Procrastination is the act of delaying or putting off something until the last moment, or until it is past deadline. It is considered by some researchers as a “form of self-regulation failure characterized by the irrational delay of tasks despite potentially negative consequences.” Following are some tips to overcome this regulation failure :

Set Up Clear Goals

You have to draw clear your big picture goals; both for your work and personal life. Your big picture goals could be, for instance, a better work-life balance, regular physical exercises, and more passionate involvement in your kids post-school activities.

When you are able to recognize your goals, you can cut them down into small achievable tasks and start enriching your life with them.

Don’t Lose Track

You may need to set aside some time to reflect on your life and see how long it takes from you to accomplish necessary stuff. Note down how long laundry takes from your time, as well as making your bed, and getting your groceries and finishing your job stuff.

Some people overestimate the time for simple daily thing like shaving or showering, and underestimate the time taken to do other things like prepping a report.

if you know how your time is exactly spent, you will be better at its management.

Prioritize Your Tasks

Divide your tasks into four groups:

Urgent and important	Not urgent but important
Urgent but not important	Neither urgent nor important

The goal is make the “urgent and important” list the shortest. Only the emergency ones should be entered there : imminent deadlines, sickness, crisis, problems. Those can create a lot of stress when they pile up. Good time management will lead to more time spending on the “important but not urgent” list. Items here include long-term growth, opportunities, and progress. Here you get your priorities done and that will save you from feeling overwhelmed later.

Urgent and not important stuff are usually distractors ; like a colleague asking you insistently to repair the printer for him – these things and the like can wait until you have time. If you don’t have time just apologize politely saying no.

The “neither urgent nor important” list as you can see can be simply ignored.

Schedule Tasks

Now that you knew how long you need to do your tasks and you sorted them according to importance, start putting down a plan. Your plan should not be rigid. Which time you want to do your things? morning or evening? and when you want to relax? What is your deadline? how will you stretch your task over time?

Work out the best plan suiting you, update and change as time passes.

Start With the Hardest

The point here is that , when you have something hard to do, do it first so it won’t occupy your mind all the time. Doing the hard part first will make it easy for you to do the rest. it will also will free you from the feeling that it is difficult to finish your job.

Make notes

Make a to-do list. It makes it easy for you. But it is not the only means available. the main thing is to write down your tasks. this helps you keep track of things. try to have only one note and keep it with you all time. you can have it on your smart phone too. Most probably you have such app on your phone already, just use it.

Is It Worth It?

always keep in mind your big picture goals and keep asking yourself if what you are doing is serving your goals. for instance the extra time you are spending at work doing something no one asked you to do is not worth it and you may rather spend it at the gym or with your family.

No Cheating

Keep honestly to your schedule. If you scheduled one task to be done at 10 am , then 10:15 won’t do. keep honestly to your schedule even if you work alone. Missing start times will make you more likely to miss more.

you can be more flexible by allowing yourself a number of choices–responding to emails, filing papers, etc.; but stick to your schedule as it is. Make amendments to your schedule as required but don’t quit it.

Just Make the First Step

We always have the urge to delay doing things. If you find yourself in this situation, find a way to get over this urge and start even with a small step. Once you get over the first step it will appear easier afterwards. And as you progress more, you will become more motivated to continue. This is because of the reinforcement you receive from your action and the reward you get from the results.

Every Minute Counts

When you have some free time use it to do some fun like surfing the web or checking the social media. Spread your free time by chunks. fifteen minutes chunks spread over 4 interval during the day makes on hour of productivity. And it will make you refreshed later on in the day.

Utilize Your Computer

Your computer can distract you through surfing , emails, social networks, but also it can help you.

You can find tools and apps to help you track your tasks, schedule your time, set up reminders and alarms, and even block the distracting websites. So use it to your best

Limits and Boundaries

Set time limits for your tasks. Determine an allowable time for each task. You can do your task earlier, but if not, keep the limit. Once you reached the limit, your task should be finished, otherwise move on.

Beware Email

Emails can be time consuming and a great source of stress. You may try the famous Four Ds:

Delete : delete the emails that are not concerning you and are not important.

Do : If it is an urgent and important email, respond to it.

Delegate : If the email is about something coming under the duties of other people, forward it to them and delegate the task appropriately.

Defer : you may set sometime later to do it if it is interfering with more important task.

Take Breaks

It is not efficient to work all the time continuously. Doing so will simply backfire. Take breaks. A lunch break of 30 minutes will help you work more efficiently later in the afternoon. if you are not hungry just go for a walk or for some stretching. breaks will give you more energy and focus.

Schedule Non-work Stuff

One of the purposes for your time management is to find more time for your life and to help strike a work-life balance. Sprinkle non-work activities in your schedule throughout the week. This will keep you positive and more motivated. Schedule your snacks . breaks, workouts, recreation activities, friends gatherings, vacations and family time. Have some fun after finishing every important job. reward yourself with something, even if you have to pat on your own back.