Shapiro

Establish a regular sleep/wake cycle

Determine to be productive the next day.

Enlist the help of your family or anyone you live with or sleep with

Tell them that your goal is to get to bed on time, and ask them to encourage you in this goal. Do this with appreciation and kindness. Do not punish them for doing what you have asked.

Set up small steps.

Ironically, this fear of failure for lack of perfection is superimposed on someone who has a pretty good record of failure over ordinary simple things. Why even try?

can break activities down into three main categories: gathering your materials, using those materials, and putting the materials away. (That last part is actually a step.)

When the time is up, stop

Another way to break up tasks is to break them up into bits of time. The bits of time should be individualized to your optimal attention span. If you can concentrate on something for a maximum of fifteen minutes, then break things into pieces of fifteen minutes each. When the time is up, stop.

Begin by estimating the amount of time it will take to do something at your most efficient. Then set a timer, or visualize the time on your watch or the clock on the wall. Make sure you have a way to keep track. Then, ready, set, go! And when the time is up, whether or not you have finished, stop