All of us procrastinate to some extent, always putting off what we should be doing today until tomorrow or next week, but there is a price to pay for habitually procrastinating.

Delaying action on our dreams and goals can waste our life. Today is our only reality, as tomorrow doesn’t yet exist, and yesterday has already gone beyond our grasp. Many people keep putting action off ‘until’ – Until the children go to school – Until the children leave home – Until we retire – Until you find that you have reached the end of your life, and have many regrets about all the things you were going to do, but missed out on.

Procrastinating is habit forming, and eventually becomes a way of life, causing you to never achieve anything of value. There’s nothing sadder than a wasted life. Eventually, whilst you are putting off work on your own plans, you create a vacuum, which other people will help you fill with their agenda, leaving yours unfulfilled.

Procrastinators always wait until the last minute to act, causing them more work and stress than if they acted promptly. Also, because they are always behind with everything, they do not have time for most of the interesting things of life, and complain that life is boring, because nothing interesting happens in their life.

Minor problems ignored often become major disasters if left unsolved. Sometimes, of course, problems do resolve themselves without input from us, but by no means all. Sometimes minor problems cause more minor problems which together add up to major ones which become more difficult to deal with.

Procrastinators pay a high price. It can affect all areas of your life. For instance, your health could be poor because you put off going to the doctor’s; you could miss out on opportunities because you were late getting there; you may even miss the one person who is right for you, because you are not in the right pace at the right time. Procrastination causes you to lose control over life, your future, and you often have unhappy relationships and a second-rate career. It can become a life of frustration and fatigue, and unfulfilled dreams.

To improve your life, firstly acknowledge that you have this problem.

Here are some tips to help you:

When a project looks overwhelming, break it down into smaller tasks. Write one page a day, make five phone calls off your list each day, or start saving for your dream trip one day at a time. Divide your tasks into ten minute time blocks. Most people can work on something for ten minutes.

Prioritise! Do the important or unpleasant jobs first. This will make you feel good about yourself and stop you being in a constant state of anxiety. Again, disagreeable jobs can often be broken down into smaller segments. If for instance you decide to clean up the garage you can work on that task for ten minutes a day and before long it will be done and you will feel proud of yourself. If the job is something unpleasant like writing a letter of complaint, then just do it and get it out of the way. You will be glad that you did. (Not to me please!)

* Prepare your plan of action.
* The night before make a to-do list.
* Get ready for tasks you have to do.
* Go out and buy the cleaning products or items you need to complete the task.
* Just take some action that moves you in the right direction.
* List out for yourself all the advantages of completing a task.
* Think of ways that you can reward yourself for a task completed.

Each night resolve to accomplish two tasks the next day. Often ask yourself what is the best use of my time today? Above all, be courageous and make up your mind to tackle your most pressing problem or go after your best opportunity today.

Written by Christine Sherborne - For more articles like this visit her web site http://www.colourstory.com

A Free Gift For You - Some of Life's greatest lessons I have learned
Wouldn't it be great if we knew everything when we start out in life? Lessons are often painfully learned and often costly. My hope is that you will read through the lessons that myself and many others have learned from, avoiding the same mistakes in your own life. If you take these seventy lessons on board they will help make your life run more smoothly, giving you a happy and successful life you deserve.

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Author's Bio: 

Christine, is a successful businesswoman with more than twenty five years experience, having owned and run businesses both in New Zealand and the UK, and now in Australia.

She was awarded ‘Auckland Business Woman of the Year’, in 1996, for the remarkable and rapid growth, and success of her packaging company.

Christine originally trained in Art and Design, and later achieved a Diploma in Sales and Marketing. She has used her natural business talents and creative flair to develop innovative and successful business ventures as diverse as packaging, importing, computer sales and manufacturing.

Christine has travelled widely, sourcing product, suppliers, customers and manufacturers for her businesses, giving her a natural empathy, enabling her to negotiate and communicate with a diverse range of nationalities and peoples with confidence.

Being a naturally positive person, she has long been interested in self-help and motivation, and she is widely read in these subjects, using the knowledge gained to help to progress her various business interests.

In her personal life she has experienced major life traumas which have taught her many valuable lessons. Those experiences and how she coped with them, overcame them and restored joy and happiness into her own life, prompted her to write a series of inspirational self-help CDs to help others who may be going through similar traumas.