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I’ve been planning to write a novel for the last twenty years. I keep putting it off. Best-selling author John Grisham wrote his first novel while working full-time as an attorney; he was as busy as the rest of us, but he found a way to accomplish his dream. How did he do it? He beat procrastination by forcing himself to get up earlier every morning so he could work on his book before he went to work.

Take this quiz to find out if you need to put an end to procrastination:

- Do you write down your priorities? Do some things seem less urgent when you look at them in the light of your priorities?

- Do you ask yourself which of several tasks is the most important one before you decide what task to tackle next?
- Do you accept full responsibility for missing a deadline, rather than blaming it on forces beyond your control?

- Do you focus on finishing a job on time, rather than looking for excuses to explain why you’re going to miss another deadline?

- Do you make sure people know when not to disturb you?

If your Procrastination facts are out-of-date, how will that affect your actions and decisions? Make certain you don’t let important Procrastination information slip by you.

- Do you have a habit of turning off the phone when you need to concentrate completely on a job? Do you focus on the job at hand, rather than fretting over what went wrong in the past?

- When you’ve done your best, do you know when to wrap up a project?-Do you feel that spending more time on it will only keep you from starting your next job?

If you answered “yes” to all of the above questions, congratulations-you’re in John Grisham’s league. If you answered “no” to any of the above questions, pick one and make a commitment to do something about it today. Ask yourself if you have really considered all the consequences of procrastination. Do you want to live with them forever? Do you have a legitimate reason for postponing jobs? And after thinking about these questions, ask yourself if you delay tasks for justifiable reasons-or if you just make excuses to procrastinate. Here’s what I’ve learned to do:

- Always remind yourself that you have as much time as people who do great things.

- Make your best estimate of how much time a task will take.

- Write an inspirational phrase on a 3 x 5 card and use it whenever the procrastination monster pops up.

Shakespeare said, “Thoughts are but dreams till their effects be tried.” You’ve taken the first step to defeat procrastination by reading this article; now take the next step and tackle a job you know you should have started a long time ago. I took my next step this morning-I got up earlier than usual to start my novel.

There’s a lot to understand about Procrastination. We were able to provide you with some of the facts above, but there is still plenty more to write about in subsequent articles.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his top ranked GVO affiliate site: GVO

Procrastination is the main reason people fail to live richer lives. If you haven’t been reaching your goals, you may need to make a greater commitment. And the only reliable measure of commitment is action. When you delay getting started on a job or fail to complete a job you’ve already started, always ask yourself why you’re not working on it:

1. I can’t do it and I don’t want to do it.
2. I can do it but I don’t want to.
3. I want to do it but I can’t.
4. I can do it and I want to.

If you’re honest with yourself, you can probably get started on the fourth type of projects today. If you do, you will have taken the first step toward defeating the monster of procrastination.

Research shows that you can develop new habits in just two weeks if you are serious about changing. Taking action and staying focused on your goals is what makes private dreams and corporate missions come true. The tasks people avoid are almost always the ones on which the success of their projects depends. Make a list of your least favorite tasks. Ask yourself how you approach them. Do you tackle them first or leave them for last?

Think about people you know who always get things done. What are their work habits? How do they approach unappealing jobs? How do they stay focused? Try doing the least enjoyable jobs first, or put a task you dislike between your favorite ones. As Mark Twain said, “If you have to swallow a frog, don’t stare at it too long.”

If you don’t have accurate details regarding Procrastination, then you might make a bad choice on the subject. Don’t let that happen: keep reading.

If you have trouble making commitments because you think you won’t be able to live up to them, you may want to try the method that served Thomas Edison so well. When Edison had an idea, he would go public by announcing his invention at a press conference. Having told the world about it, he went into his laboratory and invented it.

You may not want to try this out at work any time soon, but I’m sure you can think of many ways to apply the technique of “going public” in other areas of your life. The point is: Thomas Edison, the greatest and most productive inventor in the history of the United States, understood how important it is to keep from drifting into inactivity. His technique for defeating procrastination was an extraordinary one, and he used it to achieve extraordinary results.

Put your favorite inspirational sayings where you can see them. Let people know when you don’t want to be disturbed. Think about the things in your environment that help you get into the flow of your work. What things distract you or make you want to postpone a job? How can you design or rearrange your environment to eliminate causes of procrastination?

Thomas Edison said, “If we did all the things we were capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” Do something today that you’ve been putting off and start astounding yourself.

If you’ve picked some pointers about Procrastination that you can put into action, then by all means, do so. You won’t really be able to gain any benefits from your new knowledge if you don’t use it.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his top ranked GVO affiliate site: GVO

Research shows that most of us spend up to 80% of our time on activities that have nothing to do with the success of our projects. We load ourselves down with endless tasks that keep us feeling busy, yet at the end of the day we wonder why we have accomplished so little.

Why do we miss deadlines, put off doing things we dislike, and accept stress and procrastination as a necessary part of life? What experiences have shaped the way you think about time? Do you need to rethink your views? If you were asked to speak to a group of students about the best way to use time, what would you say to them?

This quiz will help you identify areas where you can take action to overcome procrastination today:

- I often delay taking action and making decisions because I need to gather more facts.

- I have a hard time knowing when to wrap up the research phase of a project. I worry about not having enough information to complete it.

- I tend to get stuck in the middle of a project if changing circumstances suggest the need to make adjustments.

Now that we’ve covered those aspects of Procrastination, let’s turn to some of the other factors that need to be considered.

- I always feel that I’m using my time well as long as I’m gathering information for a project.

If you answered “yes” to any of the above statements, you need to recognize that procrastination is keeping you from achieving all that you can in life. Many people delay taking action by convincing themselves they need to gather more facts. Successful people know that effective decisions are based on opinions and experience first, facts second.

Set deadlines for yourself, even when you don’t have to. You will never be able to gather all the facts. You must learn when to say enough. Make the best decision based on the facts you have now. The important thing is to act. We live in an increasingly complex world; our information-gathering techniques can’t keep up with all the changing circumstances that affect our lives. We cannot control many of these circumstances, and we cannot control how other people respond to them.

Force yourself to act. Whatever decision we make today, we will have to rethink it-and almost certainly modify it-when circumstances change. No matter what you decide to do now, you will need to make corrections as you make progress toward your goal. Delaying a decision in order to gather more facts is one of the most common ways that people waste time.

Always ask yourself if a task needs to be done at all. The Bible says, “How forceful are right words! But what does your arguing prove?” Ask yourself: What do all my tasks prove? Focus on getting things done, rather than on filling your day with more activities than you can possibly get around to. If you want to overcome procrastination, stop gathering facts and get started on your project.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, proud owner of this top ranked web hosting reseller site: GVO

I believe that procrastination keeps the majority of human beings from getting the most out of life. What is it exactly? The word procrastination literally means to leave something “for tomorrow.” It comes from the Latin words pro (for) and cras (tomorrow). Procrastination is the postponement of something that you know you should do.

There are no “born” procrastinators; they develop their bad habits one step at a time. And that’s how you can develop new habits to defeat procrastination-one step at a time. But you have to take the first step. You will never become a more active, take-charge person by reading articles and books on how to overcome procrastination. The best advice in the world will do you no good at all unless you act on it.

So I encourage you to make a commitment to act on the tips you find here. You may not agree with everything I say; I fight a daily battle against procrastination, too, and I don’t always win. But you and I are on the same side-procrastination is our common enemy, and we both want to beat it.

Procrastination keeps people from living their best lives. Why do we procrastinate? There are many reasons: indecision, stress, fatigue, depression, a desire to gather information, disorganization, fear of failure, and even fear of success. You can’t defeat procrastination overnight-if you’re a procrastinator, you have been accumulating bad habits over a lifetime. But you can defeat procrastination by making a disciplined effort to get at the roots of the problem.

Hopefully the information presented so far has been applicable. You might also want to consider the following:

- Tip No. 1: Take full responsibility for your failures. One of the main causes of procrastination is the habit many people have of blaming their failures on circumstances. When you tell yourself that failures are caused by circumstances beyond your control, you are preparing yourself for a lifetime of procrastination.

- Tip No. 2: Just do it. Successful people know that their success depends on a commitment to do whatever it takes to reach a goal. Success in all projects, large and small, is determined by the actions you take and your ability to stay focused on your goals. This is true whether your goal is to reduce clutter at home, lose weight, restore a relationship, or complete a major project at work. Projects come in all different shapes, sizes, and levels of importance, but the principles that determine their success or failure are always the same: focus, determination, self-discipline, and confidence.

- Tip No. 3: Establish your priorities. What does it mean to change? To change is to choose a behavior different from the one you’re using now. We all have to fight the drift toward procrastination every day. If you’re losing the war against procrastination, you need to get your priorities right. Make a list of your priorities at work and in your relationships.

Make a commitment to make something happen in at least one of your high-priority items every day. The novelist George Eliot said, “It’s never too late to be the person you could have been.” The best time to start is now.

Don’t limit yourself by refusing to learn the details about Procrastination. The more you know, the easier it will be to focus on what’s important.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his top ranked GVO affiliate site: GVO

This interesting article addresses some of the key issues regarding Procrastination. A careful reading of this material could make a big difference in how you think about Procrastination.

To be successful in the battle against procrastination, you must establish priorities and stick to them. Successful people have learned that they must do the hard jobs whether they’re in the mood or not.

Take this quiz to find out if you need to get more serious about procrastination:

- Do you set priorities?

- Do you get the hard jobs done whether you’re in the mood or not?

- Do you spend most of your time working on tasks that you need to finish this week?

- Do you spend time each day working on your long-term goals?

- Do you have a system for measuring your progress?

- Do you have a filing system for each of your long-range projects?

Truthfully, the only difference between you and Procrastination experts is time. If you’ll invest a little more time in reading, you’ll be that much nearer to expert status when it comes to Procrastination.

If you answered “no” to any of the above questions, you need to get more serious about procrastination. Ask yourself if you’re happy living with the consequences of procrastination. Do you have justifiable reasons for postponing tasks, or have you simply developed the habit of putting things off?

- Establish your priorities. If you don’t make a list of your priorities every day, why don’t you? And if you do make a list, ask yourself how you rank items in order of importance.

- Force yourself to act. Set deadlines for yourself, even when you don’t have to. You need to spend most of your time on this week’s projects, but try to spend a little time every day on long-term goals.

- Spend 75% of your time on the things you need to finish this week. Dedicate the rest of your time to projects that need to be finished in the next six months. If you don’t have a list of deadlines for the next six months, make one now. What have you done so far on each of these projects? How are you measuring your progress on each one?

- Keep a file for each long-range project. This can be a folder with the deadline date in big letters on the outside. Write down target milestones for each big project. (A milestone is a deadline for finishing one part of a project.)

Wasting time on tasks that don’t contribute to the success of our projects is one of the most insidious forms of procrastination. When you decide to rush into something on the spur of the moment, always ask yourself if it’s the best way to spend your time. Could I accomplish more with the time I have by doing a different task? Which of these two tasks will make a greater contribution to getting the job done?

Don’t put yourself in the position of Shakespeare’s King Richard II, who was forced to say: “I wasted time, and now time doth wasted me.” Get serious about procrastination today.

Is there really any information about Procrastination that is nonessential? We all see things from different angles, so something relatively insignificant to one may be crucial to another.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, proud owner of this top ranked web hosting reseller site: GVO

All procrastination is the result of deluding ourselves. Procrastinators deny reality, refusing to accept responsibility for their lives. To defeat procrastination, we must stop playing games with ourselves. You can’t overcome procrastination until you accept the fact that you are responsible for what you make of your life. That may be more honesty than many people are capable of, but there is no other way to achieve a richer life.

The first step toward overcoming procrastination is recognizing that it’s a problem. Procrastinators have big problems and small problems, but most of their problems are caused by procrastination.

All procrastinators share certain traits:

- They know what they should do about a problem, and in many cases they know what specific action needs to be taken. Yet they find reasons to avoid action.

- They are reluctant to do anything about a problem now, but vow to take action at some vague time in the future.

Sometimes the most important aspects of a subject are not immediately obvious. Keep reading to get the complete picture.

- They promise to take action when the “right” circumstances present themselves. By making performance of the job depend on something else, they justify their decision to delay action. They delude themselves into thinking that their hands are tied. They would like to do something but can’t-it’s not their fault.

Research shows that you can develop new habits in just two weeks if you’re serious about changing. Think about people you know who always get things done. What are their work habits? How do they approach unappealing tasks? How do they stay focused?

Here are some simple tips that can help you take charge of your life today:

- Mentally prepare yourself to be productive. I begin every day in prayer and meditation. I keep inspirational messages where I can see them. Then I visualize my success during the day. Procrastination is a real monster, and it won’t go away unless we do something about it every day. If I’m passionate about a job, I can get it done at any time of day and under any circumstances-the problem is when to tackle the hardest and most tedious jobs. Always ask: At what time of day am I most productive? Most people say they’re most productive early in the morning; by mid-afternoon it’s harder for them to sit still and concentrate on work. Try to schedule the hard jobs for your most productive time.

- Don’t over-socialize at work. Office chitchat and gossip keep many people from getting more accomplished. Let people know when you don’t want to be disturbed. Think about the things in your work environment that contribute to staying focused. What things distract you or make you want to postpone a job? How can you redesign your environment to eliminate causes of procrastination? (A workspace doesn’t have to be neat, if you know where to find things.)

We are not victims of our circumstances. You can overcome procrastination now-you can do the things that need to be done. And you can learn to distinguish between the things that need to be done now and the things that can wait.

I hope that reading the above information was both enjoyable and educational for you. Your learning process should be ongoing–the more you understand about any subject, the more you will be able to share with others.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, proud owner of this top ranked web hosting reseller site: GVO

The surest way to know that you can do something is to have done it before. When you set daily goals for yourself, you develop the habit of getting things done. When the procrastination demon appears, you know how to force yourself to push ahead because you’ve done it before. If you feel like you’re losing the battle against procrastination, one of the most effective strategies for taking charge of your life is to get in the habit of accomplishing daily goals.

Set a goal every day, and achieve it. It’s easy to get discouraged when your projects don’t seem to be going anywhere. We all need a long-term vision to guide our day-to-day efforts, but many people with high goals develop a negative attitude when they think they’re not making progress. That’s why it’s important to set achievable goals every day. The more goals you achieve, the more positive your attitude will be.

Set weekly and monthly goals. Your short-term goals are milestones that keep you moving toward long-term goals. They help you know if you’re going in the right direction. When a long-term goal seems far away, it’s easy to feel discouraged. Breaking down a large project into smaller segments makes it easier to stay focused. Congratulate yourself when you achieve daily and weekly goals, and give yourself a special reward when you achieve a monthly goal.

It’s important to experience the satisfaction and rewards of successfully completing jobs. When you force yourself to keep moving until you finish a project, it’s easier to get started on the next one. Don’t be surprised if you feel yourself grappling with the drift toward procrastination now and then-it may never go away completely. All successful people learn how to identify the procrastination monster, and they know what to do about it when it threatens:

- Successful people use their time well. When an urgent task threatens to pull them away from what they’re doing, they don’t rush into it just because it seems urgent. They always ask: Which of these two things is higher on my list of priorities?

Most of this information comes straight from the Procrastination pros. Careful reading to the end virtually guarantees that you’ll know what they know.

- They turn off the phone from time to time. Can you get more done by leaving a voice message and turning the phone off during certain periods of the day? The telephone is one of the most insidious thieves of our time. It’s urgent but rarely important. It shoves out the less urgent but more important things.

- They keep a log of how they use their time. If they miss a deadline, they plan how to finish the remainder of their work and estimate as accurately as possible when it will be done.

- They develop a routine. They set an objective to accomplish every morning and every afternoon.

- They leave time in their daily schedule for contingencies.

- They always think twice before postponing a task. Successful people know that pushing themselves to accomplish daily goals makes them more likely to achieve long-term goals.

Now might be a good time to write down the main points covered above. The act of putting it down on paper will help you remember what’s important about Procrastination.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, proud owner of this top ranked web hosting reseller site: GVO

This interesting article addresses some of the key issues regarding Procrastination. A careful reading of this material could make a big difference in how you think about Procrastination.

Author Denis Waitley believes that one of the main causes of procrastination is a fear of success. “People procrastinate because they are afraid of the success that they know will result if they move ahead now,” he explains. And Miguel Cervantes, the author of Don Quijote, wrote that “delay always breeds danger, and to protract a great design is often to ruin it.”

Great thinkers throughout history have known that procrastination is the main reason people fail to live more rewarding and more prosperous lives. Take this quiz to find out if a fear of success is causing procrastination in your life:

- Are you passionate about the life you’re living? Have you discovered your mission in life? Do you have a written list of long-term and short-term goals you want to achieve?

- Do you always ask yourself which of several tasks is the best way to spend your time? Do you always ask which task should be your higher priority in view of your short-term and long-term goals?

- If you won a large amount of money, would you continuing living as you are now? Are you living the kind of life that even money can’t buy?

- Do you concentrate on the job you’re doing in the present, rather than feeling sorry for yourself because you aren’t living the life you wish you were living?

You can see that there’s practical value in learning more about Procrastination. Can you think of ways to apply what’s been covered so far?

If you answered “yes” to all of the above questions, you’re winning the war against procrastination. If you answered “no” to any of the questions, you need to recognize the possibility that procrastination is keeping you from living a richer life.

Ask yourself why you haven’t written a vision for your life. What are the benefits of establishing priorities? Do you postpone tasks for justifiable reasons, or do you simply look for excuses to procrastinate.

Always ask yourself if a job needs to be done at all. Make a list of what you most regret not having done in your life because of the poor decisions you made in the past about how to spend your time. According to research findings, we spend as much as 80% of our time on tasks that do not contribute to the success of our projects. Many people load themselves down with work that is unnecessary or that could be justifiably postponed.

Are you passionate about your life and work? Ask yourself how you would spend your time if you won ten million dollars and never had to work again. These questions can lead to some surprising revelations about what your priorities should be. You may discover that you would be happier by making a career change, although in most cases people don’t need to switch careers to start living a richer life-they just need to know what they really want.

As the novelist George Eliot said, “It’s never too late to be the person you could have been.” Today is a good day to start.

Hopefully the sections above have contributed to your understanding of Procrastination. Share your new understanding about Procrastination with others. They’ll thank you for it.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, proud owner of this top ranked web hosting reseller site: GVO

The following article includes pertinent information that may cause you to reconsider what you thought you understood. The most important thing is to study with an open mind and be willing to revise your understanding if necessary.

Take this quiz to find out if you-or any students in your family-need to get serious about overcoming procrastination:

- Do you put off assignments until the last possible hour because you like to think of yourself as the type of person who works best under pressure?

- Do you write down your priorities before you start projects? Do many things seem unimportant when you look at them in the light of these priorities?

- Do you ask yourself which of several tasks is the most important one before you rush into an assignment?

- Do you concentrate on finishing an assignment when you’re in danger of missing a deadline, rather than complaining that you never have enough time to get your work done?

- Do you make sure your friends know when not to disturb you?

The information about Procrastination presented here will do one of two things: either it will reinforce what you know about Procrastination or it will teach you something new. Both are good outcomes.

- Do you turn off the TV and your phone when you need to work on an important assignment? Do you concentrate completely on what you’re doing now, rather than dwelling on what you did in the past?

- When you’ve done the best you can, are you content to wrap up a project and hand it in as it is?-Do you generally make good estimates of how much time it will take to finish an assignment?

If you answered “no” to any of the above questions but the first one (I hope you answered “no” to that one), you can develop better study habits by getting serious about procrastination. Try doing the hardest assignments first. Sandwich a difficult assignment between two of your favorite ones.

Most students dread writing assignments, putting them off to the last possible minute. Writing is one of the most important skills a student can develop. Here are some tips from great writers that can help you conquer the procrastination monster:

- Winston Churchill wrote about 5 million words in his lifetime. That’s the equivalent of ten thousand 500-word articles, so he must have enjoyed writing very much. And he wrote well-well enough to win a Nobel Prize for literature. Churchill once said: “When you’re going through Hell, keep going.” To paraphrase that advice for all students struggling with a writing assignment: When you don’t know what to write, keep writing.

- Don’t be a bleeder. (Journalists who agonize over every word they write are known in their profession as “bleeders.”) The faster you write, the more you’ll enjoy writing. Jack London, one of my favorite writers when I was a student, said that “you can’t wait for inspiration; you have to go after it with a club.”

- Another Nobel Prize Laureate, John Steinbeck, said: “Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on.” In other words, rewriting before you finish a first draft is an excuse for procrastination.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his top ranked GVO affiliate site: GVO

Enthusiasm is what makes the difference between reaching our goals and giving up before we get started. Thomas Edison said, “If the only thing we leave our kids is the quality of enthusiasm, we will have given them an estate of incalculable value.” Edison’s research laboratory burned to the ground when he was 67. As the fire consumed his world-famous “invention factory,” Edison told his children, “Kids, go get your mother. She’ll never see another fire like this one.” Edison knew that enthusiasm is the best antidote for tragedy, and it’s the most powerful weapon to use in the war against procrastination.

I have learned that my level of enthusiasm has nothing to do with my feelings; my feelings wake up on a different side of the bed every day. To take control of my life, I must choose the way I feel-I can’t let my feelings control me. Can you talk yourself into a positive frame of mind when you’re discouraged? How do you keep yourself motivated? How do you stay focused when a job is tedious? How do you handle failure when your plan isn’t going well?

- Stay away from negative people. Attitudes are contagious-negative people infect us with negative attitudes. Associate with positive thinkers; their self-confidence is contagious, too.

- Schedule difficult tasks for the time of day when your energy is highest. If you haven’t determined the best time for you to tackle the day’s least appealing jobs, try doing them as early as possible.

I trust that what you’ve read so far has been informative. The following section should go a long way toward clearing up any uncertainty that may remain.

- Tackle a problem that’s been a thorn in your side. When you get in the habit of making things happen, your enthusiasm goes through the roof. Inactivity is a major cause of depression and anxiety. (On the other hand, you can increase your energy level without eliminating other forces that cause procrastination; teenagers are particularly adept at expending enormous amounts of energy without getting anything done. Always remember that any technique is only effective when used as part of a total strategy.)

When you breeze through a task with particular ease and competence, make a note of the time of day. And ask yourself what other factors might have contributed to making you more productive. When you start to discover a pattern, you will have found how to operate at a higher level every day. And when you identify the time of day when you are usually most efficient, schedule some of your least enjoyable tasks for that time.

We must continue to learn new things as if we were going to live forever, while living each day as if it were the last. Telling myself that “Today is the first day of the rest of my life” doesn’t work for me. If today were the last day of my life, how would I live it? That is the question I ask myself when I must fight against the forces of procrastination.

Always remember that enthusiasm is a choice. Mark Twain said, “Do something every day that you don’t want to do; this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.”

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, feel free to visit his top ranked GVO affiliate site: GVO