this one is easy and complicated at the same time.

You have to start removing compulsive distractions, music, tv,.. THE INTERNET.

Its not enough most times to just turn it off because it can be turned on just as easily, and your subconscious isn’t stupid.

Go somewhere where you cannot access the net, watch tv, or …. You get the picture. Give your mind a chance to relax, make sure you have slept well, exercised (even a walk is good), and eaten healthy.

This will give you good shot of staying focused. Focus is like any other muscle it takes practice, you wont be good at stopping procrastination at first. Practice makes perfect.

Dont try to go all out at first, try 15min in the beginning then a break slowly increase that to an hour to activities you want to get done. If you jump right in and try to do 6hrs of something, its like jumping into freezing cold water, you wont get your body to cooperate with you the second time ;) Build trust, go slow.

With a little patience you’ll do well.

Good luck!

To stop procrastinating you have to eliminate all destratctions and decide that you MUST get whatever you want to get done, done.

You need to remember that you have to pace yourself and not try to get everything done. It’s like breaking anyother habit. You don’t just wake up one morning and not have your habit anymore. You have to work at it everyday.

By the way, if you need to do something on the computer (like in word) then DON’T get into the internet. Once you get on it’s almost impossible not to be destracted.

Best of luck!

Another thing that you can do is eliminate tasks from your to-do list. The less of a burden you have, the less you will freak out when you realize how much you have to do. :)

While you are working thing about the benefits of not procastinating. The temptation to procrastinate is always there for me but I never do because in the back of my mind, I realize that if I procrastinate, I will be rushed to get the job done and I won’t have as much time, may have to pull an all nighter, might have to rush and not do as good a job etc. Also for me, watching TV, playing a game, etc. is a lot more enjoyable if I don’t have work looming over my head.

You procrastinate when you lose interest in your current task and your mind starts to look for more challenging
stuff,truth is when you are really into something you like not even the second coming would distract you
from it, however, even in dream jobs, there would be tasks that you don’t like (more if you are
an intellectual snob) but then, that’s why they pay you to do it.

Find your attention span, take the time between you start a task and the time you stop it to do something else without finishing
the task at hand, take an average, when I tried the first time mine was around 5 minutes.

Take a task and do a list of subtasks you can complete in your average focus time (i.e. 5 minutes tasks) and do them in the spot (took this
from GTD)

install an eggtimer software (or a real one) and put it to chime every 5 minutes, that way either if a task is taking more
than the 5 minutes or you are doing something else the chime would remember you what YOU SHOULD BE DOING :-)

If the task is taking more, stop it, take another task (totally different to the one at hand and start on that one), move what’s left
of the pending task to the next cycle (I use to switch project tasks every half an hour) if you allow your mind to realize
it’s going to commit a lot of time in a task it doesn’t like it subsconsciously do everything at hand to stop you from working
on it, if you keep it under your distraction span it won’t matter, you’ll be finishing it by working at it brute force.

Plan your schedule before going to work and ask people to respect it, emergencies do happen, but that’s different as to be in a permanent
state of emergency because of bad planning of someone else.

Planning involves (please read the GTD Book, they explain this there in an excellent way!!) to be sure you have all the info you need to get the task done, down to the detail, if your mind realized a part is missing won’t tell you but we’ll keep you from starting the task (because you actually know a key part is missing but its an excuse to do something else).

Once you get your day plan, start the timer and mark your completed tasks as you finish them. Before notice it would be noon and you’ll had finished your day tasks.

Don’t procrastinate by over-planning or worse finding ways in the net of how not to procrastinate hehehe.

Good luck!

Some people procrastinate because they are afraid of failure. They fear that they can’t deliver, so they procrastinate to avoid working on their goals or obligations and thus when they finally fail they can say ‘I failed because I procrastinated’ and ‘I failed because I was incompetent’. People who procrastinate for this reason must understand that they have nothing to fear!

Your question has wonderful responses. I’ve found that this site helps me to not procrastinate. I’ve been making goals under my “stop procrastinating” thing and completing them. When I have big things I’m procrastinating, I break them down into steps and deal with it a step at a time.

I’d recommend Stephen Covey: “First Things First”.

Great book!!

I find making lists really helpful. Don’t make them too long though, or you’ll get overwhelmed. Try making a list for the day, of a few things that you can feasibly do and cross them out as you go. :)

I overcame this by looking at my goal from a positive standpoint. So ‘stop procrastinating’ became ‘start doing things as I think of them’. Then everytime I achieved something I made a note of it, soon enough I gained more confidence and momentum.
Hope this helps you too ;)