to really help you - How to overcome tiredness now and forever

More Articles and Resources:
1. End your bad habits and stop procrastination within 21 days
2. How to overcome procrastination
3. Strategies to overcome procrastination
4. Overcoming laziness
5. How you can stop feeling tired
6. Five Tips to Stop Tiredness Now

Overcoming Laziness and Procrastination Tips - Finally Become Active

Laziness Is Your Enemy
The world keeps moving and changing. For people who do nothing, they are as good as dead. If we do not keep improving ourselves with each passing day, it can actually mean we are slipping back.

In time, we will be overtaken and devastated simply because we were lazy to not utilize our time, resources, energy and skills to enhance our knowledge, experience, career, business, relations whatever.

So keep this in mind. We need to constantly monitor and be aware of where we are heading. Laziness can be a great enemy of ours which is not to be taken lightly.

Procrastination can stem out of laziness. Though there may be other reasons why we procrastinate, but many times laziness and procrastination go hand in hand together like childhood friends.

Do you know what are the disadvantages of being lazy?
First of all, you will be condemned to a low quality life. Simply because you didn't study well while in college due to laziness. In your career you don't take the required actions to increase knowledge and expertise and become indispensable part of the company.

If you are in business, laziness can be fatal. You can lose clients or orders if you fail to act on time. You may find excuses not to work hard or work overtime even though your business demands it.

Laziness can also be bad for relationships and friendships. By being lazy, we might not do the things that are needed to be done. Even simple requests by out family members or friends might go unheeded causing them appointment because of us.

Laziness and procrastination are also big time wasters. If you want to be good in time management, then you have to eliminate the habit of procrastinating.

Firstly, you should be aware of when you are feeling lazy. Awareness and acknowledgment of the problem can be the first step towards solving it.


Low Energy Levels, Tiredness and Laziness:
One of the main causes of laziness can be because of low energy. Sometimes we just do not have the physical energy to do a task. We feel tired, bored, sleepy etc.

There can be many reasons why we feel tired. Sometimes we are genuinely tired because of hard work. In that case, the remedy is simple - we need a good rest. Then we should soon be back to our former best.

But in case we feel tired all the time then its an indication of some problem. Either we are suffering from lack of quality sleep, or we are not eating properly. Our dietary habits can also affect our energy levels.

Stress, depression and physical illness or problems can also affect energy levels and make us feel tired. You need to analyze what possible reasons could be contributing to this problem. Maybe you might also need the help of a qualified doctor in such cases.

However there are a few suggestions which can be helpful to you in overcoming your constant fatigue and tiredness. There is 1 such helpful program which you can check out here - End Tiredness Now

You can also check out my articles about healthy sleeping tips, and power naps to improve your energy. You can also call power naps as short energy sleep.

If tiredness is not the cause of your laziness, then continue reading below...

Simple Tips for Overcoming Laziness & Procrastination:
Most of the time laziness occurs because we are not sure of what to do. We lack a clear picture in our minds or do not have a plan of things to do. This can cause confusion and lead to laziness.

One of the ways you can avoid laziness and overcome it to a considerable extent is to have a daily plan of activities.

The day before, make a plan of activities or tasks for the next day. Include those things which are important and have to be done the next day. Spend some time visualizing yourself doing these things tomorrow.

Then when tomorrow comes try your best to finish all the activities on your to-do list. Once you have a plan, it might be easier for you to escape from the pangs of laziness.

At the same time, also make sure that your to-do list does not include too many activities. We might also procrastinate when we feel overwhelmed or tired. Just be easy on yourself and set realistic deadlines for activities and do not try to do too much otherwise you would be setting yourself up for appointments.

This brings us to another reason for laziness. If we feel we have failed in something then it could also cause us to become lazy next time around.

So make sure that you do not overwhelm yourselves. Make your to-do list small. Its better to have just a couple of important activities in your daily plan and do them and then have the rest of the day free than to have tens of activities many of which you fail to do.

When this happens, you will no longer feel like maintaining a to-do list from the next day onwards. You will quit this good habit. So a good strategy is to be easy on yourself and make your to-do list such that all assignments can be easily accomplished the next day.

You should also have some time for relaxation and for unforeseen emergencies which might cause delays. If you have some difficult tasks in that list, break them up into smaller chunks until you no longer feel difficulty or incapable of doing them.

If you have failed in some thing before, and now you are procrastinating in doing that thing again, what you can do is to analyze your past performance. Find out what mistakes you made. Think how you can do it in a better manner this time around.

If you still feel unable to do that thing, ask yourself what strengths or skills do you think you need to accomplish this task. Then you can try to find means of developing those skills and acquiring that necessary knowledge.

All the above tips should be helpful in curbing this weakness called laziness.

Another technique to overcome laziness and procrastination:
There is a very effective technique to overcome procrastination problem.

I call it the 10 minute technique - which can help you to motivate yourselves to do things which you dislike or hate but still cannot escape from them.

You can read about it here - Motivating Yourself

Finally, I recommend this resource to everybody interested in removing bad habits from their life whether it is procrastination, laziness, lack of persistence etc. Bad habits can stand as obstacles in the way of our dreams. Learn how you can eliminate them in 21 days or less than that by changing the way you think about them - Eliminating Bad Habits

The Successful Habit:
Another important suggestion is to start small and improve gradually in any aspect of your life. Do not try to take giant leaps. Usually people who are in a hurry often get late in achieving things they so desperately desire.

It is because they are always trying to take shortcuts or trying to do too much and obviously fail. And it is usually people who are consistent and persistent who are successful.

If you have been lazy all your life, its not wise to all of a sudden try to be the most active person you can dream of. Remember the story of the hare and tortoise you heard in childhood? The moral of the story was - Slow and steady wins the race.

So take small, baby steps towards improvement. Stretch your comfort zones little by little. Expand your horizons and improve your talents one small step at a time.

Consistency is the key and you cannot be consistent if you are too hard on yourself. You can only do those things consistently which do not burn you out.

This resource can help you in eliminating bad habits so that you can become consistent - Habit Busting

Hope you found the article useful. You can leave your feedback below!

How to Stop the Procrastination Habit - Its Easy to Stop Procrastination

You can stop the procrastination habit to a large extent with 1 simple technique which I will disclose in this article.

This technique is very simple yet effective to cure procrastination. I have tried it many times with good results. This technique can be used for any work which you feel like putting off because you are not in the mood for it right now.

The Simple Technique to Stop Procrastination Habit:
You are now going to learn how to stop procrastination habit in 10 Minutes. I will explain this technique with the help of an example.

Suppose, you have to write a lengthy report which has to be submitted within a few days to your boss. You really want to start writing it now but when you sit down to write, you immediately feel bored, sleepy and do not want to continue further.

Does this situation sound similar? Most students face a problem like this when they sit down to study, right? No matter how much they try, but they are unable to open the book and study.

All the parental pressure and exam fear cannot motivate them to endure the boredom of studying seriously for their exams.

What we can do in such situations is that decide in your mind that you will do this activity for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, if you want to quit you will quit or continue if you want to.

Do the thing that you are putting off for some time and then quit after some time. This is a very simple strategy.

Just try and force yourself for just ten short minutes. If you try to motivate yourself to start a thing and continue till completion, you are likely to fail in motivating yourself.

But if you try to motivate yourself for just 10 minutes, then it shouldn't be such a big problem - isn't it? Now force yourself to do that task for those 10 minutes without distractions. Focus fully and seriously on that task during these minutes.

After the time is up, do not force yourself to continue. You can continue or quit depending on your mood.

The Effectiveness of This Technique:
When you try it out a few times, you might be really surprised to find that once you begin and dedicatedly do an activity for some time you will not want to quit it in the middle. Most of the time you will continue more than 10 minutes. Just try a few times and see for yourself!

This can be called as your 10 minute technique. Now if you are really unable to force yourself for even 10 minutes then reduce the time to 5 minutes.

You can even have some other variations. Like instead of doing a task for 10 minutes, decide that you will write 1 page of the report today. Do not set time limit but set some other goal in place of it.

While studying, you can decide that you will study 2-3 pages atleast or finish a particular topic. Then when you have done so, think if you want to continue further or quit.

This technique has been tried out many times by me and most of the times I have been satisfied with the way I was able to overcome by moods and distractions and get some important work done which I might not have finished otherwise.

The main trick is to break down your work so that you can do a small chunk at a time without feeling overwhelmed. This technique achieve that same thing.

The beauty of this technique is that it can be equally effective on making you do things which you absolutely hate or dislike immensely. You might have found it extremely difficult to do them in normal situations.

Eliminating Bad Habits
If you liked this technique, then you might also be interested in knowing how to overcome other bad habits you have which might be proving a hindrance in the way of your success or dreams.

Would you like to know how to eliminate bad habits like overeating, smoking, procrastination, bad habits in relationships etc. You name it.

Ending bad habits requires a change in the way you think. Just forcing yourself to stop a bad habit may be very difficult and many people might not be able to do it.

If you want to learn how to eliminate bad habits within 21 days by changing your attitude, then I definitely recommend you to check out this resource today - Bad Habit Busting Program


Another article which might be of interest to you - Strategies to overcome procrastination

Leave your feedback!

Motivating Oneself in Difficult Times

Do you have trouble sticking to your plans? Are you inconsistent while pursuing your goals? Do you give up midway while dieting or exercising?

If you are facing similar problems to those mentioned above, then you have a problem of motivating yourself. If you keep putting off things, then probably you suffer from lack of self-discipline and procrastination.

What can we do with such problems?
It can be quite simple to learn the trick of motivating oneself in difficult times, if you just know how to. In this article I will provide some tips and suggestions for doing so.

First of all, we should learn how to act despite our moods and feelings. If we have to do something, then we should do it even though we might not be in the mood for it right now. We really have to motivate ourselves.

Pain in the Knee:
Just imagine that you were rushing on to do something urgent. On your way, you banged against the door and hurt your knee. You really feel the pain in your knee.

So what do you do? You stop momentarily because of the pain. But then after a few moments, you go back to doing what you had set out to, isn't it?

Even though your knee still hurts, but there are other important things that you need to do right now and you don't pay much attention to the knee pain.

You carry on inspite of the pain and probably would soon forget all about the pain, once you get absorbed in the work.

This should be the case even with emotional pains or moods. Suppose you have to do something important and are not in the mood. You stop momentarily and acknowledge the mood.

But then you consider the importance of the task at hand and evaluate whether it is possible to delay it a little bit till you are in the right mood. If its not possible, then you have to ignore the mood just like you ignored the knee pain and do the task anyways.

It Gets Better With Practice:
Motivation in tough situations is simple. You just have to get into the habit of ignoring moods, fears, insecurities, pressure and other such emotional pains like you ignore mild physical pains and carry on with the work.

If you can develop the habit of doing this, you can find it easier to stick to your plans and resolutions. You will find it easier to motivate yourself to do something whatever your mood is.

This habit can be very beneficial to you in difficult situations. But first you need to train yourself well. Does anybody send their military to war without training them?

Similarly, you have to just develop this habit in less difficult situations first. After some practice, you can do it in difficult situations as well!


Related Articles and Resources:
1. Eat a Frog to Beat Procrastination
2. Productivity Tips for Online Businessmen
3. Do you procrastinate because of tiredness and fatigue? Find out how you can enjoy high energy levels

Leave your comments below!

How Procrastination Can Be Useful

Can procrastination ever be your friend? Can procrastination be good? Can it ever be useful to us?

Everyone of us believes that procrastination is a bad habit which can affect our success. Even I used to think like that. But after reading an interesting article, I realized that procrastination can also be good in some situations.

We just have to know when to make use of our ability to procrastinate and when not to. Anyways the link to the article is here - power of procrastination.


The Benefits of Procrastination
What the article states is that procrastination habit can be good when dealing with anger, worry and other negative emotions.

Suppose something made you angry, if you wait for some time and not react to it immediately, chances are that atleast some of the anger may have subsided and you may react in a better and more mature manner. You might not say or do something which can cause you to regret later.

Similarly, if you are in the habit of worrying too much, then you can procrastinate on that. You can say to yourself - "I will not worry now but postpone it for later when I have free time. Maybe I will give an hour or two in the evenings after reaching home to worry about everything that is not going on right in my life right now".

This kind of procrastination can be good as you will free your mind for the more important matters right now.

Even in decision making, I think that a little bit of delay is good. If you have an important decision to make then its better to avoid the urge to make hasty decisions. Taking time to research, learn the details and think over the matter coolly should be essential ingredients in any decision making activity. Here also procrastination can be your friend.


The Final Verdict...
So the final verdict is in. Procrastination need not always be your enemy. In some situations it can be a useful tool to use. You just have to know when and which things to put off for some more time and which are not to be put off.

If you can use common sense then you can make good use of procrastination power. Otherwise it can be your terrible enemy too!

Useful Resource:
If you want to gain more control over this procrastinating habit, go check out - End Bad Habits in 21 days or less. It can be a good guide to help you eliminate bad habits from your life (like procrastination etc.) which can be affecting your success and goals.

Productivity Tips for Online Businessmen

This article is not just for internet marketers but also for anyone who is looking to earn money through internet based means whether it is freelance writing, freelance programming, affiliate marketing, selling products online, selling on ebay, etc etc.

How to do your online business?
Many people nowadays are excited and attracted with the prospect of working from home. Whether its freelancing, internet based marketing, selling on ebay etc. - there is no doubt that there is a huge choice available for people to make money from the comfort of their homes.

But at the same time also remember that many people fail to make good money in their online ventures. The reasons can be many ranging from bad advice, failure to do what they had to do, not sticking to a plan long enough etc etc.

So you have to be careful before you build castles in the air. Be practical and realistic. Realize there are many genuine opportunities to earn legal money online from your home. But do not be under the false impression that this is easy money and no hard work is required. Also do not expect overnight riches.

There are some other points which you need to keep in mind which are essential for long term online business success. Please read the below points carefully -

1. Focus on value creation is the advice of Steve Pavlina who makes a lot of money online through his website and blog. He is a recognized self help expert.

According to him, business can make money in the short run without creating much value, but it will be hard for them to sustain the money flow if they do not create enough value.

On the other hand, if you focus on value creation a lot then money is likely to follow sooner or later. And when it starts flowing, it is likely to flow a lot.

2. Simplify your online life: The more you keep your online life simple, the easier it will be to focus your efforts on the essential things so that you are not distracted, confused or frustrated.

Instead of giving suggestions on how to simplify your online life, I will provide a link to such a post which has advice for you written in a much better way than I can - Simplify your online worklife

3. Beat the procrastination habit - Many people use different methods of beating the dreaded procrastination habit. Use whatever works for you. You can even get ideas here - Procrastination Beaters

Learning to beat procrastination habit is very very essential for your online business success. You need to be able to do things that matter on a regular basis.

Sometimes you will not be in the mood, other times you will be too tired or busy with some other things. There will also be thousand distractions for you, specially if you are working from home.

All these can make you procrastinate. You have to have a plan to counter it, otherwise you won't be able to complete important tasks specially since you do not have any boss over your head to shout when you don't complete your tasks on time.

4. Learn to kill distractions: The online world is filled with scams, products with big promises and tall claims and thousands of other distractions.

You may subscribe to a lot of newsletters, may download a lot of ebooks or softwares etc. All these will steal away your time. You will browse and land on many websites which will attract you and capture your attention.

It is so easy to get distracted when you are browsing the net. It is important to stay focused and with patient determination you should follow dedicatedly a well-tested plan. You should not be distracted easily and leave things in the middle to pursue some other plan.

Carefully choose a master internet marketer to learn the tricks of the trade from him/her. And follow their advice seriously without distractions. Give their advice sufficient time before you reject it or try something else. Its no use trying out hundred things and leaving each in the middle and moving on to the next thing.

This guide may help you set goals and stay motivated and focused to achieve them - whether its online business or any other goal in any area of your life: Goal Setting Guide

You can find more tips here - 46 Productivity Tips for Work-at-Home People


Please leave your comments below!

Eat a Frog to Beat Procrastination

Procrastinating With Your To-Do List
Many times people hesitate to do something because they don't like a particular task. It might be difficult or boring for them. So they procrastinate.Sometimes a single task on our to-do list can make us procrastinate and we may end up not finishing most of the things on that list.

A simple tip, in such cases, could be to do the worst task on your to-do list first whenever you begin. Now this may seem counter productive. But the fact is that once your worst task is finished, you will usually find it easier to complete the remaining tasks.

The Benefits of Doing the Worst Task First:
When you are starting out to do something, you will likely have more energy. So it should relatively be easier to motivate yourself in the beginning to do any unpleasant or difficult task rather than later.

And when the difficult or unpleasant task is over, you will be on cloud nine. The rest of the activities in your list might seem like a treat to you when you consider that a huge mountain is out of the way.

You might actually enjoy doing the remaining tasks and finish them also with a lot of fervor and energy. Finishing off an unpleasant task might have done wonders to your confidence level and also give you a huge psychological advantage while going after the rest of the to-do list.

Eating a Frog for Breakfast
Imagine that you eat a frog or something equally terrible daily for breakfast before leaving for the office. How terrible would you really feel? Would any other event during that day have such an effect on you as eating that frog??

By eating that frog early in the day, you are setting yourself up to face whatever unpleasant things might happen later on. You may not be as bothered by these things as they are not so terrible as eating a frog. You have already experienced something much more terrible for the day and other less terrible events might not have that much negative impact on you.

Similarly, doing and finishing off any dreadful task from your to-do list can make it much easier to finish off the remaining tasks with ease, confidence and enthusiasm!

I am not saying to really eat a frog. It means facing your fears head on and doing at thing first which you dislike the most.

Try out this simple technique and see whether it really works wonders to defeat your procrastination habit or not.

I have written a similar article here - Do the Worst First

Make a Worst To-Do List:
You might be in the habit of making a "to-do list" of activities daily. If so, you can separate the really difficult or dreaded tasks from that list and make a separate list of "worst to-do list" which includes all the difficult activities. Now you can devote certain times of the day to do activities from this list only - like once in the morning and evening etc.

Focus on 1 thing at a time as multitasking introduces stress as well as reduces productivity. Focusing completely on a single thing can help you complete it faster and better.

Finally, don't forget to check out this resource - End Bad Habits in 21 Days. It can be a useful resource if you want to eliminate bad habits including procrastination habit.

You can even check out more of my articles on procrastination, productivity etc. here - Procrastination Beaters

Don't forget to leave your feedback and suggestions. Let me and others know how this technique or other such techniques are working for you.

3 Strategies to Overcome Procrastination

Here are 3 useful strategies to counter procrastination problem while dealing with important tasks related to your goals or your to-do list.

If you find yourself procrastinating and often putting off things and being guilty of not completing your to-do lists, then the below given tips can come in handy for you. Just read and try them out whenever you get the next opportunity. Who knows you might get a very pleasant surprise!

Useful Strategies for the frequent procrastinator
1. Remind yourself constantly about your goals:
When you have goals that are important to you and you do a good job of constantly reminding yourself of them, then you are likely to take action in the direction of your goals.

This strategy of reminding yourself about what you want to achieve can be a very good strategy to overcome procrastination and force yourself to complete important tasks.

You can constantly remind yourself of your goals by writing the down in bold, colorful and big letters and sticking them somewhere where you can see many times during the day. Also make it a habit of reading out your goals atleast twice in a day (preferably morning and evening) so that it stays fresh in your mind and you are easily motivated towards taking action.


2. Make a smaller "to do" list:
Its a very good habit to make daily to-do list of important activities which must be accomplished during that day. But the problem is that many times you may have many tasks in your to-do list and might not be able to do them all.

A simple strategy in such cases would be to make a smaller "to do now" list of activities which are more urgent, more important, or more easy from among your big to-do list. Then finish all activities from this smaller list.

This strategy can help you avoid procrastination and feeling overwhelmed when you have so many things to do. It can also keep you from getting distracted and focus on the really important things first.

By following this strategy, you can atleast get some activities done if not all from your original to-do list.


3. Try to finish as much of a task as possible:
This is another useful technique. Many times out tasks can take up a lot of time to complete. This can make us procrastinate and try to avoid them.

In such cases, a good strategy is to try and complete as much of a task as you feel like or is possible within a particular time frame. You can go back to the task later to finish off the remaining part.

This strategy is better than trying to finish off the whole thing at once if you feel it difficult. If you do not find any difficulty in completing the whole task at a single time then by all means do so.

But if you find some difficulty and tend to procrastinate because of it, then use this technique to good use. Try and take the task to the furthest point possible before quitting it. Sometimes you would have to repeat this cycle 2-3 or more for a single task before it is fully complete.


Helpful Resources for You:
The above tips can be really useful if you care to try them a few times. After some time you may even add your own slight modifications to these techniques to best suit your needs.

Get more mind control, increase concentration, memory and brain power, check out the Zox Pro Training

Develop Photographic Memory, Achieve Total Concentration, Increase Your Achievement - 5 Minute Brain Power Course




Hope the article and the resources will be useful to you and provide you with long lasting benefits which you can use and re-use many times in your life.

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How To Stop Procrastinating Forever

Is procrastination problem ruining you work? How you wish that you stop delaying stuff and get the important work done right on time, isn't it?

Do not worry, procrastination is something that can happen to the best of us. There are techniques to help you deal with this problem. But the important thing if you want to stop procrastinating is to learn a little bit of self discipline and you should get into the habit of forcing yourself to do unpleasant tasks which have to be done.

Why We Procrastinate?
We can increase our productivity by more than 20% if we learn how to stop procrastinating. The major reason why we procrastinate is because humans in general tend to move away from pain and towards pleasure. So any activity that can cause you pain can make you procrastinate. The pain need not be just physical pain but can include things that we find unpleasant, boring, difficult, or if we have fear of failure, fear of making mistakes or any other fears or lack of confidence that we can do this task.

Can Strong Will Power Stop Procrastination?
A simple technique to learn self discipline and develop will power in order to overcome procrastination is to get into the habit of occasionally doing things that we find unpleasant. Think of some activity that you find mildly unpleasant. Make sure it is not something that you hate too much, just a little bit unpleasant or disagreeable activity.

Once you have decided on an activity, force yourself to do it for a few minutes. Keep doing this occasionally. You are training your will power as well as getting into the habit of carrying out disagreeable activities.

After some time, you may notice that you are able to easily motivate yourself to do tasks which you would have put off indefinitely earlier. You are able to do them when you are not in the mood, or you hate those tasks. This is because you have developed sufficient will power and control over your own self and over your emotions.

This self control is an important trait which you can find in almost all super-achievers of this world throughout human history. Without self control, we become slaves to our emotions, moods, desires, whims and fantasies. Once we start exercising self control, then we can endure hardships, adversities, challenges, face fears and end procrastination problem.

So do this simple exercise regularly to gain self control. Keep in mind to begin with something that is just mildly unpleasant to you and keep doing it until it becomes almost too easy. Then pick another activity and do likewise.

A person who is habituated to do only pleasant things and avoids unpleasant activities can never gain that self control which is required in order to be persistent, determined and go fiercely after our goals. Such people might become just dreamers instead of action-takers and achievers.

If you find that gaining self control would take a lot of time, and effort - do not worry. Just think, what worthwhile success in life was ever achieved without putting in a lot of hard work, sacrifice and time??

If you can gain sufficient mastery of self, you can easily overcome other bad habits you might be having which can stand in the way of your goals and dreams. This self control can be the key to overcome procrastination and get things done on time.

Procrastination Resource:
If you want to learn how to bust bad habits and end procrastinating problem in just 21 days or less, you can check out this site - Stop Procrastinating and Other Bad Habits in 21 Days

Related Articles:
1. Why We Procrastinate? - Different Reasons for procrastination
2. Procrastination Help - Overcome Procrastination by Changing Focus
3. Getting Rid of Anxieties and Phobias
4. Overcome Problems by writing down

Hope you enjoyed the article. Comments and feedback are most welcome.

Overcome Procrastination Problem With Strong Will Power

It is said that procrastination is the thief of time. We end up finishing things much later than we would normally do so if we hadn't procrastinated, isn't it? Chronic procrastinators always face this problem - they want to do so many things but either they don't do them at all or delay them much longer than they would wish. If you weren't facing this problem, you probably wouldn't be reading this article too.

You can overcome the habit of procrastination, if you develop a firm will power as well as determination not to evade things which are disagreeable or unpleasant to you. If you are courageous not to shirk responsibility, and if you value your time enough so that you treat each minute as precious and not to be wasted, then you can easily overcome the habit of procrastination.

Fighting procrastination is a matter of self-discipline:
Fighting procrastination means fighting yourself and doing what is required from you even though you might not be in the mood to do it, even though you might not enjoy doing the task and want to avoid it.

If you decide, that from now on you will make each minute count and will try as much as possible not to waste time, then you can find fresh courage and determination to fight your procrastinating urges.

If you can cultivate in yourself the 'do it now' habit, then you can enjoy a better life and be able to produce higher quality work. Think what will happen when you keep postponing some important task, but have to do it at the last moment. Wouldn't the quality suffer when you are doing it in a hurry? Is it not possible that you would have done a better job if you had taken the time needed to finish it without hurrying?

You do not have to wait until you are in the right mood to start something. You do not have to wait until you feel you are perfect. Perfectionism can also stand in the way of getting things done on time, or atleast getting started on time.

A far better strategy might be to start something, and as you go on you may realize some mistakes you made and can make necessary corrections and improvements. The final product, though not perfect, might be much better than when you had first started. But if you stall and not start until you feel you are perfect, then the time may never come or get unnecessarily delayed.

There can be many reasons why people procrastinate. I have discussed these reasons in my earlier article - Procrastination Reasons

But whatever the reasons for procrastination, you can overcome it with a little bit of will-power, determination and self-control. As I mentioned above, if you strongly make up you mind that from now on you are not going to allow wastage of time and you are going to value each minute, you can easily solve this procrastination problem.

Value Your Time:
In order to fight procrastination, this is what you need - start valuing your time, develop the necessary courage to do things that you feel like avoiding, develop the necessary self-control not to evade things that you find unpleasant and even if your work is not 100% perfect, do not worry. Make necessary improvements with time and then move on. Do not get stuck or too negative about it.

Since you have not been in the habit of fighting your desires and negative feelings, begin slowly at first so that you are not overwhelmed and defeated. You can start by doing things you find slightly disagreeable or unpleasant. Do such tasks even if you don't need to do them.

By doing few disagreeable things every once in a while, you are slowly but surely gaining more control over yourself and your emotions. This skill can stand you in very good stead in your life. And it is such an easy technique to practice which can also be fun.


Slowly Moving Out of Comfort Zone:
You are becoming a master of yourself rather than a slave to your thoughts and feelings. It is your feelings which have to submit to your will and not vice-versa. If you look at all successful people in this world throughout history - you can find most of them had control over their desires. The did things even when they didn't want to and avoided things which they desired.

If you get accustomed to the habit of facing disagreeable things and not being flustered by them, then you may find it easy to stop procrastinating. We all have heard of comfort zone, isn't it? It can become easier for us to step outside our cozy comfort zones into the unknown and unpleasant world, because we have steeled our wills.

If you are in the habit of totally avoiding unpleasant things, then you may become totally useless in times of adversity and difficulty, and in times of pressure and stress. You may find yourself unable to cope with these.

If you want to completely overcome procrastination in your life and also end other bad habits which might be hurting you, or your career, relationships, goals and causing frustration, then this resource might be the one for you - Bust Habits and End Procrastination

Hope you enjoyed the article.

Simple Help to Fight Procrastination and Defeat It

Everyone of us feels like procrastinating on our work every now and then. But the important thing is to know how to fight and overcome it so that it doesn't get the better of us.

Just Get Started:
Winners and achievers, know how to fight procrastination. The reasons for procrastination can be many like fear of criticism, fear of failure, boredom, laziness, unclear goals and objectives, perfectionism habit etc.

Its important to know the reasons why you are procrastinating so that you can plan counter measures and still get your job done. The first thing to do is to learn to handle distractions. If you are easily distracted by other things, then it is difficult to get started on some serious work.

Secondly, you should try to get started on the work somehow. Once you get started - take the first steps, and do the task for a few minutes, you are likely to continue further. You will not feel that much procrastination as you felt before beginning.


The 10 Minute Technique to Help Procrastination:
The 10 minute rule can be an excellent tool for getting you started on some work. Just decide in your mind that you will do a task for 10 minutes, no matter what. Whether you face distractions, whether you are not in a mood to do it etc. - let there be any reason. Just start out and do it for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes are up, you have the option of either leaving off the work if you feel like it. Or continue to do it. My experience is that, once I start something and keep at it for a few minutes, I am more than likely to continue it till its finished - even though I might have not at all felt like doing that thing in the beginning!!!


Chunking Work to Avoid Procrastinating:
Many times we put off work because it is difficult for us. So an important step you can take to help overcome procrastination is to break down a task into smaller and smaller chunks. Keep breaking down a task into smaller tasks until you feel comfortable doing that mini-task.

For example, if you have to write a detailed report of something, or a lengthy article - then it is difficult to motivate yourself to sit down seriously and make yourself write.

One of the bad work habits is to procrastinate endlessly. But what can you do - the task seems so daunting, boring as well as exhaustive.

But what if you break it down to smaller and smaller parts. Instead of trying to write the whole article or report at once, why not try and write just a paragraph?

I know that this works very nicely to fight procrastination. I have tried it several times. Many times I come from office, and I am tired and don't feel like sitting in front of computer and writing articles to be published on my blog or other sites.

During such times when I am feeling tired and low on energy, I just think to myself that I will write just a paragraph or a couple of paragraphs about any topic which I have in mind and not the whole article.

The beauty of this technique is that, once I complete those couple of paragraphs, I almost always keep going on and on until I finish. I completely forget my tiredness and am completely absorbed in my work.

If I had started out with the intention of writing complete article and not just a paragraph, then I doubt if I would have been able to even start out. I don't think so .. specially after a tiring day at office.

And even if on some rare occasions, I do not want to complete my article and want to quit after writing just 1 or a few paragraphs, still I would have accomplished at least something. Maybe the article would be finished the next day or so on. But if I had not started out in the first place, and not completed even a small chunk of the work, I think that article might have taken a lot many days more.

Excellent Procrastination Help:
The 10 minute rule, and divide-and-conquer technique(chunking work) are such excellent help for procrastination. If we can get ourselves to begin the work, I think half of the problem is solved.

The beauty of the 10 minute technique is that you can stop procrastinating without using will power. Here is another strategy to -  overcome procrastination without will power!

Very rarely would people stop in the middle of something, even if they were very reluctant to start that work initially. I know because I have experienced it many times.

I am sometimes amazed at this - no matter how tired, bored, lazy I feel - no matter whether I feel that I am not in the mood to do this writing job now, but once I begin and do it for a few minutes and complete a few paragraphs, I just dont feel like quitting until I have finished it. So the major problem is only to get yourself started at something.

That is the major obstacle to overcome, and in this article I have pointed out 2 tools that have helped me with the procrastination problem and you can try them out.

Check out this article on procrastination help through self hypnosis.

Stop Procrastinating Now:
There are also other important skills you need to master if you want to completely overcome this habit of putting off things. Things like handling stress, meeting deadlines, self discipline etc. all play their important roles.

Remember that procrastination can become a habit just like any other annoying habit you might have. If we want to become super-achievers, then developing the discipline to control our habits and overcome bad habits is essential. So if you want to know how to end procrastination problem as well as overcome other bad habits in 21 days or less, then I suggest that you check out this resource - Habit Busting in 21 Days

Hope you enjoyed the article. Your comments are welcome and encouraged!

Related Articles and Resources:
1. Tips to Handle Stress - 22 simple stress reduction tips
2. Simple Exercise for Procrastination - How changing focus can help us avoid procrastinating
3. Public Speaking Tips - 16 tips to improve your public speaking and delivery
4. Solving Problems Creatively - a 5 step approach to finding solutions to problems

Simple Exercise to Help With Procrastination

We Procrastinate if Something is Difficult, isn't it??
Sometimes we procrastinate because we feel the task in front of us is impossible or too difficult to do. We find it totally unpleasant and want to avoid it at all possible cost.

Just imagine, that you find something easy to do and the work is important also. Would you keep on postponing it and running into problems? I doubt it.. Why not just finish the work and get over it, right?

But imagine another scenario where you have to do an important work, but you feel scared or negative about it. You have doubts in your mind and you are visualizing a negative outcome. You find that work awfully boring, time-consuming or just too difficult.

What would you do in the latter case? Most people would try to avoid it or atleast postpone it till the last possible moment. Wouldn't you do the same too?

So you see, procrastination can be caused because we find the work too difficult. In other words, we are looking at just the negative aspects of the task at hand. We are looking at the difficult parts of the work, those aspects which we find unpleasant or boring or overwhelming, isn't it?

Help With Procrastination By Shifting Our Focus:
What if we decide to shift our focus from the unpleasant aspects of the task to pleasant ones? Do you think it would make a difference? Do you think you would be more likely to get the work done?

The question now arises - how can we shift our focus in order to overcome procrastiantion? How can we make our mind dwell on the positive aspects of the task? How do you stop procrastination?

I came across a very beautiful article on this topic - a question of focus, which mentions a simple exercise on how we can put our focus on anything we want. The exercise works on this premise - the more we focus on a particular thing, the more we begin to notice it around us.

So if you focus on the negative aspects of a task, you are likely to think of more and more things that you don't like or find difficult related to the task you have to finish. Which makes it all the more difficult and you begin to procrastinate more.

If you read the article I linked to above, then you might have read about the little color exercise mentioned in it. This exercise can help us improve our perspective so that we can overcome procrastination.


Adapting This Simple Exercise to Eliminate Procrastination:
I won't mention the exercise here as you can read it from the original site. I will just mention how it can be adapted so that we use it to fight procrastination of doing something.

Remember our goal of this exercise is to get an important task done - you can decide whatever task you want to work on. So according to the premise of the exercise - the more we focus on something the more we begin noticing it.

If you feel a particular task as difficult - challenge yourself to think about those aspects of the task which are easier to handle, which you are confident of doing without much problem. Think of anything related to the task - no matter how small.

Keep thinking of the easier aspects of the task. After some time - you might begin to notice more and more things that are easy for you to do related to this task. Earlier you didn't pay much attention to these things. If you are doing this exercise whole-heartedly, then definitely you will begin to see many things that you find easy.

Soon enough, you might get motivated sufficiently to stop procrastinating and start your work on the task.

Lets take another scenario. Suppose you don't find the task difficult, but you find it extremely boring. You cannot bring yourself to do it as it bores you to death.

What would you do in this case. Simple - focus on those aspects which you find interesting atleast a little bit. The more you focus, the more aspects are likely to come up in your mind.

Soon enough you might start enjoying this task. You can imagine how useful this technique can be in learning to like things that we need to do on regular basis but earlier we couldn't bring ourselves to do it.

It Takes Practice..
I am not saying that this technique is easy to use. Initially, it might be difficult and you might not feel like using this technique. But with practice, it can become easier and you might soon find yourself able to deal with procrastination in a healthy manner and get your work done on time.

Try out the exercise a few times and see if it has been of any help with procrastination or not.

Procrastinating is a habit just like any other bad or good habit. There is a good resource to learn how to overcome procrastination and also end other bad habits in 21 days or less. Check it out here - Habit Busting & Defeating Procrastination


Related Articles:
1. The Causes of Procrastination - The different causes of procrastination and general solutions
2. Stress Reduction
3. 1 Habit That can Ruin Our Communication Skills - Find out how you can improve your people skills and assertiveness if you are able to give up 1 bad habit

What Causes Procrastination & How to Overcome It

In this article we will see what causes procrastination. What are the reasons behind this habit and why it is essential to know the causes of procrastination in order to overcome it.

First of all, relax and don't worry if you procrastinate. Every one of us does it every now and then - its really a common phenomena. The problem arises when this habit becomes a very major part of our life and we begin to frequently procrastinate and never seem to get the important work done, atleast not on time anyway.


Procrastination Can Also be Good:
Sometimes procrastination can be essential and even good. Suppose you have come home tired after a long day's work at office, and you want to think or plan for a major upcoming event or meeting.

In this case, it is better to postpone this for some other time as you are not in the best of shape and best frame of mind at the moment. Since you are tired and your mind is not fresh, is it really a good idea to plan out such an important thing at this moment?? No, if you can afford to postpone it.

So you see, sometimes postponing things can even be a good idea. You just have to know when to postpone things and when not to do so.

Constant and chronic procrastination is what you should strive to overcome as this can cause unnecessary delays in reaching your targets, as well as cause problems in the long term since you might be unable to do important tasks as and when required. Furthermore it can be a cause of frustration, dissapointment and a waste of time.


Why People Procrastinate - What Causes Procrastination?
Before proceeding further, it is important to know the reasons why we procrastinate. Many people might think that laziness is the major reason behind it, but you might be really surprised if you think in detail and analyze about situations or things in which you procrastinate.

There may be many reasons besides laziness as to why people procrastinate. Just to remind you, think of things that you enjoy doing like playing your favorite game, enjoying with friends etc. Do you procrastinate in any of these things?

Don't you have a lot of extra energy and enthusiasm while involved in things that you enjoy even though you might consider yourself lazy? So you see, laziness is not that big a factor in procrastination.

So exactly what causes procrastination then? There can be many reasons, and fear plays a major role in this.

Fears like fear of change, fear of uncertainty, fear of disappointment, criticism, fear of being ridiculed by others, being afraid that we might not be able to do a certain task or it would be too difficult for us, fear of making a mistake etc. can make us want to avoid doing certain things and hence this problem arises.

Other reasons apart from fear include, feeling overwhelmed - if we feel a task is too big, too difficult or will take too much time, we would want to avoid it.

If we find some task unpleasant and don't enjoy doing it, then also we might procrastinate. Lack of focus, already having too many commitments and work, lack of clear goals and deadlines are also common reasons for procrastination.

Sometimes we are not as confident and assured in some areas of our life as in others. These areas can cause us anxiety or stress. Doing work related to such areas can contribute to procrastinating as we would like to avoid such areas as much as possible.


What Causes Procrastination to You - Find Out Your Reasons, Then Deal With Them:
The above reasons are some of the common and major reasons. If you want to overcome procrastination, then first you might need to find out your reason of procrastinating.

The reasons can be different for different tasks. Pick any 1 task and think about the possible reasons for procrastination in this task by going through the above given list of reasons. If you can find out the exact reason, then you would have to work on that.

So from now on your task would not be something vague as overcoming procrastination in general, but it would be more specific like overcoming procrastination when you are afraid of failing or criticism, or when you are feeling overwhelmed or have lack of interest in that task. Narrowing down the category of procrastination, helps in more accurately pinpointing the problem.


Some General Procrastination Solutions and Tips:
I can mention some general tips for overcoming procrastination. Here they are:

1. If you are feeling overwhelmed with some task, break it down into smaller tasks. I intend to write a separate article on this topic alone. This is also a huge topic.

2. Start somewhere even though you might not feel like doing it. For this, you can use the 5 minute technique which can really help to get started with something.

The 5 minute technique works like this - if you don't feel like doing something, say to yourself that you will do it just for 5 minutes then after that you can stop if you wish or continue further if you don't feel any resistance. Then force yourself to do that thing for 5 minutes.

This technique can make get started on a task pretty quickly as doing it for 5 minutes shouldn't be that big a problem. Just getting started with something can reduce some tension of the work, and many times you might feel easier to continue from thereon without further problems.

3. At times when you are feeling energetic and fresh, then try to complete the difficult or unpleasant tasks first, then go for the easier ones.

And sometimes you might be feeling low on energy, at these times its better to go for the easier tasks first - complete them and get them out of the way.

Then either you can go for the difficult ones, the next day when you have more energy or you can continue with the difficult ones at the same time because once you have finished off the easy tasks, you might sometimes be surprised that you suddenly start feeling a little bit more energy and enthusiasm as certain part of the work is finished.


To completely overcome procrastination and get more in control of yourself and your habits, check out - Defeating Procrastination in 21 Days

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Hope you enjoyed the article. You can leave your comments and also rate my article.