Procrastination is an interesting topic. It's probably one of the top reasons why people do not fulfill their life purpose and achieve their dreams. If you think about it, procrastination seems like one of he most illogical things a person can do. You have a goal in life--yet you avoid taking action to realize that goal. Where's the logic in that? How can we start to understand the dynamic of procrastination, what drives it, and how to stop procrastinating--without stress? Here are some ideas:

1.) One of the primary dynamics behind procrastination is a fear associated with taking action. It could be fear of success. It could be fear of failure. It could be fear that the task will consume too much time. It could be fear of rejection. It could be fear that we might be embarrassed. There is an unlimited variety of forms that fear can take. The important thing is to get clear on what fear is causing the procrastination and deal with it. This might be by deciding to take action in spite of fear. It might be to realize that the fear is ludicrous in light of what success might be.

2.) Another thing to look at is the possibility that procrastination might be a deliberate self sabotage on your part. This could come from many things: fear of being "above others", fear of losing love if we succeed in our dreams, fear of exceeding our parental accomplishments. All of these can be subtle and subconscious and driving self sabotage without our awareness. None of it is logical, but it is extremely common.

3.) Another thing driving procrastination can be simple lack of planning. Without weekly planning, and weekly assessment of accomplishment of your plans, you have no urgency or accountability. Without a plan, without timelines and without clarity on what to accomplish by when, procrastination makes more "sense". It is simply a time filler you use to avoid taking action on something you are unclear about.

4.) What do you procrastinate about? This is an interesting question to ask yourself. Since procrastination is an avoidance behavior, you might take a look to see what it is you're avoiding. Are you avoiding what you fear might change in your life when you succeed? Are you avoiding being the greatness you are capable of? Are you avoiding actions required once you've completed the current procrastinated action? Are you avoiding truly committing to your life? Are you avoiding the great feeling you get when you handle what you've been procrastinating about? Are you avoiding taking charge of your life and instead "killing time" with trivial activities? Are you avoiding the great burst of energy that comes from action rather than procrastinating?

5.) In order to procrastinate, it's necessary to fill your time doing inconsequential activities when you know they are not the important actions to take. This usually gives a guilty, almost depressed feeling. We know we're not doing right by ourselves, but we get locked into a cycle going nowhere relentlessly.

The #1 solution to procrastination is to resolve to and to actually accomplish anything you've been avoiding--first thing immediately. Simply create a day where you handle that item first. Set things up so that you have the time. Get together everything you need. Prepare for the event. Make it your top priority. Don't do anything else until you have completed this item. Make sure there's enough time in your schedule. Take the time to create a winning situation. Don't give up until it is completed. Don't allow anything to get in your way. Don't be sidetracked by trivialities. Just do what it takes.

You will find that by meeting procrastination "head on" each and every time, you will release a huge burst of energy. From this burst of energy, you will find that, in the wake of breaking through procrastination, you will unexpectedly accomplish a large amount of other items. By creating the habit to "Do It First" rather than procrastinate, you literally break through a huge dam of self imposed stagnation. Experiment with this. You will be amazed at your results.