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While procrastination is a many-headed thing, it doesn’t mean that you can’t keep it out of any project right from the start. Once you understand some of the underlying reasons that it occurs, you can set up your marking orders so as to avoid procrastination in your employees as well as in yourself. Here’s how.

Establish clear-cut goals and priorities immediately.It’s amazing what different people may consider to be clear-cut goals. Rather than ask yourself what are the most important factors in this project, you should ask yourself what is the most important factor. Don’t give yourself three separate things to vacillate over. Focus!

Once you’ve figured out the most important part of the project, ask yourself what the next most important part is, and so on. By doing this, you will end up with a linear progression of priorities that is easy to follow. Once you have this, you can set mini-deadlines for each and start working on them. Let’s say the highest-priority component has a 2-week deadline. You might give the second-priority activity a 1 1/2 week  deadline, and a lesser component a one-day deadline. Work out the whole schedule in such a way that by meeting your various mini-deadlines you’ll have enough time to give the most important factors the attention they need without missing your final deadline.

Come up with goals jointly. Whether it’s between you and your employees or you and your boss, make sure a consensus is reached concerning the work schedule on the project. This will help avoid any feeling of being ruled over, which can lead to procrastination. Strive to let everyone involved have a say in the matter, and then reach a compromise which everyone can live with. Call it the “Defense to Autonomy” Rule.

Spell out clearly the consequences of not meeting the deadline. Let your employees know how important the work is and what kind of trouble they could put the division in if they don’t finish the work on time. This makes the deadline all the more concrete to the kind of person who thinks there is always a little more time that can be squeezed out of any deadline. For personal motivation, you might imagine a worst-case scenario of what will happen if you don’t finish your work on time.

Rely on feedback, feedback, feedback. Get it and give it. Check in with your employees when they meet one of their mini-deadlines. Do it consistently and let them know how they are doing. Encouragement always helps, but so does a little timely criticism if things are getting bogged down. People tend to procrastinate alone and then try to hide it because they are ashamed. It can be a tremendous help to them if they have someone they can touch base with about their progress.

On a personal note, if you are they type who procrastinates, you may want to set up checkpoint meetings with your boss so that you dodnt’ find yourself working in a vacuum.

Remember that it doesn’t have to be perfect. Only saints are perfect, and most of them have long since left their desk jobs for more spiritually lucrative careers. Let your employees know that you understand their abilities and limitations, and that you do not expect them to win the Nobel Prize. While some things do need to be perfect (accounting sheets and neurosurgery, for example), if most projects are 80 percent wonderful and 20 percent okay, you’re ahead of the game. Remember that something is called average because that is about as well as the majority of people can do it.

To keep from intimidating yourself into procrastination because you aren’t perfect, think about this. Studies have shown that most Olympic athletes are, on the whole, very accepting of themselves when they have a bad day. People perform better if they don’t expect perfection. Granted, some athletes are perfectionists. But by the time the starting gun goes off, they’ve worked themselves into such a frenzy that there’s a 50-50 chance they’ll either break a record or break a leg. Instead, strive for relaxed confidence with room to forgive yourself the occasional error.

Finally, here is the “in case of procrastination, break glass and pull lever” tip. This is for when nothing else works. No feedback, reward, or punishment has succeeded in getting you started on this project. Ask yourself what you can get done in the next 15 minutes and then do it. Anyone can stand to do just about anything for 15 minutes. And for the surprising short amount of time it is, you can get something done. You don’t have to have all the bases covered to take one step.

So get moving!