Today I want you to think about all of your dreams. Think about everything you want out of life. Think about every goal that you want to achieve.

Now think about the progress you are making in achieving each goal. If you are not where you should be or want to be, ask yourself what is holding you back. 

Chances are you will come up with a hundred different reasons. And many of them – in your mind – will seem justified. In reality however, you’re probably suffering from something called procrastination.

I know, it’s an ugly word. And nobody likes to admit that they procrastinate. But the truth is, most people do and the sooner you realize and accept it, the better. 

When it comes to self improvement, there is never one magical thing that works for everyone. It really all depends on what your strengths and weaknesses are. 

For some people, investing time learning about how to properly set goals is most beneficial. Whereas for others, learning how to better manage time is the best course for action.

One thing is for sure though; there is one thing that can completely halt any chance you have at success. And that one thing is procrastination. 

You see, regardless of what course of action you take to improve yourself and achieve success, if you never actually take action, nothing will happen. It sounds pretty simple yet this is a big problem for many people. 

Some people suffer from something called analysis paralysis where they spends their entire lives analyzing their next move or decision but never actually “do” anything. 

Others suffer from a fear of failure or even success. 

Some people suffer from the dream syndrome where they constantly educate themselves and think that every resource they invest their time and money into will fulfill their dreams. They just keep buying resources because that keeps the dream alive but again, they never actually take action. 

Whatever your reason may be for not taking action, the bottom line is your chances of success are already shattered if you do not change. 

Now no one says change is easy. In fact, sometimes change involves a complete paradigm shift. In other words, you must completely alter the way you see the world. 

For example, your reason for not taking the action to achieve a certain goal may be that it involves time that you simply do not have. Your schedule will not allow you to invest time in anything other than all of the things you are currently involved in…or so you may think. 

You see, we as humans make time for the things which we view as valuable. The level of value attached each activity determines how much time we can dedicate toward that activity. 

When it comes to exercise – which is an invaluable activity – because it brings forth so many benefits physically and emotionally, the biggest reason people have for not working out is not having the time. They say things like “I work 12 hours a day and have an hour and half commute each way to work”.  “There is no way I could get to a gym 3 times per week for an hour each time.”

Ask these same people if they would come to the gym 3 times per week for 1 hour if they were given $500 dollars every time they came and see how fast they would find the time to come. 

It may seem a little funny but what you have is a person who places a higher value on money than they do on their health. For that reason, they will find the time to invest in getting the money. 

When your health is good, it is easy to place a higher value on money. But ask any person on their death bed – who has lost heir health – if any amount of money could compensate for what they are going through. 

Back to my point; you may have countless reasons why you are not taking action. What it really boils down to is that taking action toward achieving a goal just doesn’t have a high enough value attached to it yet; because if it did, you would be getting busy. 

So once again, I want to think about all of your dreams and everything you want out of life. Think about every goal that you want to achieve and think about the progress you are making in achieving each goal.

If you're not making progress, think about what you have to lose. Statistics show that pain is a greater motivator than pleasure; meaning that people generally do more to avoid pain than to gain pleasure.

I guess that's becuase pleasure attainment can be percieved as a luxury and pain avoidance can be viewed as a necessity.

The problem is that often times painful consequences don't come on slowly, they usually just appear out of nowhere in your face leaving you in a state of emergency. Things like disease, job loss, relationship failure, etc. may take time to build up but once they arrive, it usually catches you off guard.

And if you're not prepared, the damage can be immense.

So how do you prepare?

You prepare by ending procrastination and taking action toward achieving financial freedom, investing in a relatiionship (or moving away from a toxic one), changing your bad eating habits or whatever else kind of action will eventually payoff and prevent pain from coming.

Remember, pain isn't always easy to see coming but one it arrives, there's no denying it.

Take action toward your goals TODAY.