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

Practice #3: Compare Each Request to Your Current
Projects
As the German military strategist Helmuth von Moltke once said, “No
battle plan survives contact with the enemy.”
The lesson that I take from this quote is while it’s easy to mentally
commit to only five projects, it’s a whole other challenge to stay the
course when you discover new opportunities or receive requests for your
time from the people in your life.
That’s why I highly recommend taking a few minutes whenever there’s a
request for your time to compare it against your current priorities and
projects.
You’ve already identified what’s important to you, so when you get a
request to do something, compare it to your desired outcomes. If they
don’t match, then have the courage to say no to the requester.
Here’s a simple three-part process to quickly evaluate any request for
your time:
1. Compare the new opportunity to your current list of five
projects. Is there an existing project that’s not as important as the
new one? If so, ask yourself what the worst-case scenario would be
if you removed it from your life or put it on hold.
2. Figure out the reason why you might be interested in
replacing one of your existing projects. Is it because you’ve
hit a challenging obstacle? Are you worried that you’ll make a

---

mistake? Have you been frustrated at the lack of visible results? Are
you bored with it?
These are vital questions to ask because sometimes our desire to
start something new comes from a fear of confronting a major
obstacle. It’s okay to eliminate existing goals and projects—just
make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons.
3. If you can’t replace an old project but you still want to
work on the new one, then figure what can be eliminated
from your life. Perhaps you might be willing to reduce your TV
time by an hour or two every day, or maybe you can decrease the
time spent on your favorite hobby.
The one thing to keep in mind is that when you add new projects,
that extra time has to come from somewhere. So, if you want to add
a new focus, you’ll need to sacrifice time that’s dedicated to
something else.
Your life will always be filled with requests for your time. This is
especially true as you build your career and your time becomes more
sought after. That’s when you need to know what’s truly important to you
and what’s not. If you fail to create firm boundaries in your life, then your
free time will be chipped away by a constant litany of requests.