Causes of Procrastination

Here are some suggestions from the book Organize Yourself by Ronnie Eisenberg with Kate Kelly

1. The hardest part is getting started. Once you actually begin, it will be easier to keep going. You usually find is not as bad as you expected, and once you’re involved, you’ve overcome the highest hurdle.

2. Have a realistic sense of time. Procrastinators often have an unrealistic sense of time. You may think the project will take forever and you’ll never get it done. Alternatively, you may think you have plenty of time to do a project when you really don’t. To get a better sense of time, keep track of how long your projects take i.e. how long does it take you to pay monthly bills?, how long did it take you this month to make sales calls etc.

3. Work with the time available to you – If your project is going to take 10 hours, you won’t ever have 10 hours of uninterrupted time. So break down the project into pieces. Make a list of each step in the process.

4. Remember that even five minutes is enough time to get something done. Two phone calls or more can be completed in that time.

5. If it seems like there really is no time, carve out a half hour or so from your existing schedule. For instance, if you want to exercise during the day consider climbing the stairs in your building for 10 minutes before work, 10 minutes before lunch and 10 minutes before you leave. 30 minutes of exercise done!

6. Consider your workspace – perhaps it’s simply not convenient or pleasant. If you have to run around to several places to collect the items you work on you may find yourself putting it off. If your workplace is not pleasant to be in you sure are not going to want to start working.

7. Clear your work area of everything else so you are not distracted.

8. You don’t always have to begin at the beginning. If that first step seems the hardest, start with another part of the project. For example, When writing papers I found introductions were always hard for me to write, so I would leave them until the end.

9. Some people like to do the worst first. If they accomplish what they dislike most, the rest of the project seems easier. My father always said “Do the worst thing first and the rest of the day will seem easy.” I have followed this practice all my life and it works!

10. Set small deadlines – For example if you want to organize your desk here is a sample schedule:

Clean out 2 drawers by April 20
Clean out 2 additional drawers by April 25
Clean out 2 more drawers by April 30
Purchase any needed desktop organizing items by May 8
Get new organizing items in place by May 15

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