Hi. I have heard you complain about this a lot, so I am going to take a chance at giving you some advice. I too used to procrastinate like you. I don't do that anymore. Here is how it happened.

First, I no longer imagine the end point being the due date. I think of the end point 2 days ahead, because after something is done, it really needs a little distance, time away from it, in order to see what final revisions it needs.

Next, I think of the first phase as not putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). The first work is to park it in the back of your head to think about. The bigger the project, the more time it may need to sit in the back of your head, speaking proportionately to the total time available. While it is in the back of your head, you first freak out a little: my god, how can I have anything to say about that? where will I find the info I need? I hate this, how can I face this topic? Etc. But also, you begin to break it down in the back of your head: Hm, I would want to take this kind of an approach. These are the politics surrounding it, and how can I come out in the best position? What would the intro cover? What would be the main points?

Then, as soon as I can possibly force myself to do it, I do sit down at the keyboard, with a very low standard for what I will accomplish. At times, I have been satisfied with creating a Word (or Excel or other software document) with any kind of lame title that tells me what project this is, and store it in the correct directory for being able to find it next time. Never hesitate to delete what you create at this early point. The main goal is to begin writing. Sometimes I say wild things in order to clarify what the possibilities are.

If necessary, I figure out in my workload what has to move, and prioritize, or ask my boss to decide what he or she prefers I do first if there is a conflict. I don't hesitate to do some quick and easy projects especially at first, or any other time during the project that I feel like procrastinating, because the goal is to keep that fluid feeling of producing. While I am working on these extraneous quick and easies, I assign the back of my mind to keep at it on that big project, to the extent possible planning, calculating.

Finally, I force myself to sit down and do however good a job it is possible to do in the time remaining, keeping in mind that perfection is the enemy of the good. My goal at this point is to do as well as I can with my limitations, in the time available to me. I aim as much as possible for a bullet format, because that is generally what people want to see: Oh good, lots of white on the page, and my eye can jump along rapidly and catch the main meanings.

Somewhere early in the project you should calculate the expectations and needs of the audience, so as not to squander precious time taking the wrong approach, and having to re-do, or worse, coming to delivery time with a sinking feeling that I have missed the boat, but must deliver because the bell has rung.

If things have worked properly, I will have a day or two to feel finished, experience the warm feeling of pride in a great product, followed by awareness of all its flaws, the tiny worry that becomes a gigantic sinking sensation that I made a big miscalcuation, or many of them. At this point, I will need to re-open the project hoping to correct the damage as much as possible. Here I usually discover that actually, a little rewording and tone correction is all it needed, and otherwise, it is OK.

Last of all, I return to another thing that I hopefully did early on, and that is to imagine enemies, or people who don't like you or this kind of project, and imagine how they would attack your project. I go back and try to insert or strengthen my rebuttals that I quietly embedded in the initial introductory stuff.

All along, early and late, depending on the importance of the project, get people to listen to you outline your approach, or review drafts. This is particularly important if the project is complex. The earlier you get this input, the stronger your project will be. If at possible, take all advice that makes sense to you. Reject advice where it is reasonable to do so.

Hope this helps, Miss Procrastitron. The key is to put it in the back of your head way up front, and have faith that your head is actually and truly a good head, and that it is at work on many levels during the day, even when consciously you are doing what you would prefer to do. This allows you to dismiss the big project from your conscious worries, and yet return to think about it when you have the strength. For me, this has allowed me to think of project thoughts as tended as if by faithful little bird dogs, out working while I might have been at play, bringing me what I need. I no longer hate the project because it is big, or myself for failing to face the hard part of life. All my thoughts and projects are happening all of the time, coming to fruition at different points, and I feel friendly toward myself and my projects, forgiving the failures as at least a good effort. Most people judge the results less harshly than I would do.

Thanks, Sue, for this advice.