Everyone procrastinates sometimes. It only becomes problematic when procrastination is the norm. Reasons for procrastination include perfectionism, overwhelm, over-analysis, and lack of planning. What can you do when you have a project that needs to get done?
Clear the Decks:
- Plan ahead and get your routine and critical tasks taken care of.
- Schedule time to work on your project. Be sure you plan enough time to get a fair amount of the project work done. Starting and stopping is hard; it takes a lot of discipline and wastes a lot of time and energy.
Make a Plan:
- Write down the steps of the project on Post-its – one step per Post-it.
- Put the post-it’s in a logical order.
- You now have a plan.
Make it Fun:
- It’s ok to alternate fun parts with more tedious ones.
- You don’t have to start at the beginning either – if the first step is too hard or too boring, start on another part of the project.
Get Ready:
- Pull all related material together (start this a week or two early), when you sit down to work, you’ll have your materials at hand.
Get Set:
- When it’s time to get down to work, do what you can to minimize interruptions:
- close out your email and Facebook
- Forward your phone to voicemail
- Clear the clutter off your desk
- Close your office door.
Go:
- Jump in and do it:
- Know that as hard as it is to start it’s worse if you don’t get the project done or miss your deadline.
- Don’t worry about perfection, if you never get started, you’ll never get finished.
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