“Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.”

~ William James

You know you should be working, but you just don’t feel like doing anything.

To procrastinate means to keep delaying something that must be done, often because it is unpleasant or boring.

It’s one of the most common concerns I hear from students.

Whether it’s waiting to start a project until the night before the due date or beginning tomorrow’s homework at 10 PM, procrastination is a regular way of life for many students.

We squander away our free time and put off important tasks we should be doing them till it’s too late.

All of us have went through this problem. Most of the time it’s all about the following reasons:

• Poor study routine
• Not knowing where to start
• Lack of clarity about the desired outcome
• Distractions
• Too many commitments
• Fear of failure

What you can do…

Consider trying one or more of the following strategies and find out which one can work for you.

Take five minutes to list out the things “you were going to do tomorrow.”

On a blank sheet of paper, note several important activities you are delaying or have put on hold.

This way, you know you have to finish each task by a certain date. Your timelines must be robust, too – i.e. if you don’t finish this by today, it’s going to jeopardize everything else you have planned after that.

Put the energy you’ve been directing toward excuses into the activity you’ve been avoiding. Action eliminates anxiety.

Stop over-complicating things.

Are you waiting for a perfect time to do this? That maybe now is not the best time because of X, Y, Z reasons? Ditch that thought because there’s never a perfect time. If you keep waiting for one, you are never going to accomplish anything. Perfectionism is one of the biggest reasons for procrastination. We can’t be perfect, so deal with it.

What counts is quality of effort, not perfect results. Don’t let yourself get bogged down with a preoccupation for perfectionism.

Become more self-aware.

Giving yourself this little reprieve relieves the stress temporarily and reinforces the neural pathways associated with procrastination, making it just a bit easier to fall victim to procrastination again, 5 minutes later.

Try this next time you find yourself facing this never-ending cycle. Next time you’re about to start a task and you feel a voice in your head telling you to “check your email, it might be important!”, or “I wonder if anyone commented on my Facebook status”, resist the urge. Tell yourself you’ll just resist it this one time.

Block out distractions.

What does this mean for someone trying to get rid of procrastination? It means that just knowing that Facebook or Reddit is one click away can make it more likely that you’ll get distracted and start procrastinating. While you might be able to resist the temptation during the first half of your work day, as you expend energy focusing, you’ll become more and more likely to give into temptation and start procrastinating.

Hang out with people who inspire you to take action.

I’m pretty sure if you spend just 10 minutes talking to Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, you’ll be more inspired to act than if you spent the 10 minutes doing nothing. The people we are with influence our behaviors. Of course spending time with Steve Jobs/Bill Gates every day is probably not a feasible method, but the principle applies. Identify the people/friends/colleagues who trigger you – most likely the go-getters and hard workers – and hang out with them more often. Soon you will inculcate their drive and spirit too. As a personal development blogger, I “hang out” with inspiring personal development experts by reading their blogs and corresponding with them regularly via email/social media. It’s communication via new media and it works all the same.

Get a grip and just do it.