In the coaching world, curing procrastination is one of the top “fix me” requests.

“Why do I put things off until the last minute?”

“Why can’t I just make myself do the reports/workouts/cold calls?”

“Why do I have issues with this?”

Any coach worth her salt will change the subject from why to how.“How” is where it’s at!

Here are a few methods that can help you outsmart even the most ingrained procrastination habits:

1. When you fail at something, complete a task that you would normally procrastinate. I know it’s not fashionable to talk about failure, but we all mess up occasionally—so stay with me. Let’s say you had a particularly clunky, unsuccessful interaction with a client you were hoping to close, or perhaps you were late and missed your child’s parent/teacher conference. Channel that anger and disappointment into knocking off a few to-dos that you usually leave until the last minute. Not only will you have used your less-than-ideal emotional state wisely, you will actually feel betterThen you can say to yourself, “Well, I blew it on that one, but I got my report handed in early for the first time in ten years.”
2. Be aware of what gets onto your list starting now. Sure, much of what we do is in the “have to” column, but many, many other to-dos are self-imposed based on our values, goals and the roles we choose in our lives. Is this really a good time to enroll in that on-line class? Is it really, absolutely necessary to host every gathering for your extended family?For the next three weeks, really think through every single yes to make sure it is not something that will land on that procrastination list later.
3. Use task completion as a cheap thrill. Once we decide that an item is on our to-do list it gains the capacity to affect how we feel about ourselves. It would be great if this was not true, but for most of us, it is very true. But you can use this to your advantage if you begin to notice how good crossing off a to-do feels.The longer we put something off, the worse we feel, and that feeling grows and grows far beyond the pain of actually completing the task. Knock a few items off your list today and see how you feel.
   Then repeat.

“Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.” Don Marquis

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