 Putting off a task till later on is something everyone has done, one way or the other. However, when moving schedules becomes a habit, procrastination has set in. Procrastination is a bad habit that prevents individuals from achieving higher results in life. Here are 7 ways through which you can overcome procrastination and become more productive in life. 1. Change your environment Although many people underestimate the influence of our surroundings, the environment has its way of determining our output. Look at the setting of your room. Does it motivate you to be productive? When you are sitting in your office space are you motivated to work? Or do you feel sleepy and distracted? If it is the latter then you should change your environment. You'd be surprised how much impact would result from just changing your environment in total or merely reorganizing it. It is advisable that from time to time you should assess your surroundings and make necessary changes. Because new studies have found that an environment that made you feel motivated in times past may lose its effect over time. 2. Hang around people who would push you to work The people you spend your hours with play a huge role in affecting your thoughts. If you were given a chance to spend an hour with Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos, do you think that you will be more inspired to work? I bet even the laziest person will take action, even if it does not last. When people hear the old saying show me your friends and I will tell you who you are, the first thing that comes to mind is the tendency of being labeled as a thief, because your friend steals. However, this saying does not only depict that you are likely to be defined based on the people you mingle with, it also means that your attitude towards work and life in general can also be determined by the kind of people you hang out with. So, if you want to stop procrastinating, identify and be around the go-getters amongst your friends or colleagues whose lifestyles can trigger you to work. Within a short while, you will develop their drive and spirit. 3. Reduce your workload When the tasks are complete are much, you may be overwhelmed and end up doing nothing. Reducing the things to be done for the day by placing focus on only the vital tasks for the day will go a long way in helping you curb procrastination. To do this, you may have to give yourself a break, redefine your goals and set your priorities straight. Break down these goals into smaller sub-goals and focus on them one at a time. Further on this point, avoid the temptation of switching to another task when you have not yet completed the one you have at hand. If you have broken down a job and it still feels complex, rather than switching to do an entirely different one, refresh yourself, break it further down and get back to it. For instance, if a child has been taught to spell a word, e.g. hippopotamus, the concept is first broken down into syllables, hippopotamus. If the child still finds it difficult, rather than switching to another term, teach the child to identify and loudly pronounce each letter. Now, here's the trick. The child is more familiar with the single letters and so will be less overwhelmed and learn faster. The same applies to you when you break complex tasks into smaller and regular activities. 4. Set a precise deadline for the activities you have to carry out. Researcher Pierre Steele in his meta-analysis on procrastination noted that it has long been observed that the further away an event is, the less impact it has on people's decisions. The human brain is wired in such a way that it comfortably pushes back things to do if it has none or just one deadline for the completion of a task. For you to overcome this inadequacy, you need to break down your project and create an overall timeline, including specific deadlines for each of the functions that you broke the project into. Also, your tasks should be intertwined with each other, such that failure to complete one jeopardizes the other jobs. This link between activities will program your mind to perceive the importance of every of the project because failure to complete one task before the deadline will delay the others and might cause your big goal to crash. 5. Get an accountability partner. Having someone you can share your goals and deadlines with makes the journey more relaxed and more fun. Your partner could be a friend who also has his or her own goals and schedules so that you both can be accountable to each other. There is a sense of responsibility that comes when someone accounts for you. This feeling alone can drive you to work towards your goals as well. Besides friends, you can ask your boss to check on your schedules or you can find a coach or mentor who would help you stay on track. To fully utilize this relationship, you can create time intervals to meet with your partner regularly and commit to finishing what has to be done before meetings. 6. Get rid of distractions. British politician Winston Churchill once said you'll never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks. How many times do you surf through the internet in the middle of a task? This action is not usually carried out intentionally. You are responsible for its occurrence. If you want to succeed in a job, you must follow this anonymous advice. Starve your distractions and feed your focus. If you know that calls and notifications from your phone can easily take your attention, then it is best to take away your phone away from your workspace. If your friends are of the habit of paying surprise visits, then be sure to go away from home when you want to work. If you must accomplish a task, then you must be disciplined enough to avoid distractions. Otherwise, you'll keep putting off important things. 7. Reward yourself. If you tell a stubborn dog to sit down and you give it a bone when it eventually does, what do you think will be its reaction the next time you request for it to sit down? He's going to listen to you because he wants a bone. When you continue to reward him for a couple of times on his own, he'll sit down without you asking him to. That is also how habits are built through a cue, a response, and a reward. An objective method through which you can overcome procrastination is by establishing a reward system based on if and only if you do what you scheduled to do. This method is one smart way to get things done while getting distracted in an organized way. Instead of getting distracted by social media or that binge movie on Netflix, make them contingent on you completing your task. An old Latin proverb states thus after battles come the reward. Being able to discipline yourself to fight procrastination in complete set goals is a huge fight and you are sure deserving a reward when you conquer. Everything is possible if you put your mind to it. No matter how bad a procrastinator you are, admitting to it is a starter to overcoming. Don't let procrastination take over your life. Admit it now and combat it. If you have a task at hand, just do it now.