"This is probably the GREATEST DECISION MAKING process in the world."

Let me give you the psychology behind why I believe people procrastinate first and then I will give you the most practical self development tool to overcome it.

When we are stalling on making decisions we are not just weighing up the pros and cons like most people talk about. There are elements of comfort that people like to reside in because of the uncertainty involved when a decision is finally made.

For example-
I was mentally wrestling with a major decision in my life about whether to stay with an employer or to leave and begin working on something for myself again. This was back when I was around twenty years of age. I was not long out of high school and I was working in a restaurant bar where I had to serve food and drinks to customers.

My dilemma was this…

I could leave and begin to work for myself tennis coaching on a full time level but there were no guarantees that I would make enough income to overtake what I was currently making. So I was stuck in a comfort zone that was telling me, "You've got money coming in here and the work isn't too bad even if it's not what you really want to do".

Can anyone relate to this type of thinking?

Some of the psychological barriers that cause us to procrastinate are

• Fear
• Comfort Zone - which is really another fear - fear of venturing outside our own security
• Not clear on personal values or what's most important to us
• Lazy - I know sometimes I just couldn't be bothered deciding (until I learned this decision making process I am about to share with you)
• Disorganised - having trouble organising thoughts to properly weigh the pros and cons.
• Pain - in the moment we procrastinate there is less pain than if we were to make a decision. Making a decision might mean we have to do some work or make some changes. For a lot of people this means pain and they would rather put it off.
  

"Procrastination is death on a time payment plan." - Sheila Murray Bethel

SIT ON THE FENCE AND DECIDE

In order to overcome procrastination we are going to participate in an activity that you will never forget. We are going to procrastinate on purpose.

I want you to take a decision that you have been procrastinating over and write down the two options on a separate piece of paper.

You have probably heard the phrase, "Sit on the fence" when people are referring to procrastination. We are going to take this literally so that you never procrastinate about another decision for as long as you live.

I want you to find a fence and place one piece of paper on one side of the fence and the other piece of paper on the other side of the fence. Then I want you to climb up and literally sit on the fence with one leg on either side. Starting to draw a mental picture of this yet- comfortable huh? Then I want you to procrastinate over your decision for as long as you can physically stand. When your butt crack is killing you I want you to procrastinate for another five minutes. You are not allowed off the fence until you have made your decision.

Once you have decided you can climb down and pick up the decision you have made and never look back at the other option. Just walk away. (A friend can screw it up and put it in the bin for you so you don't get accused of littering).

Make procrastination painful

Most of us do not realise the pain that procrastination causes until some years later when we are stressed out and unhappy. For some people the wrong job can cost them their marriage and time with their children. Procrastination is a deadly disease but because it doesn't hurt us in the moment that we are doing it we fail to realise what is happening.

The "Sit on the Fence" exercise teaches us to recognise procrastination for what it really is. It is a future pain realised now. Putting off important decisions almost always turns out to be more painful than making them in the moment. There is something about taking action and making decisions that seems to propel us and give us STRENGTH in the fact that we are in CONTROL of our destiny. There is no time like the present and are lives are important enough to go for it now.

We have all heard the saying "Tomorrow never comes". The next time you are faced with a difficult decision or find yourself putting something off until later that could have been done yesterday - Just go sit on the fence and you'll soon make up your mind.