overcome procrastination

sucking at this…
Merging this with other self improvement goals.

How To
Stop Procrastinating

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  Recognize that procrastination stems from habit. New habits will be needed, and these take time and commitment to develop.
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  Harold Taylor defines procrastination as the intentional and habitual postponement of an important task that should be done now.
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  Understand the cause for procrastination, then develop strategies to fix it.
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  Recognize the difference between an appropriate decision to delay, and an irrational postponement without justification.
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  Fix procrastination by working on a) tasks and b) your environment:

TASK STRATEGIES

Unpleasant tasks

• Complete these tasks first. Schedule them for early in the day. Give yourself a reward for doing them.

Complex Projects

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  Something looms ahead of you: starting a small business, getting a job, preparing the annual budget. The job is too big or will take too long to do now, so you put it off.
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  Break large jobs into smaller, more manageable tasks. Plan and complete a start-up task, no matter how small.

Indecision

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  People delay because they can't make up their minds.
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  Determine a time for making a decision and the criteria for making it. Share your deadline with someone else.

Fear of failure (lack of self confidence)

• Develop a clear mental picture of the completed task and how you will feel at that time. Maintain a focus on the end result, not just the process. Remind yourself how good you’ll feel when you’re finished.

Lack of interest

• Reward yourself for accomplishments. Go out for special lunches when major projects are completed. If you don’t earn the reward, don’t take it.
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  Schedule the task for when you will be at your peak.

Perfectionism

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  People delay because they want to get the project perfect.
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  Set deadlines for yourself. Tell other people your deadlines and encourage them to check up on you.
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  Maintain your high standards, but recognize that sometimes 80% for you may well be 100% for someone else. Don't spend hours conducting a detailed cost breakdown when a rough estimate would suffice.

Hostility towards a boss

• People delay because they don’t like the person who assigned the task.
• Review with your boss what exactly is needed. Clarify the expectations.
• Make a game out of unpleasant tasks. Give yourself points, or do a running commentary on yourself as you do the task.

Distraction, lack of focus

• As you get distracted from a work project, make a rule that you are not allowed to move out of your chair, make a call, surf the net, pick up a book etc. until you return to your task.
• Complete something. Make a very small task for yourself and finish it. Very small. Then, make another one.

ENVIRONMENT STRATEGIES

• Tailor your environment for work. Close your door, clean up the clutter on your desk.
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  Remove distractions such as water coolers, snacks, in-boxes, coffee machines and magazine racks.
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  If you work at home, treat your office as an office. Don’t go out to lunch before lunchtime or watch television before the end of the day.
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  Tell your family that you are not to be disturbed in your home office.

soooo hard… It happens all the time when I need to contact someone new. But today it went reasonably well – first decided to enquire for the call center job before 10 am, then postponed to do it in the afternoon on the way back from the bank, then postponed it for tomorrow, then on the way back from the bank (and with hesitation) went in anyway. Sooo happy I did!

My mother always used to say to me “never put off for tomorrow what you are capable of doing today”.

It’s so true. You only get one shot at life on this planet, so don’t blow it. Remember this: you cannot buy back yesterday not with all the money in the world. Today is all you’ve got, so make the most of it.

I thought this was interesting…
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=procrastinating-again&print=true

does not exactly feel like progress…
Finally made an appointment with a new dentist this morning, after months of frequent toothaches. Going on Friday.

Why am I so stubborn when it comes to doing anything I need to do? When it comes down to work, especially homework, even though it may be a fairly easy assignment or whatever it seems like I would rather do ANYTHING else. I don’t understand myself!

Well today I studied and took notes from my history book. My history test is on Wednesday so I have 3 days to study. I have 2 chapters I have to study for. I studied My 1st chapter today and I’m going to study my 2nd chapter tommorow. I feeling really pumped about finally getting rid of my procrastination.

This is really, really, desperately, necessary THING TO DO for me!

I don’t know how can I just procrastinate that much and in that big time lapses and I know it will cost me lots of wasted time but I keep on doing it (like homework assignments or buying stuff from the market etc.)

If someone knows how can I overcome this disease that surrounds me (yeah, its a disease when you get an E or C when you don’t do your homework just to watch some video on YouTube or post an entry on your blog – which, trust me, takes long because when I write entries (which is once or twice a week) it takes hours and hours and I almost never leave it for later – as for the real things I need to do – no, sir I just leave them as unimportant) I will be really really grateful to him if he just responds to this thing I REALLY NEED TO DO!

STOP PROCRASTINATION!!

I have the hugely annoying habit of endlessly procrastination; I put everything off until it really, really have to get done. But then, at the very last minute, I work day and night and get it done.
I’ve tried setting personal deadlines, but that has never, ever worked. My mind just knows when I really, really have to and when I just feel I should. Still, procrastination has always worked for me, in school and university, because there’s always been a real, set deadline to work towards. And I’ve always done really well in the end. I work well under pressure.

Now however, it’s more difficult. I’m searching for a job and so have to set my own deadlines; when to email, when to work on the CV, when to call. There’s no real pressure to sort this by a particular date and that makes it very difficult. I clean, I cook, I do laundry, I buy food, I do whatever but I do not apply for jobs. Not as much as I should anyway. Argh!
To be honest I’m scared of rejection – I applied so much before the summer and barely got an interview, now I doubt whether I can really get a job, whether anyone will ever want to employ me. Despite knowing that when I do get a job, I’ll work day and night to do well if I have to. And when I do get started, I tend to gain momentum and work really, really hard.

How do I overcome putting everything off? And gain back my trust in my own abilities? No one will ever employ me if I don’t believe in myself…