My sister, when we were much younger and innocent, was always tickled by that phrase “getroundtuit”. It always made her laugh, maybe because she was Miss Efficiency and got everything done. Unlike her sister who liked to put things off.

Are you a get round to it later artist? — We’ve all been guilty of it. “I’ll do it later”. You don’t like doing the job at hand, the task seems too overwhelming, you’re a perfectionist, you don’t know where to begin, you are afraid of failing — there are lots of reasons for procrastination. But overcoming it is less about developing will-power, and more about creating a conducive environment. You can’t make yourself do something you hate — but you can make yourself hate it a little bit less.

Break tasks into small pieces. Make a list of steps you will need to take to reach your goal. Then tackle one task at a time, until you’ve finished the list. It’s easier to motivate yourself to work on several small jobs rather than one huge task.

Start your day with the task that you procrastinate worst on. Whatever you normally hate to do - making calls, cleaning the kitchen, your monthly report - get it out of the way first thing in the morning. Then the rest of the day is a breeze.

Commit to spend just 15 minutes a day working on the task at hand — set a timer so you know when it’s over. You will be amazed at how much you can get done in 15 minutes — and you’ll probably work even longer on your project, once you get started.

Reward yourself. Think of some good easy rewards you can give yourself for each job you get done. You’ll begin associating pleasant feelings with tasks you used to dislike.

You may find that once you start putting some of these tactics in place you’ll be surprised at how effective they are. But, the only way you’ll know is to try them for yourself.

If you’re feeling burnt out and stressed right now, check your symptoms with my free report ‘Symptoms of Burnout’. You can download it from the panel on the left on this site.