We all do it, and we all want to stop. There are a lot of reasons why we put off dealing with STUFF. We might feel too stressed, or we might feel too tired, and it all looks like too much trouble.
What we need is some way to sneak up on things: to ease into dealing with STUFF without our stress-generator noticing. If we can start to deal with our STUFF in this way, we'll not only be getting STUFF done, but we'll be training ourselves not to be so resistant to dealing with more STUFF.
Sneaky tip # 1: Start as small as you need to.
Take one item from a room back to where it should be every time you pass through. If you've got a pile of papers you have to wade through, tell yourself you'll pick one paper off the pile and deal with it. Just one. Don't plan to re-organise your filing, clean your house, learn Portugese, and bring about world peace. Just tiny bits to get you started.
Sneaky tip # 2: Get a timer.
Get one of those weeny kitchen timers, and tell yourself you're just going to deal with a finite amount of STUFF. Start with 15 minutes. Once you get over the barrier of actually starting, you'll find you can do a whole lot of STUFF in 15-minute blocks without even noticing. Then start increasing your time blocks. Once you're up to doing an hour or more at a time without bother, you're pretty much cured.
Sneaky tip # 3: Lower your standards just a tad.
Now I'm not saying you should let everything go to the dogs and not worry about it. But if you stop expecting too much of yourself, you'll feel a lot better, and you'll actually get more done. Don't believe me? Well, think about this: one of the reasons we procrastinate is because, when we see STUFF that needs doing, we start to imagine all the things we have to do to get the STUFF done. So we feel exhausted, we don't do it, and we feel bad about not doing it.
So try to focus: if your desk is covered in STUFF, try to do one small thing that will make it less scary. Maybe open all the envelopes and stack the papers nicely. If your house is a mess, find the one bit that annoys you the most and deal with that. You'll probably find that your stress goes down a little with each little bit of STUFF you deal with. This leads to...
Sneaky tip # 4: Little bits frequently are easier than lots all at once.
Yes, we'd all like to be one of those superhumans who accomplishes miracles on a daily basis. But most of us aren't. We have to do what we can, when we can, and not worry too much that we're not perfect. And it's always easier to sneak little bits of STUFF in every day, than to have one day a month where we expect to deal with all our STUFF.
So if you're burdened by housework, do bits each day rather than a big clean once a week or once a month. And there's another benefit to this: as well as being less stress-producing, your house will look pretty good all the time. So you're actually decreasing your stress and improving your house, all without thinking too much about it. Not to mention that, if you can squeeze in chores here and there, you'll have a big wodge of time on the weekend free to do things you enjoy (unless you enjoy washing the kitchen floor, in which case there's nothing we can do for you).