University of Calgary B-school professor Piers Steel has developed a formula to help you fight the desire to postpone important work…Don’t Let Procrastination Drag You Down:

I can’t tell you how much procrastination I have been a part of in my life. The biggest problem that I have with procrastination is falling behind. As soon as I get the slightest bit behind, I immediately begin to put off whatever task it is, and the longer I wait, the larger the pile and the less I want to finish it. It’s so much easier to let myself be distracted by whatever email or task pops up, and I justify it because it’s often a fire that needs to be put out. It’s a self-sustaining problem, because I never get ahead and I’m always putting out fires, and when it gets too intense, I get mired in the muck of indecision and end up not accomplishing any of my tasks.

The funny thing is that that same problem pops up again and again, whether related to weight loss, daily scripture reading, playing video games, and anything else that requires a sustained effort as opposed to occasional huge pushes. Everything in my life would be improved if I could just figure out how to overcome procrastination.

How do you keep yourself ahead of the game? I’d love any good ideas on how to stay afloat.