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

About the Author
Before getting started, let me introduce myself and provide a little context
about my belief on procrastination.
My name is Steve “S.J.” Scott. I run the blog
Develop Good Habits
, and
I’m the author of a series of habit-related titles, all of which are available
at
HabitBooks.com
.
The purpose of my content is to show how continuous habit development

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can lead to a better life. Instead of lecturing you, I provide simple
strategies that are easy to use, no matter how busy you get during the day.
Like many folks, my interest in procrastination started with a personal
challenge that I had to overcome.
You see, for many years, I was what I like to call a “functional
procrastinator.” I was great at achieving long-term goals (like writing
books, managing multiple internet businesses, and running marathons).
On the other hand, I was terrible at following up on many of the day-to-
day issues that didn’t seem urgent, like getting the oil changed in my car,
doing my taxes, or even grocery shopping.
The result was that I often let important priorities slip through the cracks
because I thought I was “too busy” to do them.
My excuse was the standard line, pulled straight from the procrastinator’s
playbook: “I will get to them someday.”
And, as you have probably guessed, “someday” almost never happened. I
would go through life focusing on my long-term goals while allowing
important issues to pile up on my desk.
The big wake-up call came from what I call “My $2,348.97 Mistake.”
Like many procrastinators, I always filed for an extension on my taxes
every year. Sometimes I prepaid some of the money, while other times I
waited until the last minute, paying what my CPA calls a “stupidity tax.”
Well, one year I filed my typical extension on my personal taxes, but I
forgot to do the same thing for my business. After eventually filing in
October of that year, I received a nice letter from the Internal Revenue
Service that talked about my failure to file an extension for my business
taxes. With interest and penalties, the letter stated that I owed the US
government exactly $2,348.97—in addition to the money that I already
paid for the year.
Sure, I could argue about the unfairness of the US taxation system. But
the harsh reality is that I was $2,348.97 poorer because I procrastinated
on a task that would have required only a single day of effort. In fact, even
if took an extra five minutes to fill out the extension for my business, I

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would have paid only a fraction of the interest and penalties.
After making that expensive mistake, I vowed to myself that I’d never let
something stupid like that slip through the cracks. I swore that if
something important popped up, I’d take care of it right way, without
delay. And I promised myself that I would create a framework for my
personal life where I would create that perfect balance between the
important long-term goals with the urgent day-to-day stuff that we all
deal with.
That system I created is what you’re about to learn in How to Stop
Procrastinating.
Now, let’s get started by talking about why many people procrastinate.

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