Procrastination. We all fall prey to it.  I’m sure I’m not the only one who has told myself, I’m going to get started as soon as:

“ . . . this episode is over.”           “. . . I check my facebook, twitter, pinterest, tumbler, instagram, vine, and myspace.”           “ . . . I read just this one email.”                     “ . . .  I make this phone call.”                  “ . . . I (fill in the blank).”

Before we know it an hour, two hours, half the day is gone. And the worst part is, we are now facing guilt, anxiety, and stress, in addition to the still incomplete items on our “to do” list.

Procrastination can be a vicious and self-defeating cycle. Often times, the more we procrastinate, the worse we feel about ourselves and the worse we feel about ourselves, the more we procrastinate. The good news is, we can change! Procrastination is just the result of a particular pattern of behavior. Every one of us has the power to be more productive and to reduce the amount of time we spend “off task” throughout the day by learning and implementing new systems and new patterns of behavior.

Here are six tips to help you move from procrastinator to producer

• Preparing the night before.  Each day before you leave work or every evening before you go to bed, write out the list of items that you want to accomplish the next day.  This will help you to have better focus in the morning rather than spinning your wheels when you wake up or get to work trying to determine what you should get done during the day.

• Have rigorous but reasonable goals. One goal for the day isn’t likely to help you move forward in what you need to accomplish, but a list of twenty goals isn’t going to move your forward either. Strive to keep your list to 3 – 5 items each day. I keep a running list of my tasks and pick out the 3 – 5 things that I’m going to do on each particular day.  If I get through them with time to spare (which rarely happens!), I can still go back to my master list and pull another item or two.

• Break big tasks up into smaller chunks. Large projects can feel overwhelming and may cause us to shy away from starting. By breaking up a large project into small, manageable chunks, we are not only more likely to begin, we are also able to see progress being made. For example, if you need to do spring cleaning in your office, first start with just a goal to just clean out old files, or re-arrange your shelves, or file your random stacks of papers.

• Slay the dragon first thing in the morning.  Research tells us that our energy, focus, motivation and drive are all higher first thing in the morning. As the day goes on, we begin to get less and less return on our efforts. With that in mind, tackle your most difficult or mentally taxing “to do” first thing in the morning. Leave the more “mindless” tasks for later the afternoon. Not only will this help you be more productive, but you will also experience a significant reduction in stress and anxiety when the dragon isn’t breathing down your neck all day.

• Set a timer. In this fast-paced, techy world, we all battle to keep our attention focused on one thing at a time.  To help you not get too far off task, if you’re going to take a break, whether to check social media or grab a cup of coffee – set a timer and stick to it. This will prevent your from going too far down the rabbit trail. You should also timer for each work task.  Estimate the amount of time that you need, set your timer, and get to work. Work on that one task, with all of your attention, for the time that you have allotted.

• Celebrate success. When you start getting more of your important work accomplished, celebrate! Treat yourself to a favorite beverage or smoothie, a little bit of extra tv time, a hot bath, or a few extra round of Candy Crush!