Your goal is the ultimate desire that may from time to time conflict with something you want to do right now - let’s call that immediate desire.

   Suppose your ultimate desire is to lose 30 pounds in six months, but your immediate desire is to eat a hot fudge sundae that is melting in front of your eyes. Chances are you’ll be inclined to satisfy your immediate craving at the expense of your ultimate dream. That’s human nature.

   You can try to overcome human nature, through iron willed self-discipline, but that’s the hardest work on earth. Why not be smarter? There is a little trick how to resist the temptation.

   Make your ultimate desire and immediate desire change places. Turn the sundae into something you can put off. Then turn your ideal weight into something you insist on right now.

   Simply ask yourself a preference question: “At this instant, would I prefer to be at my ideal weight or have a hot fudge sundae?”

   If you choose the sundae, you might as well give up your wish to lose weight. If you don’t prefer your ideal weight to a sundae today, when will you?

   But if you choose your ideal weight over a sundae, you’re on the right track.

   So, are you a procrastinator?

   Indeed this is a very silly question because we all are. Procrastination is fundamental to human beings. Procrastination is simply the habit of putting off for tomorrow what you can do today. The fact is that nine out of ten of us have this habit. We tend to postpone jobs and tasks.

   The thing about procrastination is that we tend to put off only those tasks that seem unappealing to us. If the task is boring, or monotonous, or involves too much hard work, then it stands a very good chance of getting postponed.

   It is not because of the lack of time that we do not do the task. On the contrary, we might have plenty of time to do it but we tend to postpone it and justify ourselves saying that we do not have the time for it.

   The truth is the job becomes more unpleasant the more you postpone it.

   Fortunately there are two simple techniques that will help you to stop putting things off. Try both of them and choose what works best for you.

   Technique #1:

   Break big jobs down into small manageable tasks. Something that would take only 5-10 minutes to complete. Make it as tiny as you can.

   Let’s say your goal is to lose weight and you decided to work out every day for 30 minutes.

   You could write down your assignment:
   “Do one exercise for lower abs 10 times.”

   Yes, just one exercise, just 10 times. It would take you about 1 or 2 minutes.

   The secret is that the most difficult thing is to get started. Once you get started you’re 95% most likely to finish the whole 30 minute work out!

   Even if you do one exercise 10 times, it is better than nothing. You wouldn’t feel guilty and depressed – you’ve fulfilled your assignment! And if you do more you’ll feel even better!



   The trick is to give yourself a really small task:
To make a phone call, or to read one page of a textbook.

   And once you get started you will actually find out that you won’t mind doing more than you planned!

   Technique #2:

   Next time you catch yourself putting an important task off, take a piece of paper and answer three simple questions. (You can also open Worksheet 9 “Stop Procrastinating”)

1. Where you are?
2. What do you want to do?
3. How will you feel while doing it?

   While writing down what it is you want to do you will already imagine yourself doing it. And it won’t be very difficult for you to get up and do it.

   Let’s say you’ve been putting off organizing your closet. You always find more important tasks to do and there’s never enough time to clean it and put everything in place.

   Just sit down, take a piece of paper and begin writing: “It’s Saturday, 3:45pm. I’m sitting in the kitchen, drinking coffee. I want to organize my closet. It will only take me about 1 hour and I will feel energetic and satisfied that I finally got it done. My closet will be clean, everything will be sorted and in place…”

   Just as you’re writing it you feel the desire to get up and do it. Because you want your closet organized, you want to feel satisfied and you’ve already imagined yourself doing it.

   Remember, all you have to do is to answer three questions. Where you are, what do you want to do, and how will you feel while doing it. It’s a very simple technique but it works like a magic!