Overcoming procrastination by choosing realistic goals

Anyone who has ever read a book about motivation or procrastination will know how important it is to set goals. As the saying goes, "You can't win the race if you can't see the finish line." Moreover, you have to have the right type of goals - it is essential that they are concrete and that they have a deadline.

If the goals you set don't have a deadline, then there's no impetus pushing you forward to get you to act. It's much easier to procrastinate if you don't have a set deadline looming over you. It's also much easier to procrastinate if you don't have any set goal you want to accomplish! Obviously the first step in taking action is deciding what that action should be - which means breaking down your overall goal into manageable steps, and then working out how you're going to accomplish each step and your time frame for doing it. If you can make a good plan like this, then you'll find that the work pretty much falls into place. Especially if every day you're going to be doing this, then this, then this, then it's much easier to just get your materials together and get going, rather than mucking around all day and procrastinating because you don't even really know what you're supposed to be doing. It's also a really great feeling to just focus on doing the work you've set for yourself today, and know that if you do this stuff today, you're building on what you did yesterday, and setting yourself up for success tomorrow. With a good plan and good goals you know that you can achieve your aim in the time required, doing a good a job and not getting too stressed out about it or working long hours - because you made your plan and got to it without fluffing around.