Another view at stopping procrastination - scientific evidence

Here is a summary from a few scientific studies about procrastination. Here is the website where I got it from: http://www.spring.org.uk/2009/01/how-to-avoid-procrastination-think.php

how to get things done

Here's a summary of the main conclusions from all the studies discussed:

1. To avoid procrastinating on a task, focus on its details and use self-imposed deadlines.
2. To stick to a task, while actually carrying it out, now it is beneficial to keep the ultimate, abstract goal in mind.
3. When evaluating progress on a hard task, when the chance of failure is high, stay focused on the details of the task.
4. Once tasks are easier or the end is in sight, a more abstract, goal focus is once again the psychological approach to choose.

So, whether or not you feel procrastination is something in need of a 'cure', McCrea and colleagues' study does show that a very simple manipulation of our thought processes can be incredibly powerful. Who would have thought pointillism could save us from procrastination?

The warmup principle - how to end procrastination in every area of your life and start taking action

Inspired by my own past and this post, I've 'discovered a rule'. I want to google for some scientific evidence which I'll do later.

The rule: if you don't feel like doing the task at hand, then do a warmup session to create positive momentum.

What I mean by a warmup session is that you should do something smaller that you want to do first. A few personal examples:
- If you love running, but hate lifting weights then do running first and you'll be more in the mood to do lifting with weights.
- If you don't dare to approach 'that cute girl over there', then start approaching someone else and it doesn't matter what you say to them, you just have to feel comfortable with what your saying like giving a sincere compliment to that person. Later when you feel more confident then approach the cute girl ;-)
- One time when I was still on high school I started an experiment which entails that I saw myself doing homework in my minds eye. The whole day I fellt more like doing my homework.

So just do what you are able to do at that very moment in order to take action, no matter how small it is. Just do it and keep doing it, until you reach your goal.