How’s that post-summer feeling? Are you still channelling summer vibes thanks to some unseasonably hot weather in the UK?

Are you excited and motivated by getting on with the next big thing?

Or are you feeling a distinct sense of dread?

Is there a project, task or conversation that you can’t run away from any longer? Something that’s been on your mind (not to mention your ‘to do’ list) for a while.

And let me guess – the longer you leave it, the more of a monster it becomes and the less you want to do it.

You may have even got to the point of kidding yourself that it might just go away…

But life’s not like that is it? We both know it won’t just go away, don’t we?

And the psychological impact of procrastination is stark. In a study published by Frontiers – 94% of people said procrastination had affected their happiness with many saying it also eroded their confidence.

Put simply – we think we’re helping ourselves by avoiding that thing we don’t want to do. But all we’re really doing is denting our happiness and self-belief.

So, do yourself the real favour and let the monsters out of the cupboard.

Freedom starts here

Let’s get this thing done and you can focus on the exciting things you really want to do.

If you think the issue is a lack of clarity about what you need to do and how you might do it – you can try my ‘Down it’ technique.

But if you just need to flippin’ get on with it here’s some encouragement.

• What’s the worst that can happen? Do a bit of catastrophising about your fears with the task. Chances are they aren’t as bad as the impact of your current avoidance strategy… this also lets you think about what you might do if the worst happens. That way you’re prepared for the eventualities.

• It’s never as hard as you think – as I mentioned earlier, the delays to this task have turned it into a monster. They’ve made it bigger than it ever deserved to be. The best way to shrink it right back down to size it to take the first step – set up that meeting, write down the first actions you need to take, make that call.

• The confidence bounce – once you’ve taken even the first step to get this done, the confidence bounce will be like no other. And the real payoff is next time you have something like this on the list, you’ll know you can do it and how you need to do it. So, you’ll get it done earlier, saving yourself a whole lot of angst.

 Think how you’d feel to be free of that task. You can go to bed without thinking about it or prepare your next week without having it hijack your psyche.

And won’t that feel fantastic?