Quit procrastinating
Replace “I must finish” with “When can I start?”
-Neil Fiore, Ph.D., a coach and psychologist in Berkeley, Calif.,
“Today’s world is filled with easy and fast distractions,” Fiore says. “We need structures to help us get anything started and completed.” [If the task is unpleasant or boring] do it first thing in the morning or within the first 24 hours after it is assigned. Replace “I must finish” with “When can I start?” Don’t wait for the right mood or the right time to start an unpleasant project that might never come. If you do, you’ll most likely find pressing deadlines upon you, and then the weight of those deadlines add to the overall pressure of a project. The trick is to head off the procrastination before it sets in and give yourself a reward when the task is done—something as simple as a cookie can make organizing your rolodex far less burdensome.
-Neil Fiore, Ph.D., a coach and psychologist in Berkeley, Calif., and author of The Now Habit, in Taming Procrastination
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