Procrastinators: How to Get things Done?

"Never leave till tomorrow, what you can do today".

Some of us, procrastination isn't an occasional kind of thing. Instead it is a vice grip that locks us up to define the way we approach things. If you're like me you know the exhausting ritual well.

The question is why are some of us more susceptible than others?

Research has shown that procrastination is at least in part, heritable and has a strong genetic overlap with impulsivity. Procrastination either evolved at the same time as impulsivity, or "evolved as a byproduct of it".

But before you start blaming your penchant for leaving everything to the last minute on mom and dad (as I did when i read this research),remember most of our personality traits are, at least in part, heritable.

Getting Things Done-

Stop Making Excuses

Procrastination is a voluntary delay of a beneficial intended act, and therefore causes uncomfortable dissonance, which we attempt to ease with a string of excuses.

While procrastination can causer individuals to hyper focus, it's simply because their backs are against the wall.

Procrastinators need to realize that it is possible to concentrate without the motivation of deadline-induced panic.

Minimize distractions and set strict deadlines.

If you have every distraction, available at the push of a button, you're more likely to check Facebook, check your emails, and suddenly three hours have gone by. Distraction decrease productivity for everyone. It's better to eliminate as many of them as possible(be that blocking Facebook, deleting solitaire off your desktop, whatever you have to do).

Don't let your inner 6-year-old dictate your actions.

We internalize the notion that our motivational state has to match the task. "We don't feel like doing something and we think that's a reason".

This logic is a 6-year-old thinking. "For many of important tasks, if not most of them, getting started has nothing to do with how we feel".

We often dismiss the notion of getting started today with the perpetually hopefully. "I'll feel more like it tomorrow".

The biggest myth, that procrastinators need to dissolve if they want to break the delay cycle? 'I'll do it tomorrow".

"Once you realize that this is an avoidant coping strategy, you're on your way".