Many of us like to put thing off till the last minute. There are many reasons why people procrastinate. Lack of desire, lack of motivation, fear of failure, lack of self-esteem or confidence, overwhelmed with too many unproductive activities or just simply plain lazy.

Procrastination can be a hard nut to crack once it has become a habit. So do not let it to grow larger and larger until it overwhelms your life. It can give you enormous stress and ruin your life. If you feel that you are a procrastinator, take step to stop it today!

Here are five simple ways to help you stop procrastination:

1. Get organized. Start by tidying up your work desk, organize and put things you use everyday in their places. Do the same with your house or apartment as well. If you have children, teach them to put things in their places. And the best way to teach them is to set a good example. If you make it a habit to tidy up things around you, your children will pick up this good habit as well.
2. Focus on your goals. In the hustle and bustle world we’re living in, often times, we’re overwhelmed with tasks that we don’t know where to start. So, take time to list down all the tasks and sort out those that are important in accomplishing your goals. Focus and pay more attention to those tasks that will move you closer to your goals.
3. Be accountable and take responsibility for your own life. Share the goals or projects you want to accomplish with your loved ones and closed friends. By sharing, you’re essentially creating an accountability for yourself. Most of us want others to think highly of us, this is human’s nature. So the more people know your goals, the more likely you will take action.
4. Set deadlines to your tasks or projects. This is very important because nothing you get done if there is no deadline. Deadlines will give you a sense of urgency to take action and put a halt to procrastination.
5. Stay motivated. There are many things you can do to stay motivated. First, of course you must have a goal or desire for success. Then, help yourself to stay motivated. You can read books that are inspirational, attend seminars and hang around with people who are positive. When you accomplish a goal (no matter how small it is), reward yourself for a job well done.

So here you have them, five simple steps to stop procrastination on its track. Make sure you start to apply them in your daily life.

There are various reasons as to why people procrastinate… lack of confidence, fear of failing, low self-esteem, lack of focus, lack of skills or just simply plain lazy. Whatever the reason is, it’s got to be stopped otherwise you will always feel regretful. You will also feel that your life is very disorganized and scattered. Nothing important seems to get done and you will feel that you have no goal in life. Procrastination can ruin your life.

Let’s look at some of the most common reasons people procrastinate and tips that can help you overcome procrastination.

Lack of Confidence

Well, lack of confidence is normally due to lack of knowledge and skills to do something. The only solution to overcome this is to learn and build confidence. Lack of confidence is like a table without the legs. In order to be stable, a table needs to have four legs. Similarly, to have confidence, you need knowledge. This is easy to achieve as long as you are willing to start learning.

Fear of Failure

This is normal as most people are risk averse. People don’t like to take risk and experience changes in their life. Most people prefer to be in a comfort zone. However, in today fast-changing world, the comfort zone is actually the danger zone. Most successful people take calculated risk, it is the only way to get ahead in life. Of course, any risk – no matter how calculated it is – comes a chance of failure. But successful people are not afraid of failure, they understand that failure is part of success. They learn from their failure and then they gather energy to multiply their success.

Lack of Focus

We all know that success needs motivation and hard works… but more importantly it needs you to be laser focused! In order to accomplish something great, you need to put your mind to success. If you don’t put your mind to it, no matter how hard you work or how motivated you are, without focus, you will always feel that you are wandering around and missing out the goals. So, you must set goals, plan and focus on those activities that will move you closer to your goals. That’s the only way you can overcome procrastination and start edging towards your goals.

Lack of Self Esteem and Motivation

Lack of self-esteem prevents you from completing the easiest task. Why? Either because you do not feel you are worthy of the challenge, or because you feel you are not good enough to complete it. Motivation is a good place to begin. Start with an easy task first; then gradually work your way up to full completion. Your confidence will build; you will feel more positive about what you can accomplish, and you will be less likely to avoid the next task at hand.

Last but not least, if you procrastinate because you are simply plain lazy then I have three words for you… “don’t be lazy!”. If you’re lazy, nobody can really help you except yourself. Another good way to deal with laziness is to associate yourself with other people who are not lazy. Hopefully they can help influence and perk you up.

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.”

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.