| - Set a target date of two weeks from today. | | | | remain in your mind as something that should |
| - Select one specific writing goal | | | | have taken five minutes but took two hours. |
| - What writing do you want to do in the next | | | | - Reward yourself. After the allotted time for |
| two weeks? Make a list of all that you want to | | | | working on your goal for the day, do something |
| accomplish. | | | | nice for yourself. Don't try to kill the pain by doing |
| - Select only ONE of your goals. (Most | | | | something nice first, thinking it'll make your task |
| procrastinators fail here--they want to do it all at | | | | easier after. |
| once. The trick is to choose ONE goal.) | | | | - Slow steady progress will finish the job. Lengthy |
| - Break the goal down into the necessary steps | | | | bursts often end in failure. |
| require to achieve it. | | | | - Do not make excuses--promising yourself to |
| - Start with step one and work toward your goal, | | | | work twice as long at the task tomorrow. |
| or start with the last step and work backward, or | | | | (Chances are, you already know where that |
| break down the larger components of your goal | | | | leads.) Time Management - Exercise |
| and begin with step one of it. Tips on Breaking | | | | Determine your normal time commitments. Keep |
| Procrastination | | | | a time log for a week. Take a sheet of lined |
| - Don't plan to start on Sunday morning | | | | paper and have each line represent an hour, a |
| - Don't do the hardest part first | | | | half-hour or whatever block of time suits you |
| - Set a short time limit for each day | | | | best to measure. For instance, if you work you |
| - Use a timer It is more important to feel a sense | | | | can block out the hours at work as unusable for |
| of accomplishment rather than plug away for | | | | writing and measure the rest of the day in |
| three hours. If it is particularly hard to get going, | | | | quarter-hour blocks. At the end of each time |
| set a time limit of five minutes. | | | | block, make a note of what you did in that time. |
| When the time is up, QUIT. | | | | By the end of the week, you will see where your |
| If you think you're on a roll and stay with it, you | | | | time goes. |
| won't ever go back to it because the task will | | | | |