Beating the Deadly Deadline Demon

By Stacy Karacostas

I have something I have to admit…

I used to be a dyed-in-the-wool procrastinator. In fact, according to my Dad, procrastination was the first long word I ever learned…Followed quickly by procrastinating and procrastinator.

I think I was 6.

And whether it was cleaning my room, eating my veggies, or getting ready for bed I was already a pro at putting things off.

By the time I hit my teens, I firmly believed the old saying…

“Why do today what you can put off until day after tomorrow?”

Then, in my early twenties, I went back to finish college and something changed. Suddenly I had goals (number one being finish school ASAP), and things I wanted to do in life. So I started finding ways to get around my old habits.

Nowadays friends and clients often mention how amazed they are at how much I get done. And sometimes I am too.

With all that I have on my plate, if I want to stay successful—and continue to grow—procrastination simply can’t be part of the picture.

Of course that’s not to say I don’t ever put things off. It’s just that these days it’s more about deciding what needs doing now versus later.

Unfortunately, not everyone is lucky enough to discover how to stop procrastinating at an early age.

So how do I beat back the evil, deadline destroying, sleep deprivation demon that is procrastination?

To this day, I use these few simple tricks to make sure I get everything done.

1) Get organized! One of the most common excuses for not getting things done is lack of organization. So set aside a few hours (or days) and get your desk, office, paperwork or business in order. Not sure where to start? Consider hiring a professional organizer or a business management consultant.

2) Tackle the biggest or most unappealing projects first. They are always the easiest to put off because they seem so daunting. But saving them for last just sets you up for stress and late nights.

3) Break big projects down into smaller bits, and set a deadline for each of those pieces. When it comes to writing project, I might do research one day, a rough draft another, and headlines on another day. That way, when the final deadline rolls around, just about everything is already done.

4) Write a to-do list each Monday and put it where you have to look at it every day. Then mark things off as you complete them, and move unfinished items to the new list each week. It’s harder to keep putting something off when it is constantly staring you in the face.

5) Get a PDA, or at least a day-timer, and schedule time to take care of everything on your list—not just appointments.

6) Tell other people your plans. Knowing that you’ve publicly declared you’re going to do something makes you far more likely to do it.

7) If you know a project is due in two weeks, schedule time to work on it a week and a half before deadline. That way, even if you procrastinate some you still have time to get it done and be ahead of the game (If you like to set your clock ten minutes ahead in order to be on time, then this trick should work like a charm).

8) Start a rewards system. Tell yourself “When I finish this project, I’ll go out for dinner, take a vacation, play golf, buy new shoes”…Whatever floats your boat or motivates you to get the job done.

9) Create a timeline for getting everything done. I do this whenever I create a Marketing Success Action Plan™, and it does wonders for keeping my clients on track and moving forward with their marketing.

Ready to get serious about beating your procrastination demons? Try combining a few of these tricks together. And here’s just one more rule I try to stick to…

If something stays on your to-do list for more than a few weeks, it’s gone beyond the point of simple procrastination. If you really need to get it done, consider delegating that project out.

I promise, once you get in the habit of getting more done, it does get easier. And I bet you’ll be surprised at the positive results.

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