Dear
You will know who you are. For this month I am sending our a clarion call to all the masters and mistresses of procrastination; those with a PhD in avoidance, a doctorate in distraction and those aiming for the Nobel Prize in not getting the ruddy thing done.
It's time to get out of analysis paralysis and stop using an ostrich with its head stuck in the sand as your role mode.
Now if the washing up suddenly looks appealing and you can think of 101 absorbing things to do from straightening paper clips to unpicking a Brillo pad rather than read on, you're exactly who I want to help this month.
If you can leave surfing on the internet and making that umpteenth cuppa long enough to confront the issue, I would like to share with you some insights into the whys, what-fors and woes attached to the pathology of "putting off".
"Nothing is as fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task," once said William James and anyone who has "been there" knows the psychic and physical energy invested in not-doing has profound implications.
Practised procrastinators I have coached tell me, avoidance is the hard way of approaching any task.
The side effects are manifold - stress, dread, fear, missed opportunity, conflict, deception ("I swear I sent the documents"), penury, breakdown of personal and business relationships, depression, loss of trust, low self esteem. I could go on but I'm getting depressed just thinking about it.