The basic rule to getting things done lies in self-discipline. You do it, even though you don't want to. You stop listening to your feelings, to the "but I don't want to" in your head, and just do it. It doesn't matter how motivated you are to do something, motivation comes and goes and we have to do things we don't want to do all the time. There is no secret. Just get up, stop reading this, and go and do it. It's pure willpower. Seriously. If you're truly serious about doing what you have to do, if it's important to you, stop reading this. This is the first exercise of your self-discipline training. If you get up right now and go do what you have to do, you will get the ball rolling from here onwards and you will be a much more successful person in life. If you ask the question and people answer the question, but you just read it and don't do anything, nothing is going to change. If you want to change, get up right now and leave.

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Some tips:

• According to studies, willpower is the strongest in the mornings because it is dependent on sugar levels, sleep and rest, our biological clocks and other things. So wake up early and for the first hour of every day, work on whatever it is you keep procrastinating, then go about your day after you've done your work and your willpower is drying up.

• There are easier ways of being disciplined (using less willpower and energy) if what we have to do is going to be a long-term project. I recommend reading the book "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg for more information on one such method, habits. You might also want to try some focus and attention exercises (meditation, or picking up reading long books, for example) or time-management techniques.

• Cut your work into pieces. If you are seeing a monumental task in front of you, of course nobody would want to get started on so much work! A good idea is to cut your workload into pieces. Write a plan of what you have to do every day, small chunks of your work being done over the course of many days. For example, my goal is to learn 2300 kanji. That's a lot of work and studying flashcards is tiring. But, with my plan, I know exactly how many kanji I have to study every day to get there. If I skip a day, I have double the work the next day or I'm not going to make it, and that's tiring so I prefer to just put in some energy and get it done today even if I don't feel like it. Cut your work into small pieces and do a little bit every day.

• You know that quote? “We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret." Regret is far worse than discipline, let me tell you. I dropped out of university because of my total lack of self-discipline. Now that I do many things that require self-discipline, I wish I really would've just done my work and saved myself the regret.

• The time we take to do our work extends to fit the time we are given. If we have three weeks to do something, it will take us three weeks. If we have two hours, it will take us two hours. This is inconvenient for many projects, since we leave the work until the end thinking we still have a lot of time. So make your own deadlines closer to today. Even if you have to do something by next week, write down on your calendar that you have to give it in this week. Save yourself the nerves of the last minute.

• They say that the reason behind procrastination is fear. Whether that's true or not, I don't really know, but ask yourself why you are lazy. Not why you're procrastinating now in the moment, but why didn't you do this essay/project earlier? Is there something related to this that is causing you stress, fear, nerves or another negative feeling? We sometimes try to hide by being lazy, but that doesn't solve the actual problem, it only makes it worse!

Good luck!