You have something that you know you need to do. But you don’t really feel like doing it right now. So you promise yourself you’ll do it “later”. Then, when “later” comes along -- make it’s the next hour or maybe it’s the next day -- you still don’t feel like doing it, so you put it off again until the next “later” time. You can keep on doing this forever, and the necessary task may never get done.

Sound familiar?

If so, you’ve got a problem with procrastination. But don’t worry. Help is on the way ...

Nobody’s perfect

A common cause of procrastination is perfectionism. You may not want to do a job unless you can put in a exceptional, outstanding performance. But that feels overwhelming. So you tell yourself that you don’t feel up to doing it right now, but you will do it later when you’re more psyched up.

But you may never be psyched up enough.

What if, instead of waiting for the perfect moment to do the perfect job, you allowed yourself to do just an OK job? That wouldn’t seem so difficult, and you would be less likely to feel compelled to put the job off for another time.

Procrastination is sneaky

Even if you understand the logic of abandoning perfectionism in order to get more done, you may still have trouble overcoming perfectionism. Perfectionism is sneaky, and finds all sorts of ways to keep on hanging around.

But you can outwit perfectionism. Try using this deceptively simple trick ...

The magic of the 15-minute task

Give yourself an assignment. Tell yourself that you are going to spend exactly 15 minutes on a task, and when the 15 minutes are over, you are going to STOP.

This will make it impossible for you to be perfectionist!

Also, if you think about, you could probably stand doing almost anything if you knew it was going to be over in 15 minutes. So you don’t have to wait until you’re in a good mood, or until you’re feeling inspired, or until you’re feeling psyched up. You can get started right now.

But Rome wasn’t built in 15 minutes!

It’s true. Many tasks take more than 15 minutes. But by scheduling regular 15-minute sessions, over time your small efforts will add up.

Say you need to clean out your closet. Now there’s something you could procrastinate on forever! But if you work on it for 15-minutes every day, in a few days or a few weeks or a few months, depending on how big and how cluttered your closet is, the job will be done.

Get a timer

You can use the timer on a digital watch, or if you’re working at home the timer on a stove or a microwave. You can buy cheap timers in five-and-dime stores, or download free ones from the internet.

Remember, whatever kind of timer you use, when the 15 minutes are over and the alarm goes off -- stop working! And give yourself a pat on the back, while you’re at it.