Everyone has experience with procrastinating and not getting a job done. Procrastination is a thief of time, and a destructive force to time management. It's usually not productive, it usually has a negative effect on how effective our time is managed, and it usually needs to be nipped in the bud. We all do it - but why? There are some underlying reasons why we procrastinate - some more telling than others.

Hating the task in hand

For example, calling an irate customer is nobody's idea of fun. Most of us do not relish such a challenge, and therefore we procrastinate - putting it off, not wanting to tackle it head on. In the meantime, you are building up more and more negativity about how the call would go, so you find even more reason to do it later. Remember - that customer is probably getting more and more irate waiting for the call. Do it now - get it over with - and try to enjoy the rest of the day. If it's the last call you make then it will affect you as you leave, and you'll take the negativity home. Do it in the morning and it's out of the way, and you can do more enjoyable tasks to cheer yourself up.

Not knowing exactly what to do

Occasionally we are loathe to admit that we don't know how to do a given task, so we put it off, either hoping someone else will pick it up or offer to do it, or you'll suddenly work it out by Googling it to death. Not always - sometimes it's just best to bite the bullet and either ask, or delegate it to someone qualified. See this kind of procrastination as a learning curve, and identifying yourself a training need. Don't be afraid to ask for help. This is probably the worst kind of procrastination, because the time will stretch out indefinitely if you don't know how to complete the task.

Forgetting the big picture

You might be working on an exciting project like designing a website, but you're on the boring bit - whichever that might be for you. This means that the entire project gets held up because you are struggling to get through one small piece of it. Think of this as a way to enhance your teamwork - can you give a junior member the task - through delegation - to allow them to step up to the plate and show off their skills? Manage your time so that the "boring stuff" is intermingled with things you enjoy doing - therefore the 'pleasant' tasks are your reward for slogging through the hard ones. Lumping difficult tasks together will only demotivate you.

Not having enough hours in the day

Some of us leave tasks until "later", not planning when that "later" is. By the time you get around to it - let's say, completing an invoice, you realise that it's past due, and all hell breaks loose. Creating a to-do list will help you see what you have to do. If you really do plan on doing something later - specify when. Use a diary or calendar to plan when the task will be done. Therefore this turns procrastination into effective time management.

Having too many distractions

For many of us, procrastination doesn't simply involve putting things off and just not doing them. We do not sit there inactively, we just find something else to do. The source of this comes in the form of our favourite distractions - talking to colleagues over at another desk, surfing the internet, or twiddling with things on our desk that we've brought there subconsciously to stop us doing the task in hand (there's a whole market of "executive toys" - effectively games for procrastinators!). Don't be one of them - remove the distractions, or time them so that they don't disrupt your daily routine.

At some point during our working life, we find ourselves procrastinating again. If we stop and think WHY we are procrastinating at that moment or with that task, we can identify ways to work around it and prevent it from ruining our time management. Tempus Fugit, and if you procrastinate now, you will have to find the time later - ease the pressure on yourself, recognise your own procrastination habits, and phase them out of your life.