Wouldn’t you love to get rid of procrastination once and for all?

It seems like every week I end up finishing my blog posts at the last minute. I dislike the anxiety and pressure that come from working during “crunch time”. It doesn’t seem to matter that I start five or six days before my post is due. I still find myself, more often than not, sitting in front of my computer screen the day before I need to publish my work.

A week ago, I told my wife, “I’ve resolved to churn out content faster. I’m tired of writing at the last minute!” I went on set a new goal to finish my posts in less time so that I can publish more often.

Wouldn’t you like to be more productive too? Would you like to get rid of anxious feelings and the pressure that come with needing to get important work done?

See if a few of these strategies don’t just increase your productivity and help you overcome procrastination.

1. Chunk It.

A lot of the times, big projects freeze us in our tracks. They’re overwhelming when we try to take them in all at once.

Neil Fiore, author of The Now Habit, compares taking in a massive project all at once to pressing your nose up against the base of a skyscraper and peering up at the top, trying to take the whole building in. It gives you the shakes.

One of the best ways to beat the fear you feel at the start of a big project is to break it up. Organize it into small, doable chunks that aren’t so scary. Instead of thinking about the mountain you’ve got to climb, just think about the first 5 to 10 steps you’ve got to take. You can finish any project if you see it as a series of small, interconnected tasks.

This is the advice David Allen gives in his book Getting Things Done. He says that we avoid projects because we fail to break them into action steps. If you need to get the oil changed in your car, Allen says, you really need to 1) call your friend and ask for the number of the garage he recommends, 2) phone the garage to schedule an oil change, and, finally, 3) take your car into the shop.

But until you break a project into small action steps, it’ll continue to be, as one of Allen’s clients put it, an “amorphous [blob] of undoability”. Get rid of procrastination by chunking it!

2. Plan a Reward.

In his book, Neil Fiore also observes that we procrastinate because we tell ourselves we’ll never have fun again. While that’s a lie, we often believe it. We fret and guiltily indulge in the fun we want to enjoy while procrastinating our work.

The way to overcome the lie of “no more fun” is to plan something you can look forward to.

Plan, for instance, a get together with good friends. Put a movie showing on your calendar. Or schedule some time to read. Whatever gets you excited will work.

Then, bargain with yourself. Tell yourself that you’ll work, for example, a couple hours in exchange for some downtime.

Fiore recommends completing focus sessions that are at least thirty minutes long. Set a timer, and work for the whole time. When you reach the benchmark, reward yourself by doing what you planned. The longer you work, the more fun you should have.

3. Stop at a High Point.

Getting started is one of the most difficult things to do. It’s often what keeps us procrastinating. Use momentum to your advantage.

Instead of stopping at a point where you’re stuck, take a break in the middle of a task where you know what you’re doing. Then, the next time you pick up your work, starting won’t be nearly as challenging. You’ll know exactly what to do, quickly enter a state of flow, and get rid of procrastination.

4. Use a Timer.

Instead of worrying about getting a certain amount of work done, try working for a set amount of time in exchange for a break. The Pomodoro timer works great for this.

Try setting it for 30 minutes.

When you finish your session, it’ll ring and show another timer with 5 minutes of break time. I like to use this break to peruse the internet, check email, and click around on Facebook. Anything that’s relaxing should work for you.

Getting started and working for a set amount of time is much easier when you have break time to look forward to.

Another benefit of using a timer is that, once you get started, you’ll likely want to keep going. While I usually plan to work for 30 minutes, I often work longer. I want to make the most of the state of flow I’m in. So I may work for 45 minutes or an hour.

5. Prioritize.

You can eliminate much of your stress by prioritizing your most important projects. Steven Covey’s quadrants from The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People are a must. He breaks all work into four categories: 1) important, 2) not important, 3) urgent, and 4) not urgent.

Covey recommends focusing your energy on important, urgent matters first. These are the crises and projects that need to get done immediately.

Devote the rest of your time to important, not urgent matters. This quadrant includes work such as long-term planning, important projects that won’t be due for a while, and new opportunities.

The other two quadrants are filled with distractions: spam email, interruptions, pointless meetings, and meaningless phone calls. Avoid these at all costs.

6. Free Your Mind.

We fail to get a lot of work done because we waste energy worrying about other work we need to do. Free up your mind and focus on the tasks that need to get done now by sorting your to-dos in a trustworthy system.

This is another David Allen nugget of gold. He recommends doing one of the following things with all of your to-dos:

• Put it on a calendar
• Place it in a physical or digital inbox
• Write it on a to-do list
• File it in a physical or digital cabinet

Where you put to-dos depends on what kind they are. I highly recommend you check out Getting Things Done to learn Allen’s organizational system. You’ll thank yourself later!

7. Plan for Success.

Why not give your best energy to the work that you’ll be proud of? Get rid of procrastination by doing what motivates you.

Every morning, I start my day by picking three things I want to accomplish. I ask, “If I could only finish three, what would I do?” Answering this question before I start my day helps me focus on what matters. And it keeps me from feelings of disappointment that come from failing to accomplish work that matters

My secret weapon for starting the day right is the 5-Minute Journal.

8. Customize Your Deadlines.

Some people need the pressure of a deadline to get into gear. (I’m talking about you, my perceiver friends.) Don’t worry: There’s hope for you too.

A great way for you to accelerate your productivity and get rid of procrastination is to create artificial deadlines. Instead of depending on the ones given to you by your employer or customer, make up your own. Just make sure you follow through.

If you tell yourself, you’ll only work on a project until Wednesday. Don’t cheat! Do what you can late Wednesday night. And stop when the time’s up.

Parkinson’s Law says tasks expand to fill up the time allotted for their completion. If you give yourself two weeks, you’ll use two. But if you give yourself three days, you’ll have 11 extra ones to do something you enjoy.

What are your favorite ways to get rid of procrastination?