Procrastination

I am the queen of procrastinating. You would think that I would learn my lesson after staying up countless nights to finish a paper I had two weeks to write... but nope. Maybe I'm stubborn, or maybe I'm just lazy. Whatever the reason, it needs to change. Spring Break is halfway through, and I have yet to start studying for the two tests I have next week or writing the two papers I also have due next week, among other chores and things that need to be done!

Luckily, my chiropractor has started sending out a newsletter (that oh so conveniently arrived in my inbox today). This newsletter came with an article about beating procrastination. Oh joy! After reading through, I realized that he makes a lot of sense, so I wanted to share (just on the off chance that any of you are as horrible at procrastinating as I am...).

Practical Tools to Overcome Procrastination:

1. Replace "have to" with "want to." Thinking that you absolutely have to do something is a major reason for procrastination.
2. Replace "finish it" with "begin it." Thinking of a task as one big whole that you have to complete with virtually ensure that you put it off.
   
3. Replace "perfectionism" with "permission to be human." Thinking that you must do the task perfectly the first try will likely prevent you from ever getting started.

If you want to read the full article, just shoot me an email and I will forward it to you. I really need to work on the first and second bullet the most. I'll let you know how much I actually get done... I guess we will see!

Thanks to Dr. Jim Sullivan for these helpful hints!