So, you want to stop procrastinating, but you’re not sure how? Well, guess what? You are not alone! Like the other 1 in 4 estimated procrastinators in this world, I do it too.

Read on my friend… Not only am I going to show you how to stop it, I’m going to help you figure out why you even do it in the first place.

Here are some common causes:

You don’t know where to start.

When you have tasks that are piling up, it can feel extremely overwhelming. In this case, you need to take some time to list and prioritize these tasks. Take bigger tasks and break them down into smaller, more manageable tasks that you’re more likely to complete. This can get the job started and keep the momentum going, to get through your list.

Let’s say you need to get your whole house cleaned and organized. This is a huge task but breaking it down room by room is much less daunting. If required, even that can be broken down into sections of the room.

Let’s take the kitchen for instance.

Rather than:

1. Clean and organize the kitchen.

Break it down to:

1. 1. Clean out the fridge
2. 2. Organize cupboards.
3. 3. Clean out drawers
4. 4. Mop floors
5. And so on… Not only are these tasks smaller, but they are more likely to be completed, and you can feel accomplishment with each one. Maybe you do get the whole kitchen cleaned, as one big task but you didn’t have to, to have reached a goal. Now I’m not saying it’s better to prolong a task, what I am saying is as long as you are reaching those small goals you’re getting somewhere, and you are feeling good about it.

So, list all those tasks, and break down big ones if needed. Next, you should prioritize those tasks, determining which are most important and should be completed first. When deciding, you should focus on the feelings you have regarding each task. Which ones are you thinking about when you’re trying to go to sleep at night? Which ones constantly nag at you throughout your day? These tasks are a higher priority.

Once you have your priorities straight you can set your timelines for each task, Making sure they are realistic and meetable. You can always complete them faster and have that sense of joy for really crushing it, and then jump on to the next ahead of schedule.

One more thing, don’t be afraid to delegate if you can. Teamwork is the dreamwork, right? If you have a hard time with delegating, let go of the idea that only you can do the job right, and let someone else help you out. You can always go back and touch things up that you want to, but how great is it that you could strike that job off your list and get on to the next?

You don’t know the best way to complete the task.

These days we have a wealth of knowledge at our fingertips. You can find tips and tricks on literally anything! Jump on to the net and search for ideas. Watch a video, tutorial or read an article, but make sure not to go down the rabbit hole and waste too much time! This is procrastinating and it’s exactly what we are not doing. Embrace this task as an opportunity to learn something new.

You become distracted easily.

To stop procrastinating, you must learn to steady your thoughts and keep your attention on the one important thing you’re trying to accomplish. You can’t be focused enough on one thing when you’ve got your attention on other things at the same time. When you find yourself distracted, just acknowledge it, correct it, and move on. Practice makes perfect here, you can and will retrain your mind.

Time your task right. Things like hunger or having to stop because you have dinner to cook, or kids to pick up from school are distractions. That’s why it’s important to have an approximate idea of how long a task should take to complete. This way, you will know where to place them in your schedule.

You are a perfectionist.

There is a very simple way to get past this. Do the task well, and once you finish you can go back and perfect it if you need to. You will have much more success if you think of the task as a rough copy. Once you have completed that rough copy, sit back, and take a look. Maybe you’ll be happy with what you’ve done, or you may want to make a couple of tweaks, but the work that takes the time is complete and you didn’t have to overthink it.

You have a fear of failure.

First, there is no such thing as failure. No matter what, you can not fail. You can make mistakes and you can learn from them. You can try again and improve upon those mistakes, and you can do this as many times as it takes. At some point, you are going to find yourself mastering the task. As many times as it takes, you will be learning and improving.

It’s better to try than to not try at all. Accept a new challenge and have faith in yourself. Give it your best and see where you end up.

You are relying on last-minute pressure.

There is a very good chance that if you wait until the last minute, you are not going to have as good an outcome as you could with more time. In procrastinating, you will find yourself rushing and stressing. You will exhaust yourself by putting in the extra hours that you now need to complete it on time. You won’t have time for snags you may encounter when you’re now rushing to meet deadlines.

There is just no good excuse for procrastinating. You can start now and proceed with a more relaxed timeline which saves you from attaching unpleasant emotions to the task. There is a certain satisfaction in crushing your goals ahead of schedule.

You are just plain lazy.

I don’t believe you are lazy at all.

Depressed? Stressed? Dealing with anxiety? These I can understand. If you get yourself into a situation where you have so much to do that it resembles a mountain you must climb, then you begin to feel awful about it. And as the days go by with that task left incomplete, depression and anxiety will build and build. That mountain will appear to get larger and larger, even though it’s just the hill that you started with.

You have all these unpleasant emotions attached to it now, making it so much more daunting than if you had just done it when it first needed doing. That depression, stress and anxiety is increasing as the window of time gets smaller.

What can you do? Commit to just 10 minutes. Drag yourself up off that couch and go get started. Once you do, you will probably find yourself working even longer at it.

You’re ready to stop procrastinating!

Remember if you’re stressed and having anxiety, it’s the mountain that’s causing it. Don’t get it backward, the task isn’t the mountain, NOT doing the task creates the mountain.

As you work away, remind yourself, that once job is complete, your anxiety over it will disappear. Every task you complete is going to bring you to a better feeling place.

Reward yourself with some downtime when you finish. You can finally enjoy a sense of accomplishment. This guilt-free lazy time, when nothing is waiting to be completed is the best!

You have complete control, so love yourself enough to do the work, free your mind, and end the procrastinating, once and for all.