You're right that the reasons why we procrastinate can be varied and complex. Of course, the bigger issue with procrastination is the negative impression that surrounds it as that, more that the behaviour itself, tends to have the most deleterious effect on our attitude and sense of effectiveness.

Thanks for joining in the discussion, Martin.

I think it's important to understand "why" we procrastinate and this might be for different reasons for each individual. There is definitely a mis-perception that procrastination=lazy as you pointed out and the root causes for procrastination are complex. Once someone has figured out the "why", the "what to do about it" becomes much clearer.

But someone can always put it off for later to figure it out…ok, back to solitaire
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Also, I couldn’t agree with you more on focusing on starting the work instead of worrying about a perfect execution, something I discussed in my piece “Why Better Will Always Beat Perfection“.

Thanks again for bringing up this point, Meryl, and adding your thoughts to this discussion.

Sometimes we procrastinate because we don't like the activity or we're afraid it won't be good. If we don't like it — can we get rid of it? I had a couple of clients I let go of because I found working on their stuff was more a struggle than a pleasure. It made a difference.

The part about not being good enough — at least, get something started. You can make it better later. Don't dwell on perfection.
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For starters, you're absolutely right that breaking down a project/task/assignment into smaller pieces is a great way to help make the process more manageable, an approach I discussed in greater detail in the post "How to Transform Problems Into Wins". In that piece, I pointed out that breaking down a task into its individual parts will allow you to sort them in terms of difficulty, so you can start with the easier ones and slowly work your way to those parts that are more challenging and difficult to complete.

As for how to break down a task into more manageable parts, it's a matter of understanding what's involved in doing that task. It also depends on how much of the work is going to be done by yourself and how much is collaborative since that will also define how the work can be divided up into more manageable pieces.

Sometimes this can be done right on the spot; other times, though, we need to give ourselves a break in order to clear our head of unrelated issues so we can focus on the key aspects, something I discussed in my piece "Got A Few Minutes? Why It’s Important to Take That Daily Break". Ultimately, it comes down to what approach is most effective for you to use to size up the problem and divide it up into tasks that you can easily sort and tackle.

Now in the case of procrastinating, again we have this issue of mis-perception where we think procrastinating means you're being lazy. The truth is that we're not being lazy in those moments; instead, we're simply doing other things to avoid doing the task we're supposed to be working on. From that vantage point, one thing we can do when we're procrastinating is tackle some of those 'easier' tasks on our list, things like catching up on our work-related readings or filing away papers.

By working on something simple, we can reassure ourselves that it's not a question of being unproductive; rather, it's just a matter of us not being in the right frame of mind to work on that particular task. Working on these unrelated tasks will also help us not waste time on mundane activities that afterwards will only make us feel worse, instead of helping us to recharge our sense of productivity.

As I've mentioned in my series on time management, it's absurd for us to think we can manage time. However, what we can manage is how we spend it. As such, if we recognize that procrastinating doesn't mean we're being unproductive, we can then make the jump to understanding that we can still remain effective even if the thing we most need to get done is sitting in idle.

Thanks again for the interesting comment, Xurxo. I appreciate your thoughts on this piece.

Three points stuck out for me:

1. How we choose to view procrastination

2. How we choose to respond to it

3. You can procrastinate on one thing and still be productive elsewhere

You're absolutely right about it being better to accept that you may not yet be ready to tackle the task at hand and it might be more productive to walk away, take a break or do something else of value and then come back to the task.

In addition to shifting attention to another task or taking a break, I also find that breaking down a task in easier to manage chunks helps get things moving. Too often things appear more complicated or too huge to tackle in our minds so we keep putting them off.

Breaking these down into smaller components helps alleviate the stress, fear and pain we feel when thinking about completing or even starting the task.

I would love to hear what strategies you use to break things down in smaller chunks. Is there anything specific you do or think about when using this strategy? For example do you write things down, use a digital recorder to capture your thoughts, or go for a walk to clear your mind and come back with an action plan?