Procrastination, habit of putting tasks off to last possible minute, can be a major problem in both your career and your personal life. Missed opportunities, frenzied work hours, stress, overwhelm, resentment, and guilt are just some of symptoms. This article will explore root causes of procrastination and give you several practical tools to overcome it.

Replace "Have To" With "Want To"

First, thinking that you absolutely have to do something is a major reason for procrastination. When you tell yourself that you have to do something, you're implying that you're being forced to do it, so you'll automatically feel a sense of resentment and rebellion. Procrastination kicks in as a defense mechanism to keep you away from this pain. If task you are putting off has a real deadline, then when deadline gets very close, sense of pain associated with task becomes overridden by much greater sense of pain if you don't get started immediately.

The solution to this first mental block is to realize and accept that you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. Even though there may be serious consequences, you are always free to choose. No one is forcing you to run your business way you do. All decisions you've made along way have brought you to where you are today. If you don't like where you've ended up, you're free to start making different decisions, and new results will follow. Also be aware that you don't procrastinate in every area of your life. Even worst procrastinators have areas where they never procrastinate. Perhaps you never miss your favorite TV show, or you always manage to check your favorite online forums each day. In each situation freedom of choice is yours. So if you're putting off starting that new project you feel you "have to" do this year, realize that you're choosing to do it of your own free will. Procrastination becomes less likely on tasks that you openly and freely choose to undertake.

Replace "Finish It" With "Begin It"

Secondly, thinking of a task as one big whole that you have to complete will virtually ensure that you put it off. When you focus on idea of finishing a task where you can't even clearly envision all steps that will lead to completion, you create a feeling of overwhelm. You then associate this painful feeling to task and delay as long as possible. If you say to yourself, "I've got to do my taxes today," or "I must complete this report," you're very likely to feel overwhelmed and put task off.

The solution is to think of starting one small piece of task instead of mentally feeling that you must finish whole thing. Replace, "How am I going to finish this?" with "What small step can I start on right now?" If you simply start a task enough times, you will eventually finish it. If one of projects you want to complete is to clean out your garage, thinking that you have to finish this big project in one fell swoop can make you feel overwhelmed, and you'll put it off. Ask yourself how you can get started on just one small part of project. For example, go to your garage with a notepad, and simply write down a few ideas for quick 10-minute tasks you could do to make a dent in piles of junk. Maybe move one or two obvious pieces of junk to trash can while you're there. Don't worry about finishing anything significant. Just focus on what you can do right now. If you do this enough times, you'll eventually be starting on final piece of task, and that will lead to finishing.

Replace Perfectionism With Permission To Be Human

A third type of erroneous thinking that leads to procrastination is perfectionism. Thinking that you must do job perfectly first try will likely prevent you from ever getting started. Believing that you must do something perfectly is a recipe for stress, and you'll associate that stress with task and thus condition yourself to avoid it. You then end up putting task off to last possible minute, so that you finally have a way out of this trap. Now there isn't enough time to do job perfectly, so you're off hook because you can tell yourself that you could have been perfect if you only had more time. But if you have no specific deadline for a task, perfectionism can cause you to delay indefinitely. If you've never even started that project you always wanted to do really well, could perfectionism be holding you back?

The solution to perfectionism is to give yourself permission to be human. Have you ever used a piece of software that you consider to be perfect in every way? I doubt it. Realize that an imperfect job completed today is always superior to perfect job delayed indefinitely. Perfectionism is also closely connected to thinking of task as one big whole. Replace that one big perfectly completed task in your mind with one small imperfect first step. Your first draft can be very, very rough. You are always free to revise it again and again. For example, if you want to write a 5000-word article, feel free let your first draft be only 100 words if it helps you get started. That's less than length of this paragraph.

Replace Deprivation With Guaranteed Fun

A fourth mental block is associating deprivation with a task. This means you believe that undertaking a project will offset much of pleasure in your life. In order to complete this project, will you have to put rest of your life on hold? Do you tell yourself that you will have to go into seclusion, work long hours, never see your family, and have no time for fun? That's not likely to be very motivating, yet this is what many people do when trying to push themselves into action. Picturing an extended period of working long hours in solitude with no time for fun is a great way to guarantee procrastination.

But prospect of doing tough stuff doesn't have to stop you cold. To that end, I've been teasing out some different ways you can keep going. Here are a few of my favorites:

*Play music. I learned this when I started running, or 'jogging' as we called it back in 70's. Clamping on headphones made it go so much better. Even today, as I pound treadmill, it's just so much easier if I've got country music videos playing along while I work out.

In fact, I recently saw a movie in which a soldier talks about overcoming his fear and going into battle by listening to heavy metal music piped into his helmet. Neurosurgeons, emergency room docs, and others in high-pressure operating theaters often play lightly upbeat, soothing music to keep stress under control as they work.

*'Bookend it'. This is a phrase 12-steppers wisely use for calling up a supportive friend before AND after a tough task … just so you're accountable out there to someone. Use phone or email and make that connection. You'll be less likely to procrastinate your way out of it.

*Delegate. Got a task you just can't somehow do? I always have three or four lurking around edges of my desk, until day I rise up and give it away. Hire a local teenager, elderly person who wouldn't mind a little light work, a family member, or even a local odd-jobs person to come in one day and give you a hand with all or your 'hard stuff.' If problem seems to be on-going, hire a Virtual Assistant, from one of on-line sources like AssistU.com. This is a person you hire on an hourly basis, usually in some other part of country, who helps you electronically with all kinds of administrative needs. If you can't afford to find help, buddy up with a friend and offer to do each other's 'hard stuff' in an even swap.

*Plan a big, juicy reward. We're talking one you seriously want …and nastier task, bigger reward. If you must, combine this with book-ending, to make sure you not only do task, but reward yourself as well.

*Dare yourself to not do it. Really imagine life without this particular task completed. Then see what consequences are. Truly dire? If not, maybe you can actually drop hard thing from your to-do list. On other hand, will you be disappointed? Will things just not seem right somehow? Better use that image of disappointment to move your dream along.