Many people who put things off are surprised at themselves and also disappointed in their own behaviors. Many of them, especially women, feel like failures.
Your best tact is to get out of this 'victim' position where you believe that you can't win when it comes to taking control of your time.
Procrastination is the fine art of making something that is not a priority a priority. This is a hard concept for many to grasp. This is because there is more pleasure associated with procrastination than with getting a priority done.
One of the tricks is to start training yourself to feel gratified when you actually do accomplish something. Perpetual procrastinators are always finishing things at the last minute and therefore never experience these feelings.
You need to start identifying the types of feelings that you are experiencing when you are procrastinating. What is the feeling that is the payoff? How do you give yourself permission to procrastinate in the first place? What is your cue to move away from what it is that you are supposed to be doing into things that are less productive?
The key to stopping yourself from procrastinating is to recognize that when you feel this feeling that you are about to waste some time. You can literally catch yourself in the act and stop yourself before you go too far.
Some people feel pleasure, elation, shame, guilt or redemption. It can even be a combination of these feelings as the emotional response to procrastination. Simply use these feelings as the red flags to stop yourself in your tracks before you start surfing the Internet or calling a girlfriend to gossip (instead of getting things done.)
It is also important for you to understand exactly why you procrastinate and in doing so you will be in a better position to avoid allowing it to happen to you, over and over again.
Every person is different and has a different personal reason for putting a chore off. Furthermore many of these reasons may be absolutely valid. Still part of achieving our goals is keeping an eye on the goal and not on the reasons why we should not achieve it or even don't deserve it. Many people procrastinate when they get a big opportunity because they are afraid they will fail. Even greater sometimes is the fear of everything they may have to deal with if they are actually successful in life.
It may take you some time to get the hang of recognizing the feelings that may cause you to procrastinate. Just remember – a feeling always precedes the thought that leads to the action that causes you to waste time!
So pay attention to your feelings as they give you that clue about what is about to trigger a big episode of putting something very important off.