Study after study has shown that procrastination can lead to unnecessary stress and it’s one of the major causes of stress in our society today. Study has also proven the connection between failing to take action and feeling of anxiety.

“Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging of an uncompleted task.” - William James.

If you always have a habit of putting off tasks because of fear or tend to avoid any event because you think that it’s terrifying, your FEAR has taken over you and has grown out of proportion. Every time you decide not to do something because you’re afraid of failing, your self-confidence takes another hit.

There is only one way to overcome the fear that you’re experiencing. You have to face it and force yourself to do the thing you fear. When you face your fear and do it anyway, your confidence gets a big boost. Soon you will laugh at the imaginary fears that have kept you from becoming the person you want to be. And the good news is that you can start to face your fear and do something about it today!

Establish your goals, prioritize them and measure your progress. Ask friends of yours or colleagues in the office for feedbacks. Adjust your goals if necessary. Reward yourself when you finish the jobs that you’ve set to do. If you’re a team leader in an organization and there are procrastinators in your team, get them to encourage each other. Help them to overcome their fear of getting things done. When I do the thing I fear, I try to recite a verse from the Bible: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:13)

Be as truthful as possible when estimating how long it will take to complete a task. Many of the tasks we put off are simple ones and they can cause unnecessary stress in our lives when they’ve grown out out of proportion. Think of a time when you took on a dreadful job and were able to complete it in much less time than you thought. Can you learn something from that experience and relate to those tasks that you’ve left undone?
Research shows that workers waste as much as a third of their workday. These same workers habitually complain about chronic stress that caused by not having enough time to finish their jobs. Can you see the connection? The less you accomplish, the more you’ll suffer from the sensation of stress and anxiety.

Keep a log of how much time you spend on things that you’re not supposed to do. Make a note of the things that could be done more efficiently. Try to do this for one full day. When you analyze your list, you may be surprised at how much waste has seeped into your work day. Treat those items as a list of wasteful activities that need to be kept in check or completely eliminated. You probably can’t identify and control everything but try to eliminate those things that you can control.

Like what Mad Hatter said in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland…
“If you knew time as well as I do, you wouldn’t talk about wasting it.”

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The following quiz will help you identify areas where a negative attitude has been keeping you from taking charge of your life. Answer “yes” to the statements that describe you.

1. I get discouraged when I think about all the problems I have.

2. I often wonder why my life is not as rewarding as it could be; many people around me seem to be living more satisfying lives than I am.

3. I have trouble focusing on my goals; I’m easily distracted at work.

4. I tend to put off getting started on projects because I’m always thinking about the things that can go wrong.

If you answered “yes” to any of the above statements, make a commitment to start retooling your attitude today. Read motivational books, listen to inspirational recordings, and associate with positive thinkers.

We cause our own feelings; I am the major cause of my own problems. Don’t let a negative attitude stand in the way of your happiness in life. Never make an important decision when you’re feeling down. What is your best time for making decisions? What is your worst time? What is your best time for working on difficult tasks? Is there a time of day when you tend to procrastinate more? Is there a time of day when you tend to procrastinate less?

Here are some tips for improving your attitude that can help you take the first steps toward overcoming the procrastination monster:

- Focus on the result you want to achieve. The more you focus on problems, the more discouraged you’re likely to get. If you’re not getting what you want out of life, you probably suffer from a lack of focus. This is why procrastination is such a dangerous demon-it prevents us from focusing on our goals. Procrastinators focus on all the reasons not to move forward, instead of focusing on the goal they want to achieve.

- Give your full attention to whatever you’re doing. When you concentrate on the things that can go wrong, you can’t stay focused on the job you’re doing. Failure is the inevitable consequence of a lack of focus; if I think I’m going to do a bad job, I probably will-or I may never get started at all.

- Don’t focus on all the things that can go wrong. Focusing on the hazards involved in trying to do something will almost always convince you to give up before you start.

I’m not advising you to throw caution to the wind. Every task we undertake has things that can go wrong. Simply said, it’s enough to know what the dangers are, be prepared to respond to them, and then move ahead with the project - be confident in your ability to handle whatever that comes up.

People who dwell on all the things that can go wrong never get anything done. Productive people have learned to focus on opportunities and concentrate on the benefits of successfully completing a project. If you can do that, you would have won a major battle in the war against procrastination.

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