"Slay Your Nasty Jobs"

If you're anything like me, it's likely to be a piece of paper with the words, "Tax Return" written on it.

Every year I get that form landing on my desk around May time and every year it's still there in January when the deadline looms.

I take some comfort in knowing I'm not alone. Apparently, more than a quarter of us admit to having nasty jobs lying around the office, jobs that we know we ought to do but just can't bring ourselves to complete.

There are both simple explanations why we do this and more complex reasons. The simple explanation is that we perceive nasty jobs as unpleasant so we just don't do them, especially if we can get away with leaving them for now by doing something else. The more complex reasons are to do with our personalities and personal experiences. The job is, or represents a pyschological block, possibly from way back in our past.

The odd things is, we all know that there is no logic in putting off nasty jobs. It is the worst kind of time management. For example, psychotherapist William Krause knew an otherwise successful businessman who spent 40 hours delaying a nasty job that took only 5 minutes to complete.

So, here for all of us chronic procrastinators is my 5-step guide to slaying your nasty jobs.

1. Force yourself. I know that this is pretty extreme, but it's about growing up and just doing what you know you have to do. If there's an image that helps, think about Ulysses who tied himself to his ship's mast so he wouldn't be tempted to follow the distractions of the Sirens. I'm not suggesting you strap yourself literally to your desk, but, figuratively, yes you should.

2. Do your nasty jobs at the start of the day. Make up your mind to do your nasty job first thing in the morning, a bit like someone who has to take a spoonful of nasty medicine. Get it over with and then you'll feel great for the rest of the day.

3. Use the 5-minute burst technique. Start by committing yourself to 5 minutes on some aspect of the nasty job, even if it's just sitting and looking at it. Then, once you've got into it, you'll probably want to spend another 5 minutes on it. And another. And another. Until it's done.

4. Sort out your demons. If you are a regular procrastinator with the same sort of jobs, work out what the block is. Simply put, ask yourself what you're afraid of. It could be fear of failure, fear of confronting certain issues, fear of making a decision, fear of responsibility, or something along these lines. Confront the fear and face it. Or, if it really is an issue, get some help.

5. Motivate yourself. Most of our nasty jobs aren't jobs we can't do. They're jobs we don't want to do. So the real issue is getting yourself motivated. If you're an "away" person, who is motivated by fear of bad consequences, write down the worst thing that could happen to you if you continue to put things off. If you're a "toward" person and motivated by the prospect of rewards, write down all the positives that will come your way once your nasty job is done.

"Nasty" jobs can be the bane of our lives. The one thing that stops us from feeling pleased about our day's work, the one thing that reminds us how lazy and inefficient we are.

So stop being lazy. Come out fighting. And do those nasty jobs.

Now where did I put that Tax Return?