Tis the season of terrifying monsters. Have you ever left a task on your To Do list, perhaps even a mundane one? And because it’s a little unpleasant you’ve avoided it and left it there so long that over time it’s snowballed and grown until it’s no longer ‘just a box of papers to file’, or ‘a phone call to make’, but now some dreadful beast, and a far more horrifying prospect than anything you’d find out on Halloween night?!This is the black magic of procrastination.Procrastination is the dark art of knowing that you should do something but are still not doing it, for whatever reason. As I read somewhere, it is the difference between when you intend to do something and when you actually do it. And most of us, to some extent, will put things off from time to time, even the important.Here is some typical procrastination behaviour. Do any of these seem familiar?Sitting down to start a priority task then immediately getting up to make a coffee (or, in my case, tea … two cups since starting this article!).Over committing to unimportant things to avoid doing the important ones.Recycling jobs on your To Do list, even though they may be important.Filling time with lower priority tasks (my house was never cleaner than when I was supposedly writing my Masters dissertation).Putting things off until you’re in ‘the right mood’, it’s ‘the right time’ or ‘inspiration strikes’.And one I’m sure none of you have ever done … Checking e-mail instead of focusing on the task at hand (ah, is that another ding I hear?).Why do we do it?There are a number of factors that might contribute to our urge to put things off.It may simply be that we are disorganised and don’t have a prioritised ‘To Do’ list and schedule of tasks broken down into small enough, manageable steps.Overwhelm can lead to not knowing where to begin and wanting to avoid the whole subject and hide away from life.Poor decision making skills can stop someone from taking action if they don’t feel able to make a decision they are comfortable with.Perfectionism, as we discussed a fortnight ago, can play a part as fear of our results not being perfect can stop us from ever starting a task.Or generally just wanting to distract ourselves from our fears or from some unpleasantness about the task keeps us too busy to get it done.Tony Robbins suggests that it’s all to do with our natural instincts to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Procrastination occurs when we have somehow associated ‘pain’ to the task we should do, and so avoid it and perhaps seek pleasure instead. We will finally get around to the task when the ‘pain’ of not doing it becomes so great that we must avoid that and just get on with it.In moderation, indulging these feelings and putting some things off is manageable and can be compensated for. Unfortunately, for some, procrastination can be chronic, detrimentally affecting all areas of a person’s life.Professor and leading international researcher in the study of procrastination, Dr Joseph Ferrari PhD, says “Everyone procrastinates, but not everyone is a procrastinator.”He identifies three basic types of procrastinators:1. Arousal types — who get a thrill from the last minute, euphoric rush.2. Avoiders — avoiding fear of failure or even fear of success, these procrastinators would rather be seen to lack effort than ability (“I could have done it if I’d tried”).3. Decisional procrastinators — very concerned with others’ view of them, will gather opinions and information indefinitely without making a decision for themselves, absolving them from responsibility for the outcome.The unfortunate knock-on effects of procrastination, beyond the loss of productivity, can include stress, a sense of guilt, being in a state of crisis, fear of (and actual) social disapproval for not meeting responsibilities. Procrastination can also result in a shift of responsibility onto others, which may create resentment in team dynamics or relationships. Chronic procrastinating is also reported to have adverse effects on one’s health. Dr Ferrari’s studies show evidence of procrastinators suffering from compromised immune systems, more gastrointestinal problems and trouble sleeping.If procrastination, in any form, is impeding you from functioning at your best, consider how, when and why these tendencies habitually occur and perhaps try some of the following Tricks and Treats to counteract them:Start by switching what you link ‘pain’ and ‘pleasure’ to. Try deliberately linking massive pleasure to the ‘doing of’ and outcome of the task. Picture yourself smiling and laughing as you go about the task, see and actually feel the joy and relief of getting it done and all the benefits attached to doing it. Then think about the pain of not doing it and the negative consequences of avoiding it further.Reward yourself: start by creating a list of ‘treats’ (preferable non-edible ones) that you can draw from when you complete the tasks that in the past you may have procrastinated over.Work out the cost of your time for jobs you draw out due to procrastination. If you factor in the time wasted on either distractions or unimportant tasks, you may be totting up evidence for pain, especially if you imagine having to pay that out of your pocket.Get organised — keep current ‘To Do’ lists and identify how tasks measure on the urgent/important matrix, concentrating your efforts on the important tasks. Create time bound goals and set deadlines for important tasks that may not otherwise have them.Accountability — create for yourself another source of accountability, someone else to answer around goals and deadlines (a friend, a club, a mentor, a coach etc). This adds motivation.Get rid of distractions — turn that e-mail off, get the tea before sitting down ... Set a timer for a reasonable amount for the given task and decide to focus only on that for the allotted time, and not be sidetracked in any way.Take steps to manage overwhelm and perfectionism — check RG archives for previous articles on these subjects and useful ways for dealing with them.Remind yourself that monsters don’t actually exist. We tend to overestimate the unpleasantness of the tasks we procrastinate on. Remembering that they are rarely as bad as we predicted encourages us to jump in and tackle it. International coach, Brian Tracey suggests we, “Eat That Frog”. Start the day doing the biggest, ugliest (most procrastination-worthy) task on our To Do list, first. Once it’s done, and out the way, there is no chance to procrastinate on it, let productivity continue. Hop to it.As a closet procrastinator myself, I really appreciate the theory of author John Perry, who works with his preference for procrastination to actually get more done. Now don’t use this as an excuse to put off some other pressing task for five minutes but when you do get a chance, you too may enjoy this idea: http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/The trick is to become aware of where procrastination may be rearing its ugly head and holding you back in your life. Then take the steps to eradicate those monsters and treat yourself for getting the job done. Don’t put off your success! And happy Halloween.Julia Pitt is a trained Success Coach and certified NLP practitioner. For further information contact Julia on (441) 705-7488, www.juliapittcoaching.com.