How to Stop Procrastinating: a simple Guide to Mastering Difficult Tasks and Breaking the Procrastination Habit

How to Identify Your Core Values
Your core values directly relate to your belief system. These values often
guide your behavior and state of mind to create your own personal set of
rules. By honoring these values, you will reduce your stress when it comes
to the tasks that you often procrastinate on.
Most people live a life that’s filled with more work than they can possibly
get done. Add the demands of exercise, family, a social life, religious
services and worship, hobbies, and civic duties and it becomes impossible
to do everything.
For me, I know that my most important value is spending time with my
wife, son, extended family, and friends. To put it simply, my focus of
being present with the people in my life is the top core value on which I
base every other decision. If an activity directly conflicts with this rule
(and can’t be rescheduled), then I will refuse to do it.
Unfortunately, most people aren’t truly aware of their own core values.
Rather than thinking about what is important to us, we tend to focus on
the values of our culture, society, and what the media tells us is
important.
While it may be simple to speculate what your values should be, knowing
and accepting your core values takes a lot of thought and effort. Here are
seven actions that will help you identify your core values.
Action #1: Get In the Right State of Mind
Take time to empty your mind of any outside influences. Perhaps you
were recently with friends who made it clear what their values were, or
maybe it is Sunday and you have just left a church event.
The point here is our decisions are often skewed by the values that other
people want us to believe. So, to identify your core values, try to erase all
the programming in your mind that comes from other people and start
with a fresh outlook on what you want.
Action #2: Reflect On the Times in Your Life When You Were
the Happiest

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Consider times from both your professional and your personal life to
make sure you have balanced thoughts.
When you think about being happy in the past, what were you doing?
Were you with anybody in particular? Were there any other factors that
were contributing to your state of happiness?
Picture in your mind those moments when you truly felt fulfilled—those
are the values that you should build on.