Simply speaking, the time boxing approach involves allocating certain amounts of time out of one’s day, week or month to specific tasks, and the goal of this technique is to ensure that every single task that needs to be done has time allocated to it so that it actually gets done.

There are, furthermore, certain rules that can be applied to the time boxing process that will make the entire procedure even more effective, and a little simple research will serve to acquaint the curious with the steps that will serve to make this process even more effective than usual.

The perfect time boxing model will utilize rules that, among other things, will ensure that both large and small tasks are dealt with timeously, that goals are clarified before the exact amounts of time needed to reach them are allocated to them and that energy is dedicated to completing the most important tasks first.

Further strategies that the time boxing method strives to teach the user would include the reduction of time spent on useless or frivolous enterprises – otherwise known as time wasters – the division of large or overwhelming tasks into small sections that are more easily handled and the focusing of the user’s creative energies, efficiency and goal-oriented drive.

Mastering the time boxing technique is recommended for both adults and students alike as this strategy can easily be streamlined to handle either “real world” work or school work, and demands on the users’ time that were once overwhelming will almost magically become easy to manage.

Although the procedure was, furthermore, originally developed to assist with the design of software packages, time boxing software programs are now available and are software programs that have themselves been specifically designed to teach and implement the time management procedure in question. Most of these programs will, among other things, allow the user to list – and allocate specific completion time to – all outstanding tasks and track the user’s completion of these tasks.

Time boxing advantages are many and varied, and possibly the most important one – which could also be the most overlooked – is that the system allows the user to once again gain control over his life. It is, after all, only once all mandatory tasks have been accomplished that one can relax and concentrate on those things that make life worthwhile.

The overarching goal of time boxing can thus be summarized in just five words: to make life worth living.

The simplest and best time-boxing tool that we have come across is The Daily Goal Machine: it’s very powerful, in that it lets you apply time-boxing techniques to whatever you need to accomplish, whether it’s work or play, but it’s also very easy to use too. If you’ve been struggling to meet deadlines, or suffer from a bad case of “perfectionism”, then this may just be the solution you’ve been looking for.

The benefits of time management are surely apparent to everyone and include such diverse things as being able to perform appointed tasks before the expiration of deadlines and confining work tasks to that portion of the day set aside for work so as to spend the rest of the day relaxing with friends and family.

In an attempt to make sense out of our hectic days and get everything we have to do done, we hone up on strategies for time management as well as tips for time management, and we spend our hard earned money buying tools for time management. These days, there is even time manager software that can be purchased, which enables us to both plan our day and accomplish most, if not all, of our required tasks without even leaving our computer.

Tips on time management and information on the techniques of time management – including time management for student bodies and for adults (individuals and groups) – can be found everywhere including on the Internet and in the “how to” book section in our local bookstores, and almost every article about time management will stress the need to order one’s day so that time is provided for every important task and that time spent on social activities is limited.

A great time management tip is to train oneself to access social networking websites like Facebook only once a day – these sites are so enthralling that hours can slip by in a flash – and this is where techniques for time management are so important as limiting one’s fun in order to accomplish work that is often as dull as dishwater requires a strict personal discipline ethic.

Software for time management will provide the user with a time management tool that can allocate time to every single important daily task, thus ensuring that the user will be able to complete everything that is on the agenda for that day. The user himself can decide exactly how long a particular task will take, and the software program will, among other things, monitor the time spent on that task and also mark the task as done once it has been completed. The better time management strategies will, in fact, always include the “reward” function, which consists of positive confirmation of the completion of a certain task.

When all is said and done, why time management is important is really an easy question to answer: no-one would be able to cope without it.

And contrary to what some people think, time management doesn’t need to be complex, and this is certainly true of The Daily Goal Machine, which is very powerful but very easy to use too. If you want a great way to keep track of what you need to do each day, and help in making sure you complete those tasks, then this is one program you shouldn’t be without.

In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the procrastination problem, the first thing to do would be to define procrastinate so as to determine exactly what is procrastination. The psychology of procrastination is a fascinating area of study, and experts in this field have put forward a definition of the syndrome that says it involves delaying the completion of important tasks in order to waste time on frivolous – but nevertheless enjoyable – less important tasks. A circular link has also been identified between depression and procrastination, and, especially with those who suffer from chronic procrastination, procrastination will lead to depression, which then leads to further procrastination.

As soon as people realize they do indeed need help with procrastination and they need to find out how they can beat procrastination, they can begin their journey towards overcoming procrastination and leading a normal, healthy and highly productive life. In order to find a procrastination solution, however, they should employ a two-pronged approach and both identify and treat the procrastination causes as well as determine how to overcome procrastination.

Curing procrastination may not be as hard as it may seem, however, as in our “go-getter”, highly focused and fast-paced world, those who have a problem with procrastination stand out from the rest as the latter usually reach their goals way before any applicable deadlines. It is, furthermore, simply because procrastinators stand out from the rest that the problem is so easily identifiable, which is why the industry of finding solutions to procrastination is fast becoming a major business.

Those who have set themselves up in the self-help industry as procrastination gurus offer their services in a variety of ways, and sufferers of the dreaded condition should not put off purchasing their copy of the latest “how can I stop procrastinating?” book until tomorrow or the next day. Procrastination tips can also be found in a variety of other places, and magazines and websites often run articles on how to stop wasting time and start focusing on getting the important tasks done. The latest in the fight against procrastination are those software packages that have been specifically developed to combat spending time on the important business of doing nothing. These packages suggest that dividing up one’s day into easily digestible chunks and then allocating specific tasks to each of these chunks is the way to go, and, as these approaches have been fairly successful, they may be right.

Stopping procrastination isn’t easy, but it can be done. I’ll tell you how tomorrow…

Seriously, I was a serial procrastinator until I found The Daily Goal Machine, which is a brilliantly simple program that leverages the programming that is already built into all of our brains and compels you to take action.

“Grrrr! I can’t believe I’ve only got 24 hours to get this done!” lamented Bonnie to the rest of our team. “It seems like everything is hitting me at once.”

During my MBA program, every class had a team project that represented 30% of our individual grade. If you are going to get anything done in business, you have to learn to work in groups. I understood the rationale behind the team assignments, but it didn’t make it any easier to handle when someone else dropped the ball.

My teammate Jeff felt the same, “Bonnie, the rest of us had our parts together two weeks ago. Why didn’t you let us know back then that you were behind? We could have picked up the slack and helped.”

“I don’t know. I just figured I would have time to get it done. The bottom line is I’m just a procrastinator.”

Frustration reaches a critical point when we have something we want to do, there’s nothing in our way, and we still don’t do it. Every time you look at the task, you get a little sick to your stomach. We tell ourselves that we “should” do it and might even convince ourselves that we “need” to do it… but don’t.

So instead, we beat ourselves up and accept the label, procrastinator.

The root word of procrastinate is from the Latin, crastinium, meaning tomorrow. So procrastinate means, in favor of tomorrow.

“I could do it today, but I’m in favor of doing it tomorrow.” It’s easy to see how the word came to mean, “delay.” That’s the point I want to start with. Procrastinate means to delay or put off action. It is the act of deferment or postponement, not the reason.

When a baseball game doesn’t start on time, they say it is postponed. The reason might be rain or lightning. The point is, there is an underlying reason for postponement. It’s the result of something else. When the something else is handled, the postponement goes away.

In the same way, procrastination is a result of an underlying cause. It is a symptom, not the disease. So why are bookstore shelves full of guides that address procrastination like it is the disease? Instead of trying to force our way through the symptoms, how about we address what’s wrong?

We could take a room of 100 people that are putting something off and drill down to find out what is actually keeping them from moving. Once we’ve reached the core of their individual issue, it is often different from everyone else. In the hundreds of people I’ve worked with that considered themselves procrastinators, all of them had unrealized, underlying reasons for avoiding the action.

Once we brought the real reason into the light, they were able to address it directly and the procrastination disappeared. You have that same opportunity. Over the years, I have seen every Element of Personal Choice be the root cause of procrastination. Let’s start at the top and see what rings a bell for you.

Awareness is maybe the easiest to fix. People go unconscious in their pursuit of a goal and simply do not realize they are delaying actions. This is the easiest to fix because as soon as you are aware that you’re not taking action, you can.

By making a regular check-in part of your process, you make awareness easier to maintain. The check-in can also help you identify which of the other Elements is causing the delay.

Vision is just as simple to fix, but requires a little more work. How can a lack of vision cause procrastination? If you are unsure of where you are going, you are less likely to make a move. Having a clear vision of your goal attained assures your moves are going to pay off.

Purpose brings additional assurance to your vision. Knowing which steps to take is incredibly useful, but knowing why you are taking them changes the entire landscape. With purpose, we can evaluate an unsure step. “This action is in the direction of my vision, but does it also align with my purpose?” Double reinforcement for added incentive.

Forgiveness is a sneaky cause of procrastination. Most of the forgiveness issues we hold onto do their work out of sight. We collaborate with the resentment or guilt for an internal dialogue that distracts us from the task or obstructs our vision from what is really happening.

By identifying and releasing the issues, we have a fog-lifting type of experience. We see things as they are and refocus our attention to what needs completion instead of clouding our thoughts with things already passed.

Belief, or a lack of it, can make cowards of us all. Is the reason you’re delaying because you really don’t believe you can do it? Are you experiencing fear because you think the job at hand is beyond you?

If yes, take a step back. Find an intermediate step in between where you are and where you want to be. Something you can believe in. Make your first step toward the more believable goal and you’ll be closer to the big goal by default.

Action seems obvious since actions are what we delay. The aspect of action I’m referring to though is making sure you’re taking the right ones. We can fake ourselves into thinking we are taking action.

Passionate, detailed discussions about what we are going to do give our brains the same rush as when we actually do what were discussing. All of this blabbing gives us an energy release and we feel accomplished. Stay quiet and release your energy through results.

We can also stay busy doing things around the task, but not what actually needs to be done. Are the actions you are taking making a material difference? Does each movement bring you closer to completion?

Gratitude brings a unique flavor to the party. I never thought of a lack of gratitude causing delay, but it happens more frequently than the rest. If we don’t appreciate our current environment or an aspect of our life, which is attached to the task, we tend to delay.

Why bother putting effort toward something we don’t really care about? Through our apathy, we lose our drive to make things happen. When we heighten our awareness to the good in our lives, we find a new willingness to move forward.

Above all else, don’t accept your tendency to delay on face value. Take the time and courage to look below the surface. Bonnie did and realized she lacked belief in her ability. With a little help from her friends, she redirected her focus to a more manageable piece of the assignment and her confidence grew as a result.

Within a few hours, her level of belief grew to encompass the complete assignment and she breezed through without an issue. Now she has a tool in her kit that can help her for life. So do you.

PJ McClure is the world’s foremost authority on mindset and how to build the one you want. He has touched more than 300,000 people in 56 countries with his message of possibility and power. His work in the area of goal setting is just one way he is transforming lives. Get a copy of his Goals Guide for free by going to http://themindsetmaven.com/arcgoals

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I would always find an excuse to put something off, and often found myself indulging in “busy work” rather than get on with the real stuff.

For example, I would spend hours managing my to-do list – postponing due dates on stuff that was already overdue, instead of actually working on those tasks.

I was an emailoholic – not sending emails, particularly, but checking every few minutes to see if any new ones had arrived.

I’d indulge in non-work-related conversations with my co-workers, walk to see somebody at the other end of the office rather than use the phone – anything, in fact, to stop me having to do real work.

And throughout all those years, I often wondered what it was that made me (and others) like that.

I used to marvel at people who would just get stuff done, right then and there, as I knew that what I would do is go and add the task to my to-do list (or my PDA – another great time-waster!)

Over time, I’ve got a lot better – not at procrastinating, as I was already an expert, but at doing things now rather than postponing them until the 12th of never.

(And I have to say that The Daily Goal Machine has been instrumental in this change, although it’s not the only reason I’m a bit more activity-focused these days.

So, what has all of this personal history lesson got to do with the title of this post – The Psychology Of Procrastination?

Well, I happened to come across a great video interview yesterday, called Find Great Content Online Fast, and once I reached the download page for this product (which, by the way, is really good stuff), there was an offer of a free report, from top psychologist Dr Pauline Wallin, entitled – The Psychology Of Procrastination.

My first thought was, that’s right up my street, and my second thought, moments later, was that this was something I should pass on to my readers – so here it is.

It’s only a short report (seven pages, to be exact), but it’s well worth a read as it may just answer a few questions, like it did for me.

And once you’ve read it, you might find another free resource useful in trying to get to the bottom of what’s causing your anxiety. It’s called EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), and you can find out more (including a free download of the EFT Manual) at the EFT website. (Look for a link called Free Getting Started Package at the very bottom left of the page to get your free copy of the EFT manual.)

One of the most popular ways of doing this is to do what’s called social bookmarking, primarily using the so-called Web 2.0 properties.

And it is very effective.

However, there are two main problems with social bookmarking:  firstly, it’s mind-numbingly boring, and secondly, it’s very time-consuming.

Now, while it’s true that the most important thing you can do is to get traffic to your site, if you find it to be so tedious, you just won’t get around to it.

There are tools to help you do this, but in my experience, they’re not that easy to use, and you still need to set up all of the social networking site accounts in the first place.

So, I’m really glad that somebody told me about SocialAdr.

Why?

Because it solves both of my biggest problems with this method of getting backlinks.

SocialAdr is a new service that can completely automate the process of getting my pages listed on the social bookmarking sites.

It’s a revolutionary new concept – they have an army of users that are just waiting to bookmark my pages using their own social bookmarking accounts.

To be fair, I do have to do a bit of work – I need to add the details of the pages I want bookmarking to my SocialAdr account.

But that takes just minutes, and I only need to do it once for each different page.

Check it out – like me, you’ll be glad you did:

http://www.DailyGoalSoftware.com/loves/SocialAdr.php

What Folder Guide basically does is allow you to set up “favourite” folders on your hard drive(s), and then navigate to them almost instantly.  It integrates fully with the Windows shell, which means you only need to right-click within Windows Explorer (or on your desktop) and you can quickly access any of your favourite folders in seconds.

And because it integrates with the Windows shell, it’s also available in most File Open and File Save dialogue boxes.

It runs on Windows XP (and maybe other versions of Windows too), it’s easy and quick to install, and the user interface is nice and simple.

Unfortunately, it does not seem to work 100% with Windows Vista, but I’m keeping an eye open for any developments here and will let you know as soon as I find a new version.

I use Folder Guide many, many times every single day, and it must have saved me a ton of time (and mouse clicks)!

It’s available from many websites, to the best way to grab a copy is to Google it.

What is a Clarity Map, you ask?

Well, it’s best described as an “all you need to know on one sheet of paper” type thing.  (Another good example of this is The Copywriter’s Brain.)

So, what is this particular Clarity Map for?

Well, first and foremost, it summarises the three main steps you need to take to make sure you get things done.  These are, of course, the same three steps that are described on the main Daily Goal Software page, and which The Daily Goal Machine was designed to help automate.

But the Stop Procrastination Clarity Map goes much further than this – it also lists 16 ways you can take more action, provides a few motivational quotes, and challenges you to make the most of the 84 available hours that the average person has per week.

Now, you may notice that the image on the Stop Procrastination Clarity Map page looks a little blurry.

That’s because the image has been reduced to fit on the web page …

… but don’t worry, because the full-sized image is available.

All you need to to is move your mouse over the Clarity Map, and, after the large image loads (and this will take a while the first time you do this, as it’s a very big image indeed!), you’ll be able to zoom in and pan around to see whatever detail you need in the best quality available.

And if you want, you are welcome to download the (large) image to your computer, where you can print it out and pin it to your wall as a constant motivational tool.

Whatever you decide to do with it, I hope you find it as useful as I do.

There is no doubt that life today seems unnecessarily complex, and that’s just one of many factors that causes so many people to feel permanently tired and stressed out.

So, why not simplify your life and experience reduced stress, more free time, and the ability to actually enjoy each moment?

With that in mind, here are a few ways (43, to be precise) you can simplify various aspects of your life.

1. Turn off your cell phone.
2. Process email only twice a day.
3. Go to bed early.
4. Get rid of (or at least reduce) commitments that you do out of obligation.
5. Create a weekly meal plan.
6. Automate your finances.
7. Purge as much unneeded clutter as possible.
8. Keep your paper shredder on top of your recycling bin.
9. Add items you want to a wish list as you think of them.
10. Get a label maker or write labels out by hand.
11. Set your clothes out for the next day the night before.
12. Make your lunch for the next day the night before.
13. Make time to catch up with an old friend.
14. Just say no.
15. Ask for experiences not things for your birthday and Christmas this year.
16. Tell the truth.
17. Keep your list of addresses and phone numbers up to date.
18. Consolidate debt.
19. Create an organizing system that works for you.
20. Keep a bag for garbage in your car.
21. Cary a notebook and pen with you where ever you go.
22. Unsubscribe from emails, newsletters or RSS feeds that don’t provide value anymore.
23. Apologize immediately when you realize you’ve done wrong.
24. Enjoy the present moment as much as you can.
25. Take time to really see the little things in life.
26. Reduce the amount of TV you watch.
27. Get outside.
28. Create morning, daytime, and evening routines.
29. Ask for help.
30. Do things at home as much as possible (eat, date nights, entertain etc.).
31. Don’t get caught up in other people’s drama.
32. Let go of the self-imposed need to be perfect.
33. Focus on a simple, but healthy, eating plan.
34. Share responsibilities.
35. Reduce your wardrobe to a few versatile items.
36. Be positive.
37. Start a gratitude journal.
38. Finish old tasks before taking on new ones.
39. For every new item that enters your home set two free.
40. Want what you have not what you don’t.
41. Revisit what you carry with you in your purse or wallet.
42. Focus on one thing at a time.
43. Store new garbage bags at the bottom of your garbage can.

Sources:

• Zen Family Habits January 26, 2010