So many people continue to live lives of quiet desperation despite knowing exactly what it is that they want or desire – why is that?

Can you remember a time in your life when you knew you wanted something different, but for whatever reason you couldn't get unstuck, couldn't find your way out of being 'stuck in a rut' no matter how much positive energy you tried to use?

We recently surveyed a number of people that visit one of our sites and found the top barriers to change to include:

• procrastination
• low self-esteem
• an inability to take action
• fear of failing
• fear of what change might mean in my life
• not being sure of the path forward

Let us know which one of these hits home most for you, or perhaps you have another we have not yet heard…leave a comment by hitting the comment button at the top right of the post.

What is quite interesting about this list is that a good deal of these factors can either be eliminated or, at the very least, reduced by improving our own self confidence.

Fear, frustration, procrastination and uncertainty over our path are often associated with low self confidence.  We gravitate to someone else's expectations because we don't fully trust our own.  We fear the unknown NOT because of anything specific, but more because we are not sure in our ability to handle whatever comes our way.

Think about that for a moment…it is not any one specific event or occurrence we fear, it is the paralyzing fear of us not being able to handle whatever comes up that keeps us in comfortable situations – even if we badly want change.

Inside Attracting Greatness we outline the 5-Pillars of Greatness – confidence is right up there as the top pillar…fundamental foundation for all other change, achievement, growth and progress in our lives.

Next time you struggle with procrastination, fear or uncertainty – stop beating yourself up and instead work on improving your own self confidence…in the end that will get you over the hump.

How many of us dream of writing a book one day, yet a tiny fraction of us every actually write and sell that book.

If every one of us who had an "ideal" health and wellness regime in mind actually was able to live out that lifestyle then the world would be a much healthier place

Wondering how to stop procrastination befuldles the best of us…we all suffer from procrastination at one time or another.  Sometimes we even hide it behind claims of perfectionism, indifference or even build complex defense mechanisms around lack of taking action.

In the end, the only one we are hurting is ourselves and those around us. 

In the blockbuster book "Achieving Greatness" it is clearly demonstrated that we must learn to deal with two GIANT concepts in our life before we can claim victory over procrastination forover…

1. Align our deepest desires with our desired plans and actions so that we are motivated deeply and emotionally to achieve an end result – a drive that will overcome procrastination in nearly every scenario, and…
2. Deal with latent fears and low self-esteem that interrupts progress

By tearing down the roadblocks that stand in the way of massive, almost insane passion and motivation, we can re-discover a results-oriented style of living that will make procrastination a distant memory.

Maybe it hasn't always been that way, but there's just something that is not quite right in your life now.  No matter what you try and do, the outcome is the same, you're not getting things done.

Just like any behavior, procrastination can become repetitive – a learned habit making it more challenging to overcome taking on the more acceptable description of being a perfectionist.  Yet clearly, the main challenges are how to get motivated and truly take action.

Here are some techniques that really work for those who want to overcome procrastination:

1. Many of our behaviors are heavily influenced by the pain versus pleasure concept.  We are motivated to avoid pain and seek out pleasure.  The first thing we need to do is understand

a) How badly do you want the result?

b) How painful is NOT having the result?

Next, apply this technique for increasing the amount of pleasure you experience by taking action toward achieving a specific goal.

What I have found works is to write out what my life would be like when I am living with the result you are seeking…how do you feel when you wake up in the morning, what would your day look like, who would you be spending time with, where would you live…

Do the same thing to elevate the pain threshold for NOT taking action.

What will your life be like, how will you feel, what will you be doing, what frustrations will you feel then.

This way you turn the tables completely in favor of the pleasurable aspects of taking action while increasing the pain associated with NOT taking action.

2. In this personal achievement manual, the importance of having a strong purpose in your life and aligning your actions with that purpose is illustrated.  In fact, 95% of the people around us today have no idea how to identify their purpose let alone use it for motivation. Identifying your inner purpose can be done through introspection, meditation, yoga and various other methods of looking inward – well worth the effort as this can unlock a level of motivation and energy you never thought you had within you.

3. Face fear and uncertainty – work on specific fear meanagement technqiues using meditation and yoga. The truth is that we cannot expect to eliminate fear, doubt and uncertainty altogether – they serve an important purpose in our life, but we can manage them so that they no longer hold us back from taking action.

4. Boost your energy level by eliminating toxicity and other health barriers most of us live each day with.  There may be chemical and physical reasons that lazy people cannot summon the energy to be effective, I myself lived through such a time in my early twenties, it took me two-years to discover what it was, then I was able to treat it and move on within a matter of weeks. 

By following these 4 ways of overcoming procrastination you can completely change your attitudes, behaviors and energy fueling yourself with the now habit that can turn your life into a highly satisfying results-oriented, achievement phase from the more disorganized, frustrating place you may find yourself today. 

I know I have…and looking back, in each case I can trace this lack of energy, motivation and progress (otherwise known as procrastination) back to a mis-alignment with my core beliefs and wishes.

This may be a little hard to understand, I know it was for me, but we all have a core belief system within us that is made up from a combination of who we are and how we were raised.  We also operate heavily at a subconscious level – pretty much anything we do is somehow influenced (positively or negatively by our subconscious), thus we get these "feelings" of very high satisfaction when we are aligned and feelings of uneasiness and low energy when we are poorly aligned.

Procrastination is often the result of being poorly aligned with our core beliefs — we may be able to fool those around us, but we cannot fool ourselves.  That's why purely external methods of trying to get motivated and stay productive are tempoarary solutions, at best.

Within "Beyond Greatness" - the new manual for identifying and harnessing your core beliefs for maximum achievement, it is made very clear that harmony with core beliefs is essential to the main aspects of achievement such as self-confidence and self-esteem, our health and energy and even our ability to deal with fear and uncertainty in our lives.

What I mean by that is…do you ENJOY what you are doing with your day?  You may be good at it, but do you really ENJOY it? 

Try sitting down for an hour and writing out a picture of your ideal day – what would you be doing?  Would you be doing mostly what you are doing now, or something vastly different?  What project would you be working on?  What problems would you be solving with your skills? 

Chances are you're subconscious mind is fighting back when you attempt to do something because it doesn't "buy-in" to what you are working on – that could have to do with the general area of your focus or the specific types of outcomes you are trying to achieve.  

There is only one true way of dealing with procrastination and get out of the rut you may be stuck in with your life, that is to uncover your core beliefs and then map them into actionable activities within your day.  Instead of trying to like what you are doing, try doing what you like. 

Jeff