Dear Lifehacker, Lots of people are chronically late, and one big reason is the habit of always trying to do 'one more thing' before heading to an appointment. I suffer from this, and I've asked enough people to know that I'm not alone. Such people plan their day carefully, they know what time they have to leave, but they think 'I'll just do this one more thing before I go'. And that turns into another, then another, all small and probably non-urgent tasks that should only take up a few seconds but end up taking minutes, and then they end up late! Is there any way to deal with this? Thanks, One More Thing

Procrastination is a vice many of us indulge in, and there’s a reason it’s so hard to quit. However, the long term effects of putting things off are actually hurting your brain.

Have you ever felt stuck when you have something half written? Maybe it’s a school paper, or a short story, or... an article about life hacks. A tool called JSTOR Analyser can read your draft and suggest new things for you to read, making it a genius way to procrastinate.

The hardest task on most to-do lists is the invisible one: Getting motivated to do anything at all. And the more important your tasks are, the more you can scare yourself out of even starting. One trick to fight this, according to the producers of the YouTube channel How to ADHD, is a simple meditation-like technique.

I'm typically the queen of procrastination. If something doesn't have to be done until next week, then I'm more than likely not going to start it until the day before it needs to get done, regardless of whether or not I have plenty of time to complete it between now and then. As I've gotten older I've gotten better with the whole procrastination thing, but it's still a problem. Now researchers think they have found have a solution: visualising your successful future self.

Being a procrastinator isn't a job-destroying trait -- unless you're unable to actually buckle down and get the work done when you need to.

Mornings can be difficult. If your "good hours" aren't in the morning, you can find yourself losing focus in the afternoon without having accomplished much. The folks at Greatist have a solution: every day, restart your day at 2PM.

Planning is important, but sometimes we get so caught up in organising a plan to reach our goals and get stuff done that we procrastinate reaching our goals and getting stuff done. To avoid this habit, author Neil Hughes suggests the 10 per cent rule of thumb for creating systems.

We feel that time is precious, and we shouldn't waste it. We often try and fill the void with carefully-planned tasks. But turning down the volume on life can be extremely beneficial. We fight against boredom, distraction and procrastination all the time, but that doesn't mean you should get rid of them completely.

Psychologist Dr Patrick Keelan has a series of questions to ask yourself when you feel stuck with your work. These four questions can act as a flowchart to help you beat procrastination and be productive again.

Productivity trainer Kosio Angelov built a paid course at Udemy on how to beat procrastination, and over a thousand people took it. Now Angelov has ditched the $US47 ($63) price tag and released the course on YouTube for free.

We are, all of us, amazing at avoiding things. Our minds are less "thinking machines" than they are "avoiding machines". And the incredible thing is that we aren't even usually aware that we're avoiding thinking about something.

We've all put off projects or tasks that are tough or we don't want to do. Skip the procrastination by giving yourself two minutes to make an action plan.

We all have days when we're just not really in the mood for work and try to alleviate our sluggishness with another trip to the coffee machine, but there's a more altruistic solution that might give you more of a boost: Helping others.

When you really have to get things done, all you need to do is get started. If you're struggling, focus on something small. Even an answered email, short report finished, or another small win is all it takes to build a little momentum to tackle the big stuff.

We've all had the experience of wanting to get a project done but putting it off for later. Sometimes we wait because we just don't care enough about the project, but other times we care a lot -- and still end up doing something else. I, for one, end up cleaning my house when I have a lot of papers to grade, even though I know I need to grade them.

When your motivation is low, it's hard to get started on your work. And nothing can sap your motivation quite like feeling you're out of control of your work. To counter that feeling, give yourself ways to feel in control.

Big goals are daunting, and it's common practice to break them into smaller tasks. But you can still have trouble getting started. To get over that initial fear, choose a task with little effort and huge rewards.

It's always fascinating to read how successful people get things done. Celebrated author Raymond Chandler battled with motivational issues like everyone else. But then he set himself two clear choices: write, or do nothing else.