1 Start a daily mindfulness practice
An unexpected side-effect of learning mindfulness is less procrastination. It makes you aware of when you’re trying to avoid your feelings. It helps to ask, what am I trying to avoid here?

2 Try DUST
Ask yourself, is the reason I’m avoiding the task in question because it’s Difficult, Undefined, Scary or Tedious? If it’s difficult, ask yourself, who can help me with this? If it’s undefined, ask more questions or spend more time thinking about actually needs to be done so you can identify a specific task you need to do first. If it’s scary, then ask yourself, what’s the worst thing that could happen and what you would do if it did? If it’s tedious, then find a way of making yourself accountable, by perhaps promising someone you’ll do it by a certain date, so your motivation becomes not letting them down

3 Use the Zeigarnik effect
Rather than waiting for difficult feelings to pass, and that mythical time when you’ll suddenly ‘feel like’ doing whatever it is you’ve been avoiding, just get started. Even if it’s just a small or half-hearted attempt, once a project is underway, chances are you’ll carry on. Psychologists call this the ‘Zeigarnik effect,’ an innate drive to tie up loose ends and finish things that we’ve started.

4 Set time boundaries
Many of us are paralysed by the thought of the hours stretching ahead of us with nothing to do but the task we’re trying to avoid. One of the most popular motivation tricks, the Pomodoro technique, involves setting a kitchen timer (the inventor used one in the shape of a Pomodoro tomato, which where the name came from) for a period of time that works for you, which might be just 10 minutes, half an hour or 45 minutes. Then remove yourself from all other distractions apart from the task in hand until the timer buzzes.

5 Use ‘precrastination’
Doing a bit of ‘precrastination’ or getting organised before you start can help generate momentum. You get a little dopamine hit every time you finish something which spurs you on. So tidy your desk, clear your inbox, empty the dishwasher or plump up the sofa cushions – whatever makes you feel organised. But precrastination only remains a positive force if you put a boundary on it. If it goes on to long, it becomes a form of procrastination. After 15 minutes of tidying and sorting, ask yourself, ‘Is this the most important thing I could be doing right now?’

6 Do some ‘time travelling’
Vividly imagining yourself at a point in the future having achieved your goal can help shift procrastination over bigger tasks or life changes. It’s a technique used by the renowned therapist Milton Erickson – he asked his clients to picture themselves having achieved whatever it was they were stuck, then asked them to describe in detail how they got there. The theory is that working mentally backwards from your goal not only helps you break it down into smaller steps, it also reveals the order in which things need to be done. Try taking a large piece of paper, putting your end result at the top, then asking, ‘What needs to happen just before that to make that possible?’ Write that down, then ask yourself the question again and write down the answer, until you reach the bottom of your ‘ladder’, which is where you start.

READ MORE – Why do I procrastinate?