What Are Some Strategies for Overcoming Procrastination?

Procrastination is a process by which an individual postpones taking actions they feel they ought to be taking. This postponement can be temporary, or it may drag on indefinitely, resulting in the desired action never being taken. Many people have problems with procrastination, ranging from simply putting things off until the last minute to actually failing to accomplish anything they set out to do because they continue to postpone it. There are a number of strategies for tackling procrastination, most of which involve reorganizing basic habits, and learning beneficial ways of thinking about individual tasks

Essential to the idea of overcoming procrastination is the understanding that it is not an innate, or irreconcilable problem. Procrastination is a set of learned behaviors which get in the way of accomplishing specific goals. Like all learned behaviors, procrastination can be unlearned, and more productive methods of interaction can instead be achieved.

Creating concrete to do lists is a strong first step in addressing procrastination. Many people avoid things such as lists because they have had negative experiences with them in the past, or feel like it is simply wasting time they should be spending accomplishing their goals. A to do list should be looked at as an investment, however, where a small amount of time put into it results in an overall increase in productivity.

When making a to do list, a few methods can help make sure it will be effective as a tool for overcoming procrastination. First and foremost, all items on the to do list should be doable. Ideally every item will take less than half an hour to accomplish. Dividing complex, longer tasks into short, manageable tasks helps reduce the chances that you will feel overwhelmed and resort to doing nothing. Each item on the list should also be described in terms of action words, and be as specific as possible. This helps you visualize what needs to be done, and helps motivate you to do it. So rather than writing, "Deal with cable issue," you might instead have: "1. Look up number for cable company on website; 2. Call cable company to get activation code; 3. Reprogram box using new activation code.