i do agree that procrastination is not a time management problem but i think that time management skills could still be helpful in reduction of procrastination in addition to other methods you mentioned

Procrastination has a lot to do with fear of inadequacy and a person low tolerance of unpleasant emotions.

These are great recommendations if followed, but aren't they much like telling an alcoholic to stop drinking? Astute advice, but if it can be followed, the drinker/procrastinator is already 3/4 of the way there. Success in this case helps only those least impaired in the first place.

arspsychiatrica.blogspot.com

Procrastination is learned in the family. One can't try to forget those things. It's only possible to replace it in one's mind.
So, it's good to have these, already mentioned, matters repeated in this blog entry. Learning and replacing procrastional behauviour means repeating and trying, trying, trying again. The will power muscle needs to be trained for a more efficient self control several times.

Thank you, Timothy

As a psychologist, author of The Now Habit and a Productivity-Optimal Performance Coach I have a few tips. These are gleaned from my research at U. California, Berkeley and work with thousands of procrastinators over the last 30 year:
1. Replace "I have to finish" with "I'm choosing to start for 30 minutes." Tell your brain and body when you will start.
2. Schedule play and fun in your schedule so you're not procrastinating on living. This will reduce resentment and increase your motivation to get started earlier so you can get your reward. Place 15 to 30 minutes of work before your leisure activity and you're build good work habits.
3. Separate your worth as person from your work and achievements. Stop putting your ego and reputation on the line. Give yourself unassailable worth and you'll eliminate your fear of mistakes and being judged--a main cause of procrastination.
4. Make yourself Safe with you. No criticism, only praise for getting started. Think about training a dog--lots of "good boy" and minimal punishment. Your brain needs to know when you're doing something right. Best Wishes, Neil Fiore www.neilfiore.com author of The Now Habit & Awaken Your Strongest Self

Hi there,

Thanks for a motivating post. I totally agree about being honest with yourself because it's the little voice in your head that often eggs you into wasting more time and procrastinating.

I thought your readers might be interested in a couple of posts I made on this subject. I wrote it awhile ago, but the content is just as relevant today:

http://www.davecheong.com/2007/05/23/fight-procrastination/

http://www.davecheong.com/2006/09/13/how-to-overcome-distractions-anytime/

Best wishes,
dave

Just get started. In my website, I present unconventional ideas to time management. One of it is to provide a simple tasklist and grasp any task after a quick skimming action and do it, even if you had not extensively checked, if it is important, urgent, less than 2 minutes, and all the other stuff you may have read about good time management.
This perfectly complies to the advice “just get started” with all the positive effects described in the blog. It is more of moving to a flow of activity than worrying about procrastination or not. I made the experience that after some time the right tasks gain higher priority.
Besides being a complex problem involving personality, situation and motivation it is a problem of missing or weak ability to decide (which is naturally a complex problem involving personality, situation and motivation too) So going back to tip one it is the challenge to become able to decide to “just get started".
Of course I agree with commenter Novalis. However, that´s not my profession.