Do you know the feeling when you don’t have enough time for anything? Every evening, when you go to bed, you think about things for tomorrow, plan to finally do what you have been putting off for several days in a row, or even longer, and remember with regret the past day because you didn’t do what you wanted, what you planned. The most important thing is that it is unclear how time passed, imperceptibly, it is difficult to remember what you were doing, as if it was nothing significant: just wandering around the house, talking on the phone, eating, looking aimlessly at the computer, scrolling through page after page on social networks. Surely, most of you, dear readers, are familiar with the condition of procrastination, or more simply, procrastination, procrastination, postponing things for later. To combat procrastination, various time management techniques and techniques and productivity training have been developed. However, as the developers themselves say, they require individualization and are not universal. There are some general guidelines that can help you structure your time and get more done. Having understood and trained yourself to use them, it will become much easier for you to manage your emotional state, take on any task at the right time and complete what you start. I dare to assume that you know that there is no “good” time for most routine tasks, and if, by the nature of your work, you plan your day yourself (say, you do not work according to a schedule set by someone), then getting into special emotional states, that interfere with getting things done can be quite a problem. Often, in order to start any task, a certain mood, situation, time, certain people nearby or the absence of them are necessary. It turns out that the right time for business depends on many factors that are themselves uncertain. In a word, you can wait for years for the right moment to take action or not wait at all. But the reality is that you need to learn to find convenient, necessary, additional time from the available days, of which 7–8 hours must be allocated to sleep. So, what can help in solving this problem?1. Structuring time. By structuring time, I mean keeping to-do lists with a time for each of them. At first, rigid planning may seem like a failed idea, but this is the only way to train yourself not only to follow the to-do list, but also to stick to the set time. This is important because when we make a list of tasks, we are often sure that we will diligently perform all the duties, but in reality it turns out differently, for reasons beyond our control. By setting for ourselves not only the amount of work, but also the time to complete it, we find ourselves under double pressure. At first it may not work out, but soon you will learn to clearly determine the time required for this or that work. In addition, you should not forget about a kind of motivational competition - by setting boundaries for yourself, you will instinctively strive to complete the work on time. By the way, for those who are looking for a tool for structuring time, along with to-do lists, I recommend the Kanban board. This is a more functional, but as simple as a to-do list, a tool that will help you control the time and process of completing various tasks.2. Discipline. Often banal laziness and disorganization prevent you from getting down to business. Most of us, to put it mildly, do not like the concept of “discipline”, since it is often associated with restriction of freedom, discomfort, and imposed rules. However, discipline helps to bring order to life and organize activities. Discipline develops the ability to act independently of your emotional state. This is a great personal development tool! The explanatory dictionary gives the following definition of discipline as strict adherence to established life principles. For example, about a person who gets up at the same time every day, every time he doesthe same hygiene procedures, and arriving at work on time can be said to be maintaining discipline. Can we say that this person is forcing himself, forcing himself to act “because I don’t want to”? In fact, a person just wants to keep his job, wants to maintain his health, wants to look neat more than to remain unemployed and flabby and sick. That's all. This is just a voluntary conscious adherence to the order of things, this is conscious freedom.3. Motivation and positive reinforcement. We, people, are living beings, having not only a cold mind, but also a lot of emotions and feelings. No matter how much we would like to sometimes, it happens that in some of our affairs we are guided by feelings and emotions and it can be difficult to take a logical approach to some activity. Therefore, at first, it is useful for self-organization to find and use sources of inspiration: for some it’s music, for others it’s quotes from their favorite writers, and for others it may be necessary to treat themselves to something tasty (just don’t overdo it J ) during breaks between tasks. Resort to their help when a wave of passivity washes over you once again. Motivate yourself by enjoying what you have already achieved and enjoying the fruits of your deeds. For example, you can motivate yourself to get up early by turning on your favorite melody on the alarm clock, go for a run with a player with your favorite music that lifts your spirits, periodically look back, notice your achievements, you can start, for example, by crossing off things that have already been completed on your list.4 . Stepping out of your comfort zone. Suppose you have already made a list of things to do, set deadlines for completing them, and have been disciplined in carrying out your plan for two days now. But laziness does not go away, and it is still difficult to stick to the plan and meet the deadline, and sometimes you want to give up everything and hide under the blanket. Just don't give up now. Force yourself. By nature, most people are lazy. And when you manage to get what you want, to find at least some comfort, then the desire to change something and move on becomes less. After all, the unknown lies ahead, there are still unknown changes, and this brings a certain amount of tension. Unnecessarily, people try to stay in their comfort zone, only in this case it is difficult for a miracle of change to happen. Be prepared that even with a to-do list, you will need to force yourself to take action. Partly discipline will help you with this, partly having a goal and desired result, and partly realizing that you really need it.5. Recognizing (awareness) the causes of procrastination. And this is perhaps the most important thing! After all, it is now so fashionable to be successful, active, and strive to achieve goals. The reasons for avoiding action and postponing things until later, as a rule, are deeper than it might seem at first glance. Sometimes we think that we “don’t have the strength” right now, we just don’t have the desire to do it right now, there is something more important, or “I’ll start now,” and the like. Only this reluctance to do things now, or a loss of strength that prevents you from starting things, or obstacles to things (computer games, aimless surfing on the Internet, a sudden desire to “chat about painful things” with someone close to you) are repeated day after day and as if there is practically no way to overcome them. It is important to understand what exactly is stopping you from getting started. Imagine the situation. Someone N. has been planning to make a website for his project for a long time, but something always gets in the way of achieving this goal. At first he planned to do this this coming weekend, but he was busy moving, relatives came to visit the next weekend, a week later there was a business trip, then he got sick and lay with a high fever for several days, and only after another week he had time, to get started with the website program. And in general, when he has a free minute, he prefers to do something else or just relax. So what's the real reason? She is not as described.