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I came to learn that it was probably one of the most important words to understand and one of the most difficult habits to overcome. But there is a way to overcome it, and that's a part of what we'll be discussing here.

In a series of 5 short articles, I am going to be discussing how to progress in 5 easy steps with any new project from the Inception stage through to Completion, whether it's starting a new business, moving house, or starting a new career etc.

In a progressive order, these 5 steps are Deciding, Planning, Beginning, Progressing and Achieving.

Today, just before we discuss the first step,' Deciding', I'm going to talk about how we can conquer that old enemy 'Procrastination', because until we do, our plans rarely get off the drawing boards of our minds, and we never get past 'Go'

All of us have a list of projects or a 'to do' list of things that we know are important, and can even be life changing if acted upon; yet often these projects seem to remain neglected. We just never seen to get around to doing them. There is never enough time, there are always too many distractions, we'll always start tomorrow and so the list goes on and on.

This is a human quality that we all possess, but unfortunately some of the things that we put on our 'to-do' list end up being important things that in hindsight we realize we should have done. That 'putting it off until later' process is called procrastination and the best weapon to use against it is called Decision.

So, instead of waiting until tomorrow to discuss this important first step, let's do it now !

Also deciding can sometimes start the process of lifting your self-esteem. It may be that someday when you look back on it, you realize that the day that you finally decided to 'decide' was about as exciting as the day when you finally accomplished the project. When you finally get through whatever barriers have been keeping you from making that decision, and get 'the monkey off your back' as we sometimes say, it can suddenly seem as if the sky is blue again, the air is clear, your mind is ready and the adrenalin starts to flow and you are ready to move forward.

Heady stuff indeed, and a great feeling !

However deciding is only part of the process and without following through, if you just decide and then postpone and then decide and then don't do anything for a week or a month or a year, all of that energy becomes dissipated and you can end up feeling depressed instead of elated. So deciding can be inspiring but only for so long, once you've made that important decision, then that can be an exciting day but only if you act there and then. The opposite of decision is indecision and indecision is the thief of opportunity. Indecision means that the door is still closed, the opportunity still waits, and what could be is postponed or might never be. These are all penalties of indecision.

O.K. I'm ready to do something; what's my next step ?

Step 2: Commit to a time and make a list of the things that you've been postponing in both your personal and business life. If there's one major project that you've had in storage, just waiting for the right time to begin, dust it off and decide to do something about it today. Sometimes when you do really start to think about it, there may be a list of things that you have been procrastination on and that list can easily seem overwhelming.

Don't worry, here's a simple 3 step plan to help you;

• Firstly, take these thoughts out of your head and transfer them to paper. This is a key point because by writing down headings such as Health, Finances, Home, Career, Personal life, Family life, Spiritual life etc, you'll have at least a base from which to start from.

• Secondly, after you've compiled the headings, write down under each heading a few things that you've been postponing. Try to be a specific as you can.

• Thirdly, prioritize your list. The key here is to not set yourself unrealistic goals or expectations by trying to plan a way to do everything at once; that just won't happen. To start with just choose 1 thing from your whole list. Then write down how your life would be improved if you did make a start and set a firm date to begin.

So in summary we've been discussing that even before we can get to Step 1 which is the Decision stage in a project, we have to get past Procrastination first. I've offered some simple advise on this that's worked for me and hopefully will for you if you try it and apply it.