6 tips to avoid procrastination

I've been procrastinating a long time, in a multitude of different ways. It's usually based around having to do something I don't necessarily want to do. But if something greatly interests me, then I'm quick to get to it! We can't always do only the things we want to do, however. Often, we need to do the things that need doing. We need to stop procrastinating about them, and just do it.

Lifehack.org has a few tips on how you can break the procrastination habit, which I thought I'd use as a foundation to provide my own thoughts on it.

1. Do it now

Turn your habit into a 'do it now' habit instead of a more negative 'I'll get around to it' habit. This is something I've been working on myself. When I know something needs doing, do it immediately - where possible. It helps you avoid following the same patterns of doing it later. If you can, schedule everything you need to do, and do it when the reminder pops up.

2. Commit yourself

To help you change your habits, you really do have to be committed to changing them. Instead of saying to yourself, "I think I'll change tomorrow," or "I'd like to change but you can't teach old dogs new tricks," say instead "I WILL change! I WILL stop procrastinating, and I WILL start NOW!"

Then you have to write it down on paper. Write down the habits you want to change, and how you're going to change them. Write down the new habits that will replace the old ones.

Once you've written them down, commit to doing them for a month, no less. It takes a month of complete and absolute focus to change years of bad habits.

Finally, tell everyone you know that you're changing your habit. Make sure that it's not just you that you need to answer to, it's everyone else. When you are committing to changing something that everyone else knows about as well, it helps you stay motivated to achieving your goals. You don't want to look bad in the eyes of everyone you care about, do you?

3. Monitor your progress

Before you start your month of change, take a few days to monitor your current habit. See how you spend your time and how you engage in your procrastination. Write down those things that you decide to do instead of whatever you need to be doing. You can even keep a tally of how often they occur. Write down the activity and put a tick next to it. Becoming aware of how you engage in procrastination can help you eliminate or reduce those diversions from your life.

As you move forward with changing your habits, you can schedule your bad habits if you want to continue doing them, but make sure they come AFTER the good habit. For example, if you know there's something you need to do - at home or at work - but you get sidetracked by reading RSS feeds and blogs and you don't want to actually give that up, then schedule that in for a later part of the day, AFTER you've scheduled in your important tasks.

Prioritise your life and the activities within it, and do them when they need doing.

4. Practice. And keep practicing

Make sure you do your new habit - DO IT NOW. Don't make any exceptions. If you get into the habit of finding exceptions, then you're just continuing the procrastination. If you make mistakes, however, don't worry about it. Just keep doing it. You never get anything completely right the first times you do them. Practice makes you better at it.

5. Reward yourself

When you start out you should reward yourself for the successes you have, as these little rewards help inspire and motivate you and make it worthwhile to achieve your goals. Write down the rewards you'll give yourself when you get to a stage you're happy with. For example, you might treat yourself to a coffee in a cafe when you've completed your first task without allowing you to be distracted and you DO IT NOW. You might treat yourself to dinner out with a loved one when you've completed an entire week avoiding procrastination and you DO THINGS NOW. Make it fun and worthwhile for yourself.

6. Always think positive

When you start thinking negatively you're providing barriers to your own success. Positive thoughts are encouragements to your success. "I can do it just this time...." is a barrier. Don't let yourself be sidetracked by thoughts and doubts that take you away from you doing what you want to do. You CAN do it, you just have to be committed to doing it now, and letting nothing stop you.

The only way to change bad habits is to decide NOW that you are going to change, and let nothing stop you. Then you will avoid procrastination and achieve all the things that you want to achieve.

DO IT NOW.