Procrastination is sometimes called the putting-it-off disease. However, I think procrastination is vastly underrated. I rarely get as much done as when I'm putting off doing something I really don't want to do. It's amazing how many things I can find to do.

When I finally face the dreaded task-much, much closer to the deadline-I complete the job is less time than if I'd started earlier, for the simple reason that I have no choice. There's less time to spend and therefore less time to waste. And I can't honestly say I'd have done a better job by starting yesterday, or last week, or (gulp) when I first acquired the task. More likely, I'd have taken longer than the job really needed. So for me, putting things off actually saves time. (Do you like this reasoning?)

But how can you get started if you're facing a chore you really have to start sooner rather than later? One trick for converting a putting-it-off mentality into a getting-it-done reality is to divide the task into small, manageable chunklets. Then select one such chunklet. It can be the first chunklet in sequence or your favorite chunklet of the whole miserable lot or one you select at random from a grab bag of chunklets. Any chunklet will do.

Commit to spend a mere 10 or 15 minutes on the selected chunklet. A three-hour job can be horrendous to think about-and a three-day job nearly intolerable. But a 10-minute task just can't be all that bad. So spend 10 minutes on it, then put it away, and later on (or next week, if you're really addicted to procrastination) tackle it for another 10 or 15 minutes. Or start on another chunklet.

If you're reading this blog post as a way to put off tackling your own dreaded do-its, by all means, let me not discourage you. In fact, if you'd like to continue procrastinating after you finish this post, you can always read my other posts or some of the articles on my website. It'll prove you're a Procrastination Pro.