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.

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.

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 »