Here's why you procrastinate, and 10 tactics that will help you stop

Pychyl, in his research and during our interview, identified a number of task characteristics that make you more likely to procrastinate. Tasks that are aversive tend to:

• Be boring
• Be frustrating
• Be difficult
• Lack personal meaning and intrinsic rewards
• Be ambiguous (you don't know how to do it)

The more negative emotions you show toward a certain task, the more likely you are to procrastinate, and according to Pychyl, "any of these [characteristics] can do it".

As Tim wrote in Solving the Procrastination Puzzle , "[t]he key issue is that for chronic procrastinators, short-term mood repair takes precedence. Chronic procrastinators want to eliminate the negative mood or emotions now, so they give in to feel good. They give in to the impulse to put off the task until another time." Then, "not faced with the task, they feel better."

If you're interested, Tim had me on his podcast a couple of months ago to talk about AYOP and procrastination. I personally really like how the interview turned out. Even though it's 1 hour and 21 minutes long, I think you'll find it worth your time.

Alas, if there were a magical cure to stop procrastinating, Tim probably would have found it during his more than 20 years of research. But even though there is no magical cure, there are numerous tactics that you can use to quit procrastinating and get more done. I've taken my 10 favorite tactics that Tim talked in his book and during my interview with him, and they're below!