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

partner and tell her about them on Friday night. This will be done
by scheduling a 30-minute block on Tuesday so I can reminisce

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about all the good times we’ve shared together.”
4. Spirituality: “I will take five minutes each day to give thanks for
everything that’s good in my life. I will develop this habit by setting
aside time right before my lunch to remember what’s important.”
5. Artistry: “I will dedicate three hours every week to learn and
practice watercolor painting. This will be done by eliminating
unimportant habits, like watching TV.”
6. Finances: “I will save 10 percent of every paycheck and invest it in
index funds through Vanguard.”
7. Fitness: “I will work out a minimum of 30 minutes per day, three
days per week by December 31.”
Hopefully, these seven examples give you an idea of how to create
S.M.A.R.T. goals that lead to a balanced life. Now, let’s go over a six-
action process you can use to create your goals.
Action #1: Focus on Five Projects
As mentioned before, people often procrastinate because they say yes to
everything, which causes them to feel overwhelmed by their laundry list
of obligations. That’s why I recommend focusing on just five projects, like
I discussed in the previous section.
Not only will you make more progress with these five areas of your life,
you’ll also feel less stressed because you’re not trying to juggle dozens of
personal responsibilities.
Action #2: Focus on Three-Month Goals
It’s been my experience that long-term goals constantly shift. What seems
urgent today often isn’t urgent next month. Lengthy goals (i.e., anything
over six months) are often demotivating. When you know a deadline is
months away, it’s easy to procrastinate on a task today. The result is you’ll
put off a task, promising you’ll work on it next week. Next thing you
know, it’s a year later and nothing has been accomplished.

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You can fight your procrastination tendencies by taking the five priorities
in your life and breaking them down into three-month S.M.A.R.T. goals.
As an example, let’s talk again about my current five projects:
1. Being present with friends and family.
2. Completing an IRONMAN race.
3. Writing and marketing my books.
4. Increasing web traffic to my blog, DevelopGoodHabits.com, and
converting these visitors into email subscribers.
5. Fixing and updating sections of my home.
These are the general outcomes that I’m currently focusing on, but most
don’t have a concrete outcome. So, they need to be turned into a series of
S.M.A.R.T. goals that I hope to achieve by September 30, 2017. As you’ll
see, some of these are one-time milestones and others are specific habits
that I’d like to incorporate into my day.