Top 5 Anti-Procrastination Tips

1.  REMEMBER THAT DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT
Just get the damn website up already or send out the mailer or make the sales calls or book the gig even though you’re not totally ready yet.  Nobody else cares or will probably even notice that everything isn’t 100 percent perfect—and, quite honestly, nothing ever will be 100 per- cent perfect anyway so you might as well start now.  There’s no better way to get things done than to already be rolling along—momentum is a wonderful thing, not to mention highly underrated, so get off your ass and get started.  NOW! 

2.  NOTICE WHERE YOU STOP
When you’re working on whatever you’re working on, or whatever you’re pretending to work on, where exactly do you stop?  Is it when you have to do the research?  Make the scary phone calls?  Figure out how to raise the money?  Right after you start?  When you have to commit?  When it starts getting good?  Right before it takes off?  Before you even get out of bed? 

If you can pinpoint the precise moment that you say, “Screw it— I’m outta here!”  you can prepare yourself for hitting the oil slick by hiring coaches or assistants or psyching yourself up or delegating that particular part of it out, or removing known distractions. 

For example, let’s say you discover that every time you sit down to make calls to try and book yourself a speaking gig, you mysteriously find yourself pulled into Facebook for hours, turn off the Internet, or go someplace to make your calls where you can’t get online.  Like a park.  Or your car.  Or Antarctica.  And then decide that you have to make five calls before you can check back in and see if anyone commented on the picture you posted of your cat eating a potato chip. 

3.  MAKE A BET WITH SOMEONE MEAN
A good way to make yourself accountable is to make a bet with some- one who will hold you to it.  They must have no mercy—they can’t coddle you or “understand that you tried your best.”  You want the kind of person who will make you feel humiliated even before the excuses come out of your mouth, or who will show up at your doorstep with a burlap sack, a big rock, and a blindfold should you attempt to wiggle out of paying your debt.  And make sure you bet something that’s painful to lose but not too unrealistic. 

4.  OWN IT AND WORK WITH IT
If you’re the kind of person who blows everything off until the last minute, and you know this about yourself, why waste your time freaking out while you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing?  Go to the damn beach, have a cocktail, and when the pressure’s on, get down to business.  There’s nothing worse than time wasted pretending to work or stressing out while trying to have fun—no work gets done and no fun is had.  It’s the worst of both worlds.  Figure out how much time you truly need to get the job done, and go do something else until the clock starts ticking.