One sneaky way to not procrastinate is to slip in work in small increments, doing the work when you feel like doing it instead of waiting until you have to do it.

Over on the Remote Access Computer site, I give tips and information about how I use remote access computer software to work from home. I especially like doing this because I can work extra when I feel like working but I can cut back when I really don’t want to work.

This is also very effective for household work. If you have an urge to clean your bathtubs, but your floors really need picking up, do the tub anyway.

This is actually just a way of using procrastination effectively. Stuff is getting done, and sometimes that’s just as important as getting any specific thing done. There are always going to be days where you’re not going to want to do something that probably needs to be done, but don’t take that as an excuse to go watch TV. At least if you do something else, you’ll have done something!

This tip isn’t for everyone of course, because you need to be the kind of person who actually wants to do something besides watch TV on a regular basis.

But if you can use it, this is a powerful method of beating the urge to procrastinate.

Accountability is overrated in my opinion. Most often, knowing I’m accountable for something only adds to the anxiety that crops up when I procrastinate on important things. (Yes I posted this in response to a commenter’s comment today, but I had more so say…) Sometimes, in fact, it acts as another hurdle that must be overcome before I’ll actually do something.

For many people, having a schedule is a way of being accountable to oneself for how one spends one’s time. I’ve fallen into that trap lots of times. I think I’ve finally gotten past that now.

I’ve had the most success not procrastinating when I do away with a schedule altogether. An example of this is my procrastination with my job. I hated going when I felt like I needed to be working on projects that I had at home. I had a schedule and I was working (quite efficiently) on getting these things done. But every time I had to stop so that I could go to the office, or work from home (I do both weekly), I would freeze up and not want to go to work.

One day a few weeks ago, I decided I couldn’t keep this up. I nixed the schedule, told myself that my “home” work wasn’t that important and that I needed a life. The very next Monday, I found myself doing housework I had for months been putting off/doing/putting off again.

It’s been a little over three weeks, and I’m into a fairly laid back routine, and I’ve not has as clean a house and clean laundry in years! I’m wowed by this change. No kidding.

What was even more exciting was that going to work that first week wasn’t a chore. I actually enjoyed getting out of the house on the day I went into the office and I spent an extra 3 hours there that evening catching up some stuff that needed to be done.

It’s been several weeks now, and I’m feeling much more at peace with my job, and I’ve actually gotten plenty of work done on my “home” projects–more than I expected and enough to feel like I’m getting things done.

So, my verdict? Maybe accountability and scheduling your time is not the solution at all. Maybe it’s part of the problem.

I’m an expert. Expert procrastinator, that is. I hold an accounting degree, but I procrastinated taking that last class that would have given me my Master of Accountancy. I didn’t want to take it, because it’s not my passion, so I’ve procrastinated until it doesn’t matter. The time limit is up and now I don’t have to decide if it would have been worth the money and time invested to complete it.

I have untold amounts of practice procrastinating. In fact, I’m writing this post (which as been a draft for about a year) as I procrastinate on something else—a lot of something elses, to be frank.

It feels nice keeping my skills up-to-date.

Don’t you ever wonder that if you quit practicing your procrastination you might forget how to procrastinate?

That was a tongue twister, wasn’t it? Whew. I had trouble reading that back through…

This is where I get serious. Because the answer to that question is “yes.”

I’m not going to make this into a long article, so I’ll say only one more thing. Think about it. If you just start practicing not procrastinating one day, and practice a little every day, pretty soon, you won’t be procrastinating nearly as often.

So call it practice. I do. This was my daily practice to quit procrastinating. My next goal? Become a finisher.

Hey, you might could say I’ve been practicing that this morning too! I’ve finished this post.

Most procrastinators (or those that I know) don’t have problems planning out their days, their lives, or their goals. I set goals to paper several times a week. I also ignore those goals most days, because they’re boring. I don’t want to do most of the stuff on my to-do lists, whether I written those to-dos on paper or on an imaginary list in my head. Why don’t I want to do them? Because, as I said before, they’re boring.

That’s never been more clear to me than after Continue reading this article »

The Procrastinator’s Handbook was a great book. I read it, dwelt on it, thought about it, intended to write a review of it, but, well, I never got around to it.

The thing is, you shouldn’t let that stop you from reading a copy of this book. Even though some of my habits haven’t changed, the book has helped me cope with my procrastinating ways and helped me change several keys areas of my life that lead to procrastination. Continue reading this article »

This week begins National Procrastination Week, but what does it mean?

Is National Procrastination Week supposed to be a time of leisure when we can feel good about putting things off, or is it a time when we’re supposed to bust out of our procrastinating ways and get our stuff done?

I’m not really sure about the answer yet, so I’ll give you a choice. Pick one and follow the instructions for a productive National Procrastination Week.

1. Let things go

Take the week off. Anything time sensitive should be delayed as long as possible. Maybe you’ll get lucky and someone else will do it for you.

2. Play catch up

Schedule every day with as many of those long put off tasks as you can remember and race the clock to get them done before the end of the week. Just think. If you finish even half of them, you’ll be halfway to done.

Sometimes I really feel like I have it all together. Sometimes though I feel like I’m still floundering in the depths of procrastination. If you stop by this site often enough, you’ll probably realize quickly that my post topics follow along that pattern.

Lately, I’ve been suffering from the fallout of following my own advice a little too closely. I still believe 100% that you have to find your passion if you want to find a true path out of perpetual procrastination. However, anything can be taken too far, and over the past six months, I’ve probably taken my passion too far. Continue reading this article »

“…the question is not how to avoid procrastination, but how to procrastinate well.” — Paul Graham

I’ve yet to find a better quote that addresses procrastination. All procrastination isn’t bad, and the reason I know this is because everyone procrastinates. We procrastinate on any number of tasks on any given day. Not everything can be started, worked on, or finished in any one hour, day, or moment.

We make choices.

Our choices define what type of procrastinators we are. Continue reading this article »

I’ve procrastinated long enough. I used to have several posts on this site about procrastination, which I lost during a transition. When I say lost, I mean I have a backup but I never restored it, and I’ve since upgraded WordPress many, many times. I don’t think it would be a good idea to try it now.

However, I’ve revisited some of the content, and I do think some of my previous posts had value, so the day has come where I’ve decided to add some of that content back to the site. So if you see something new pop up and it seems kind of like a rerun, maybe you’re right.

I’m not going to specify what’s new and what’s old, since most likely you aren’t going to notice. I mean, it’s been years…. and the site is so small that I doubt any of you have even been here before.

Since this site is about overcoming procrastination, I think it’s important that at some point I do some overcoming! :-)

There are many crutches I use when I’m avoiding work that also help me avoid feeling guilty about not accomplishing my goals.

For years, I’ve been using procrastination in this way to get things done.

I love to learn. I know that doesn’t sound like something I should limit, but more often than I’d like, I procrastinate by learning something new. These things that I learn are usually important skills for the work I do (and for the hobbies I pursue).

However, I can spend 70%-80% of my day looking for and reading information online about whatever it is I’m working on. Continue reading this article »