This month I’m participating in the A to Z Challenge, blogging every day of the month of April, except Sundays, on a topic from A to Z. I’m posting short-form topics meant to get you talking and sharing! Join the discussion in the comments.

The thing about procrastination is that it sneaks up on you, doesn’t it? It slips in sideways without you quite acknowledging that it’s there. You saunter off to do something else, and you do that thing, with the little pit of knowing in your stomach, but you focus on the thing, and ignore the pit.

So, the trick with procrastination is, you got to learn to look it in the face.

I’m reminded of a quote from one of my favorite books, The Boneshaker by Kate Milford:

“When there’s evil standing in your way, you got to get around it however you can, Natalie. You got to look it in the eye, let it know you see it and that it can’t creep up on you. What’s dangerous is pretending it isn’t there at all and letting it get closer and closer while you’re looking someplace else, until suddenly evil’s walking alongside you like you were two friends out for a stroll on Sunday. So you look it in the face. You tell it with your eyes that you know what it is, that it don’t have you fooled. You tell it you know what good looks like. That might be something like your ma’s idea of grace. I don’t know; I never got much Sunday school. I call it confidence, that’s all.”

Do like Tom says, and tell it with your eyes that you know. Then it can’t sneak up on you.

Then, go look at your work, instead of that other thing you were going to do.

What do you think is the key to dealing with procrastination? What kind of tricks do you use to get to work?