As some of you know, I am a writer, videographer, full-time employee, wife, mother, and dog owner. I am, in other words, VERY busy nearly all the time. It irks me that I have so little time and spend even more of it beating myself up about not getting something done due to lack of time.

Yesterday, I felt like it wasn’t lack of time, but procrastination that was foiling all my plans.

Do you ever feel like that? Well, you are not alone and today I am here to offer three tips for you to beat that old bad boy, Procrastination.

First, what is procrastination? The Internet says: the practice of carrying out less urgent tasks in preference to more urgent ones, or doing more pleasurable things in place of less pleasurable ones, and thus putting off impending tasks to a later time, sometimes to the “last minute” before a deadline.

hmm… yep. Sounds like me. I do this. I put stuff off. I like to think it is because of time constraints but I think sometimes it is because I would RATHER sit my butt on the couch and watch a mindless movie.

3 Tips for Beating Procrastination

First, develop an “all-in” attitude. I mean, do you really want to do this (whatever THIS is) or is it more that you want to be known for having done it? I am sort of talking to writers here but it could be for anyone. Do you really want to write that book (insert super exertion here) or do you just dream of being this celebrity writer? Do you really want to paint that bookcase or do you just dream of how it would look?

Secondly, if you cannot be trusted to manage your putting stuff off alone, then find an accountability buddy. I mean dieters have been doing this for years. Get someone on board with your desire to do this “thing”. Tell them to check on your progress every day. Let them bug you about it. I will bet that action will be done a lot faster if you do this one.

And third, and likely the most important of all, GET STARTED. Rome wasn’t built in a day and you cannot expect immediate results, but if you NEVER take that first step, there is a 100% chance you will fail. Remember a body in motion stays in motion (stole that from a commercial haha!) so get moving. Sit in front of the computer and write 250 words. Buy that bucket of paint. If you don’t take first steps the action of doing becomes a whole lot harder and distant as attainable.

Hope this helps you. I am going to call this rather long blog post my writing for today. It is almost two whole pages so…cannot say I procrastinated my word count, right?

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Kim Smith is the author of the highly prized self-help booklet, Ten Tips for Getting that Book Written, available for Kindle and in print on Amazon.