A 4-step method to quit procrastinating

I used to be a master procrastinator. I had also seen the effect of “Parkinson’s Law.” The concept that states that “work expands to fill the time available.” I’d often wait until I had just enough time to complete a task before starting on it, often making me late. Here’s how to make changes:

Acknowledge the need to change

Procrastination is evil because it often causes you to not give a desired task or project the time it deserves. But there are other problems, too. “Procrastination makes life much more laborious and burdensome than it should be,” a friend once shared with me.

“It also makes it a lot less fun, because it increases the worries and anxieties about getting things done the right way and on

time instead of just doing them.”

Identify and understand your feelings

There are several emotions

and feelings that could contribute to your procrastination habit. —Fear (of doing something you don’t enjoy or the sheer size of a task or project.) —Pride (I’m so productive, I’ll focus on other more urgent things and do this tomorrow.) —Anxiety (There’s just so much to do, I need a break.) By

identifying and understanding them, you can deal with them.

Work on stuff earlier

Just because you start working on something doesn’t mean you have to finish. The beauty is that by starting, you get the juices flowing, allowing you to reach a state of flow more quickly so that you get more of your thing done than you anticipated. Additionally, you increase the quality of your work —because every time you revise your

thing, it gets better. Schedule tasks in a calendar to improve timeliness.

Use the five minute rule

Finally, if you find yourself with some free time and you need to convince yourself to start working on a difficult task, follow the five-minute rule: Force yourself to work on a task for just five minutes, with the understanding that you can quit after five minutes if you like. (Face it, you can do anything for five minutes.)