7 Ways to Avoid

Procrastination
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................................................. 1
CHAPTER 1: WHAT WE MUST KNOW ABOUT PROCRASTINATION ................................................................. 2
WHAT IS PROCRASTINATION? ............................................................................................................................................................... 2
IS PROCRASTINATION JUST A HABIT? ................................................................................................................................................... 2
CHAPTER 2: HOW/WHY WE PROCRASTINATE ....................................................................................................... 4
FEAR .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
PERFECTIONISM....................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
LAZINESS................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
CHAPTER 3: PITFALLS OF PROCRASTINATION ...................................................................................................... 6
STRESS ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
ANGER ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
DECREASED SOCIAL LIFE ........................................................................................................................................................................ 6
PHYSICAL PROBLEMS .............................................................................................................................................................................. 6
CHAPTER 4: HOW TO OVERCOME PROCRASTINATION ONCE AND FOR ALL ............................................... 8
STOP WAITING TO BE PERFECT, JUST DO IT.......................................................................................................................................... 8
KEEP AWAY FROM DISTRACTIONS ........................................................................................................................................................ 8
OVERCOME FEARS ................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
DO THE HARDEST THING FIRST ............................................................................................................................................................. 9
USING THE PAIN-PLEASURE PRINCIPLE ............................................................................................................................................ 10
TAKE REGULAR BREAKS ...................................................................................................................................................................... 10
EVALUATE/IMPROVE YOURSELF ....................................................................................................................................................... 11
CHAPTER 5: MISCELLANEOUS TIPS ON PROCRASTINATION .......................................................................... 12
DEALING WITH PROCRASTINATION IN YOUR HOME LIFE ............................................................................................................... 12
DEALING WITH PROCRASTINATION AT WORKPLACE ...................................................................................................................... 12
PROCRASTINATION AND YOUR RELATIONSHIPS .............................................................................................................................. 13
CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................................................... 14
Book Description
Are you the type of person that always has about a hundred things to get done, but
is rarely actually doing them?

If so, I think you may have a very common ailment—a parasite, really, that is sucking
out all of the potentials that you have. The name of this parasite is, of course,
‘Procrastination'.

If you want to rid yourself of this horrible creature and want to finally achieve
everything that you have the ability to achieve, then this is the book for you.

What you’ll learn in this book:

 What, exactly, procrastination is

 Pitfalls of procrastination
 Why you succumb to procrastination
 How to overcome this habit for good
 All about the pain-pleasure principle
 How to deal with procrastination in different aspects of life
 Much more!

Pick up this book if you want to improve your life and become the best version of
yourself that you possibly could be!
INTRODUCTION

Procrastination is a trap that every human on the planet has fallen into at one point
or another.

Kids at school put off doing their homework or studying for exams.

Adults at work postpone their projects, saying, “I’ll start it tomorrow.”

A stay-at-home mom will postpone doing the laundry, and a stay-at-home dad will
conveniently ‘forget’ to paint the shed every weekend.

You put off paying your bills until it’s almost too late, and you have to rush to the
bank frantically.

Procrastination is everywhere. It’s almost like a parasitic creature that sucks out all of
the potentials that you have instead of sucking blood.

If you are a chronic procrastinator, then fear not! This book will help you overcome
your problem.

Procrastination is a habit that, I believe, should be treated just like any other
addiction—because that’s what it is. An addiction. It’s something that can be very
difficult to let go of, for some people, and something that will require time, hard work,
patience, willpower and knowledge to overcome.

The purpose of this book is to help you with the ‘knowledge’ aspect. Everything else
is something that you are going to have to summon in yourself.

With that, it’s time for you to begin reading this book as we go on a journey to help
you stop procrastinating and to live up to all of your potential!

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CHAPTER 1: WHAT WE MUST KNOW ABOUT
PROCRASTINATION

This chapter is going to enlighten you with all the basic knowledge you need to have
when it comes to procrastination before you can actually remove it from your life. It’s
just like battling an enemy. Before you attack the enemy, you would need to do a lot
of research about them in order to know all of their weaknesses, right?

Let’s begin.

WHAT IS PROCRASTINATION?
First of all, what, exactly, is procrastination? Let’s have a look at the definition, for
those of you that don’t know.

“Procrastination is the act of putting off or delaying something, especially something

important.”

Sounds like something you’ve done before, doesn’t it?

Whatever it is that you’ve been delaying, whether it’s something small, like making
your bed, or something more important, such as returning money that you owe
someone, it is absolutely necessary for you to stop procrastinating.

The definition of procrastination is a pretty simple, easy to understand one, but the
horrible side effects of procrastination are anything but simple.

Many people believe that procrastinating isn’t a big deal, which it isn’t negatively
affecting them—but it is. There are so many downfalls of procrastination. We’ll talk
about those in a later chapter.

IS PROCRASTINATION JUST A HABIT?

Most people would include procrastination in the category of ‘habit’. You’ll often hear
people say, “I have a really bad habit: I procrastinate a lot.” and that’s also how I am
referring to it in this book.

So, yes, it is usually considered to be an annoying little habit; nothing more than that.

However, some people believe that when someone procrastinates on a regular

basis, it becomes more like a disorder than a simple habit.

People can become obsessed with all of the things that they aren’t getting done, and
they allow this useless obsession to take over their entire life.

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Life is a miracle, a blessing, and I believe that it is something that should not be
wasted. When you don’t allow yourself to enjoy your life because you are so caught
up in being a procrastinator, that’s when you know you absolutely need to stop.

As I said before, this is a ‘habit’ that needs to be treated more like an addiction.

Once you implement that into your mindset, you will be on the right path on the road
to improving yourself.

With that, let’s move on to the next chapter.

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CHAPTER 2: HOW/WHY WE PROCRASTINATE

This chapter is going to discuss the reasons that cause people to procrastinate. To
get rid of the problem, you have to identify the root cause.

Read all of the following possible causes of procrastination, and then try to figure out
which one applies to you. If you feel like none of them match your situation, then
think hard and try to find out what your reason for procrastinating is.

So many people come up with far-fetched excuses, such as “I’m too tired.” and “I’m
too stressed.” and even “I’m too arthritic!”

I’ve heard it all. You really have to applaud some of these people for how creative
their excuses get.

There are, in fact, only a few major reasons why people procrastinate.

FEAR
The very first cause of procrastination is fear. Some people may laugh at this and
say that they aren’t postponing things because they’re scared. If you truly believe
that, then it is possible that you don’t know yourself as well as you think you do.

It’s human nature to fear pain. In this case, it’s more about emotional pain than
physical.

We are always worried about the consequences of all of our actions, and how they’ll
make us feel—so we procrastinate. We think, “I don’t know if I’m ready to face this
yet. I’ll do it tomorrow.” and then say the same thing the next day, and the day after
that, and so on.

Instead of growing braver as the time passes, we, in fact, grow weaker-willed. Our
determination shrinks and shrinks until it has disappeared altogether, and we end up
not doing anything at all.

PERFECTIONISM
I’ve heard many people proudly proclaim, “I’m a perfectionist.” as if it is an amazing
quality to have.

A little bit of perfectionism is absolutely fine. It can be useful, at times.

However, when you let your perfectionism hinder you from getting things done and
living up to your potential, that’s when you need to sound the alarms.

People with perfectionistic tendencies procrastinate more so than people that are not
perfectionists. Does that not make sense to you? Keep reading.

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When people want everything they do and everything they achieve to be absolutely
flawless and have perfect results, they tend to get less done.

They become reluctant to do certain tasks, as they aren't sure if the outcome will be
‘perfect' or not. Therefore, they succumb to procrastination and then end up doing
nothing productive whatsoever.

This is a problem that you will need to address if you want to rid yourself of your
procrastinating habits.

For those of you that want to read more about how perfectionism can cause
procrastination, there will be a segment that discusses the subject in further detail.

LAZINESS
Ah, laziness. Something that everyone is guilty of, at times.

A little bit of laziness, once in a while, is not particularly harmful to anyone. When
you overdo it, though, it can cause quite a bit of damage.

Laziness is probably the most common reason why people procrastinate. They think
they’ll get it done when they don’t feel as sluggish, as tired…but they never actually
do it.

Laziness is not something that this book can get rid of for you—it is something that
you are going to have to decide to get rid of. If you don’t decide, wholeheartedly, to
stop being lazy, then you are never going to stop. No one else can make you get rid
of your lazy ways if you don’t truly want to.

There’s no such thing as a magic medication that can motivate you to stop being a
sloth. Just get up and go do what needs to be done!

The next chapter, however, might just help you a bit with the motivation.

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CHAPTER 3: PITFALLS OF PROCRASTINATION

This chapter is, hopefully, going to help motivate you to want to make a change.
We’re going to talk about all of the pitfalls of procrastination.

STRESS
The major side effect of procrastination is stress. When you need to get a task done,
but are continuously putting it off till later, you do, naturally, become anxious about it.

“Am I going to get it done in time?” and “What if I don’t get it done?” are questions
that you probably ask yourself when you are delaying something. These questions
only increase your stress levels, as you begin imagining ridiculous scenarios and
tormenting yourself.

ANGER
This side effect is related, in part, to the one that preceded it. It is a commonly known
fact that people that are extremely stressed are often very irritable. When you are
stressed because of all the procrastinating you are doing, you are much more likely
to lash out at the people around you—something you will definitely regret later.

DECREASED SOCIAL LIFE

Being a chronic procrastinator can negatively affect your social life. You usually stay
at home instead of going out with friends, because you’re so worried that you won’t
be able to complete all the tasks you have to get done if you go out…but then, even
when you isolate yourself, you still end up not doing what you need to get done!

It’s a lose-lose situation. So, instead of ruining your social life, why not try to summon
up the will to rid yourself of your addiction?

PHYSICAL PROBLEMS
Believe it or not, procrastination can cause some issues with your body, as well as
your mind. Let’s briefly talk about the physical side effects, all of which are mainly
caused by the stress that comes with procrastination.

One side effect is this horrible, nauseous feeling in the pit of your stomach. I’m sure
many of you are familiar with the feeling that I’m talking about—it’s the feeling you
get after you give a test tat you think you’ve failed, the feeling you get when you’re
about to be yelled at by your boss.

The next side effect is a headache. Stress can cause the most severe headaches,
which, of course, are very unpleasant.

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Lastly, all of the stress you are dealing with when you are procrastinating can lead to
insomnia.

Sleep is one of the bare necessities for humans, along with food, water, etc. It is
recommended by most experts to get at least six to eight hours of sleep.

Many hardcore procrastinators find themselves unable to sleep at all, because they
are so worried about the tasks that they need to get done, They lie awake all night,
calculating how much time they have left to complete the job, and how they’re going
to manage.

I hope this chapter convinced you to begin working hard in order to improve yourself
and stop procrastinating!

Let’s move on.

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CHAPTER 4: HOW TO OVERCOME
PROCRASTINATION ONCE AND FOR ALL

This chapter is going to be the most useful one when it comes to ridding yourself of
your procrastinating habits. You absolutely cannot skip this one!

STOP WAITING TO BE PERFECT, JUST DO IT

Perfectionism is something that we touched on in the second chapter of this book. I
thought, however, that it was necessary to provide a little bit of extra motivation for
all of the perfectionists reading this.

You have to read this very carefully, now.

There is no such thing as perfection. There never has been, and there never will be.
You are not perfect, and procrastinating will not make you any more perfect than if
you didn’t procrastinate.

You need to stop waiting for that so-called ‘right' time when you'll be fully prepared
when you'll be ready to do everything perfectly. That time will never, ever come.

Sometimes, you just need to take the plunge and disregard whether you’re ready or
not. If the risk pays off, then that is absolutely amazing. If it doesn’t, then it doesn’t
matter. Try to learn from that mistake.

It’s hard to stop striving for perfection, but it definitely isn’t impossible.

KEEP AWAY FROM DISTRACTIONS

These days, distractions are everywhere. Cell phones, televisions, computers,
books, pets…nearly everything is a distraction!

What you need to do is to make a mental list of what distracts you, personally, the
most.

Then, when you need to get something done, try to leave those distractions
somewhere where you can’t get to them.

For example, if you find that your cell phone distracts you when you’re working on a
project at your workplace, try to leave it at home.

This way, you are much less likely to procrastinate.

If you feel like your pet dog is always distracting you at home when you're trying to
get something done, try leaving him with a friend for a couple of days. Yes, I know it

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can be difficult to part with pets, even temporarily, but sometimes you need to make
sacrifices in order to improve.

Whatever the distraction is, just try to keep away from it for a while.

OVERCOME FEARS
As we talked about earlier, fear is a major reason why people procrastinate. So what
better way to stop procrastinating, than to rid yourself of your fears?

Whether it is your fear of failure, of not being perfect, or of something else that is
preventing you from achieving everything that you have the ability to achieve, you
need to try and overcome that fear.

If you are afraid of failure and imperfection, ask yourself “So what, if I fail?”

Think about the worst that could happen if you fail. You’ll get yelled at, maybe? You’ll
be told to try again?

Well, so what?! You need to accept the fact that failure is a part of life and a part of
success. No one that is extremely successful did everything perfectly, right from the
start.

Give everything your best shot, but don’t procrastinate simply because you are
afraid.

DO THE HARDEST THING FIRST

The title of this segment says it all.

When you have a number of things that you have to get done, you need to learn how
to prioritize. Think carefully about each task you need to do, and then decide which
one is the most difficult, the most urgent and the most unpleasant one. The one that
you really don’t want to do.

Then, grit your teeth and go do it!

It is a difficult thing to do, but all it requires is a little bit of willpower. That’s all.

The reason why this is a good thing to do is because, once you get the hardest thing
out of the way, everything else begins to look a little bit easier, a little bit more
doable.

When everything else looks easier, you are less likely to want to procrastinate.

If you can just summon enough determination to finish that one hard task, the rest of
the tasks will be a piece of cake!

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USING THE PAIN-PLEASURE PRINCIPLE
Every action that a person makes in their life will cause at least one of the following:
short-term pain, long-term pain, short-term pleasure, long-term pleasure.

The pain-pleasure principle is a great way to get yourself to stop procrastinating.

Everyone is motivated by two things: pain and pleasure. You can use these two
things to your advantage.

When you have a task that you want to get done, think of how bad you will feel if you
don’t do it. Think of all the horrible consequences of not getting the task done. Now,
use this vision of ‘long-term pain’ to motivate yourself to get up and get to work.

The other thing you could do is to imagine all the good things that will come as a
result of getting the task at hand done. Imagine yourself getting that promotion that
you’ve always wanted, treating your family to ice cream, buying yourself some new
shoes…Then, use that vision of long-term pleasure to convince yourself to do the
task!

When you finally stop procrastinating and start working on the job you need to do,
you are causing yourself short-term pain (whether it is physical or mental pain) while
focusing on the long-term pleasure that you will achieve.

This method has worked for even the most hardcore procrastinators, so give it a
shot!

TAKE REGULAR BREAKS

The title of this segment might be a little bit confusing to some people.

“Isn’t procrastinating basically like taking one big break, anyway?” is something that
I’ve heard a couple of procrastinators say when it was suggested for them to try
taking regular breaks.

While it is true that procrastinating is, in a way, like “one big break”, a lack of breaks
can actually cause procrastinators to procrastinate more than if they didn’t take
breaks!

When you are working on a task, try to take very short, but regular, breaks. For
example, you could work for an hour and then rest for ten minutes.

Set some sort of alarm so that you don’t end up taking a longer break than planned,
or tell a coworker or family member to force you to get back to work after those ten
minutes have passed.

When you are working for hours and hours at a time, you are more tempted to just
abandon the task altogether, which is a big no-no.

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Breaks are definitely your friend when used correctly.

However, it is also important to make sure you don’t start using your phone or TV
during these breaks! Have a healthy snack and some water or juice, and then get
right back to work.

EVALUATE/IMPROVE YOURSELF
In order to overcome procrastination, you have to perform an honest self-evaluation.

First of all, make a mental list of all the things you are putting off. Think long and
hard as you compile that list.

The next thing that you need to do is to admit to yourself that you are a
procrastinator and that you do, in fact, have a problem. Acceptance is the very first
step on the road to improvement.

Once you’ve come to terms with that fact, you need to try to create a plan. You know
yourself better than other people—better than I do—therefore you are the best
person to decide what method will work for you and help you rid yourself of your bad
habit.

Consider what has worked for you in the past, and what has been completely
useless when it comes to motivating yourself. Then use that to give you an idea of
how you can overcome your procrastinating ways.

When you are performing this self-evaluation, you need to make sure to be honest
with yourself! It’s very easy to lie to yourself and say, “I’m not a procrastinator.” when
you know, deep down, that you are.

Accept that it is an issue, and then honestly decide to work on it.

That concludes this chapter on how you can overcome procrastination for good.
Follow all of the advice in this chapter meticulously, and I guarantee that you will be
able to stop (or at least cut down on) procrastinating!

Let’s move on to the very last chapter of the book.

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CHAPTER 5: MISCELLANEOUS TIPS ON
PROCRASTINATION

This chapter is going to be all about how to deal with procrastination at home, at
work and in regards to your relationships.

DEALING WITH PROCRASTINATION IN YOUR HOME LIFE

Your home is the easiest place to procrastinate, simply because of all the tempting
distractions. There are usually many more distractions in your house than at work.

One way to deal with procrastination is to get rid of the distractions, as we discussed
previously. You could tell your sibling or parent to keep your computer and your cell
phone—whatever the distraction is—away from you.

If you don’t want to do this, or if you can’t do this, then you might want to consider
asking a family member or a friend to help you out with whatever task you need to
get done.

For example, if you need to mow the lawn, why not ask someone to do it with you?

That way, you can motivate each other to do the task until it’s complete, without
quitting halfway. In addition to this, having a partner also makes things a lot more
entertaining than if you had done the task alone.

DEALING WITH PROCRASTINATION AT WORKPLACE

So many people are guilty of procrastinating at work. Snoozing at your desk,
browsing the web when you’re supposed to be working, secretly munching on a
candy bar instead of writing the article that your boss told you to finish…have you
done any of these things before? Or something similar?

If so, this segment is for you.

Just like at home, you need to make sure there are no distractions around you. If you
are prone to wasting time on certain websites, download an application that blocks
those websites.

Don’t bring a bunch of candy bars to work, and switch your phone off or leave it at
home.

At home, you can ask family members to keep you on track. At work, ask your
coworkers to do the same. You need to be strict with yourself, and you need to ask
others to be strict with you.

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If there is a TV in your office, turn it off and take the plug out. Focus on the task at
hand.

PROCRASTINATION AND YOUR RELATIONSHIPS

Relationships are an extremely important part of life. Not necessarily just romantic
relationships, but all kinds. Relationships with friends, family, and everyone in
between.

If you have a significant other, a close friend, beloved family members and you are a
procrastinator, it could definitely lead to some problems in your relationships. You
need to work extremely hard and try to change that about yourself. If you ever break
a promise that you made to someone close to you—such as promising to buy a
present for his or her sister’s birthday party— because you procrastinated until it was
too late, then make sure you apologize sincerely and admit to them that you have a
procrastinating problem that you are working on. They should understand.

If you have a family member, significant other, friend etc. that is also a
procrastinator, try and tell him or her about your desire to improve yourself, and
convince him or her to try and improve with you. That way, they can help you to keep
yourself on track and you can encourage and motivate each other.

That’s all the advice I have for you when it comes to miscellaneous tips on how to
deal with procrastination. I truly hope you use this chapter to your advantage.

With that, let’s move on to the last part of this book—the conclusion—and say
farewell.

13
CONCLUSION

First of all, I want to thank you for taking the time to read this book. I genuinely hope
it helped you get somewhere on your quest to self-improvement and getting rid of the
leech that has been sucking all of the potential out of you (AKA procrastination).

Let’s end this book with a last minute heart-to-heart chat and some motivation.

If, even after reading this book and making up your mind to rid yourself of
procrastination, you still find yourself falling back into the habit, don’t beat yourself
up.

Everyone makes mistakes, and no matter how hard you try, you are going to keep
making mistakes, too.

Instead of starting to hate yourself more and more after each mistake, try to be
encouraging—the same way you would be if a friend or a loved one made the same
mistake.

Often, people are so loving, so forgiving when it comes to dealing with other people.
With themselves, however, they are cruel and harsh.

You do not want to be that person. It isn’t going to be of any help to you. In fact, it
may end up damaging you, in the long-run. People think that self-harm is just
physical, but that isn’t true. Self-harm can be mental, too, and that’s what this is.

That being said, you also don’t want to fall to the opposite side of the spectrum. You
don’t want to be too forgiving, to the point that you lose all motivation.

It can be tricky to find the perfect balance between these two extremes, but I know
you can do it if you try.

I wish you the best of luck! Farewell, the reader.

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