Deadlines create momentum.  People who work under deadlines tend to keep up the pace and point their efforts toward the finish.

Here are some tips for accomplishing difficult or long-term tasks:

– Break the task into bite-sized segments.
– Delegate.
– Reward yourself after small accomplishments.
– Share specialized help.
– Create milestones.
– Get started.
– Keep going.

Therefore, if you find that you are postponing some important work, set yourself some mini-deadlines and get going. We usually procrastinate when we’re uncertain, or find the work ahead of us difficult or unpleasant.

The key is to get started, even if it’s doing nothing more than taking the file out onto your desk and writing a heading.  Once you get started, you create a momentum for yourself.

As you work on a task, you build momentum.  When you drop it to take on a different task, you lose the momentum on the abandoned task, and you have to build up a head of steam on the new task.  A habit of finishing the task you started creates efficiency.  It allows you to sustain your momentum, and you get an extra boost from the satisfaction of seeing the task successfully accomplished.

This extra boost will help you get started on the next task.