Fight Procrastination Today!

Did you know that today—Sept. 6—is National Fight Procrastination Day?

I'm a terrible procrastinator. Sometimes it takes me forever to do things. Overcoming this is something I am working on every single day. 

PsychologyToday posted a few years ago some strategies to help procrastinators fight the urge to put things off—the top strategy being pre-commitment. What strategies can you put in place ahead of time to prevent you from procrastinating? (Think the example of throwing away unhealthy food so you won't eat it later while you are on a diet.) The article mentions perhaps setting up some sort of time blocker for your internet usage to help you stay on task. 

I've personally opted to NOT have internet in my home. This is annoying sometimes, yes. But I also find that I'm more able to stay on task, have incentive to get out of my house and working on things, and actually get to sleep occasionally without this additional distraction.

I also enjoyed Real Simple's article "How to Stop Procrastinating" includes the following tips:

1. Do the worst thing first
2. Start your day over at 2 p.m.
3. Make the job smaller
4. Create an audience
5. Race the clock
6. Don't interrupt yourself
7. Plan an unprocrastination day (I need this!)

So today find something you've been putting off and just DO IT! Tell me how you do. 

My project is to finally organize my finances according to my new streams of income. Wish me luck. 

And while you procrastinate that contemplate what to do, here are some additional comics to enjoy. 

Don't Forget Anything! (Auto Reminders)

You know those nagging feelings that occasionally make themselves present until you finally follow up on something?

I had been having a set of those regarding my car registration for a couple weeks before I finally remembered when I was by my car to check my expiration date. I know, I know—this is a simple thing to check, but it would only cross my mind when I was far from my car. And when I say "far," I mean not immediately inside or standing outside the car. 

So I wasn't exactly surprised when I saw my registration was expired. Great. And I admit this happened to me last year as well. Turns out, if you don't move every year, you might actually get the renewal notice in the mail. 

I've got everything squared away, but this whole ordeal made me think of how I can best set up automatic reminders for things just like this. 

Google Calendar Reminders

If you are an avid Google user like I am (Gmail, Reader, Music, Play, Calendar), a Google Calendar reminder is a pretty safe way to go. I'm a little leery of relying on apps that I might not be using months from now. So, I've set up a reminder for the beginning of December for myself to get my registration on my radar. This will send me an e-mail and pop up on my account until I completely dismiss the reminder. Now I can sit back and relax about the issue until then. I've also set up periodic reminders for rent and phone payments, to check certain accounts, and for tracking personal goals.

Question: What apps or resources do you use for reminders or to help manage tasks?