Procrastinating is a major problem for many people. You have goals, dreams, desires and things you want to achieve in life, but you just can't seem to get started.

You know you life would improve so much if you started exercising every day, but you put it off until tomorrow. And tomorrow never comes. You know the home improvement work you need to do to your house, but the idea of starting now doesn't seem appealing. There's probably something better on TV you could watch.

Sound familiar? Maybe like someone you know?

So, even if we are totally convinced of the positive effects of our actions, why do we find ourselves procrastinating nearly all the time?

People are driven by pain and pleasure. The pain of not doing something. And the pleasure of doing something. For most people, by far the greatest driver is pain.

Have you ever known you needed to sort your taxes for the end of the year, for example, or write an essay, or make an important phone call? But there always seems something better to do at the time? You put it off, and put it off, and put it off, then the day before the deadline you do it, notice it was far easier than you were expecting, and wonder what all the fuss was about?

That's because at first you were driven by the pain of going through your accounts and finding the right numbers for your tax form -- how boring! Or the pain of devoting hours to writing about a topic you find less than inspiring when you could be out drinking with your friends, or at a restaurant, or the cinema, or talking on MSN, or an endless list of other distractions. Or the pain that when you made the phone call, the person on the other end would say 'no' and make you feel rejected.

Then, when the deadline was almost close enough to reach out and touch, the pain swapped: to the thought of the find you'd get if you didn't make the phone call, or the big failure you'd get if you didn't write the essay and hand it in in the morning, or the pain you'd get from your boss yelling at you because you didn't make the call. Now, the pain of not doing it is far greater than the pain of completing the task, so you do it. And it's always much, much easier than you feared.

So how can we use this to our advantage in overcoming procrastination? Here are a few strategies that will help.

Just get going. Things are never that difficult or painful as you feared after you've started. Once you're typing, or calculating figures, or speaking to someone, you have momentum. Getting started is always the most difficult part. Once you've overcome that hurdle, you'll find it much easier to continue than to stop.

Make large tasks easier by chunking them down. Don't have a goal of starting and finishing an essay in a couple of hours. Set a goal to write the outline. Then another goal to write your first 1,000 words. Then the next 1,000. Before you know it you'll be done. Chunk large tasks down in to smaller, more manageable pieces.

Create an action diary and log your progress. I'm not talking about recording your emotions, plans and feelings here. I want to you to record all positive actions you take towards completing a project every time you do them. Then when you look back at the diary, you'll either be shocked how little you achieved which will give you more incentive to do more the next day, or pleased at the massive progress you've made and how easy it was compared to how you feared.

Focus on one priority. Forget all the tasks on your to-do list. Just find the one action that will move you forward if you were to complete it right now. The single, most effective action that will make progress in your life, and do it, now.

Remove the distractions from your environment. Turn off MSN, close your web browser, turn your phone off or leave it off the hook for a couple of hours. Switch the radio and TV off. Concentrate all your focus at attention on completing the single task in hand.

Finally, use the Christmas Carol pattern to your advantage. What's that? Sit back in your chair and imagine yourself five years in to the future. You've completed the task you're working on right now with success. Imagine what a positive impact it's had to your future. Imagine your 5-year older self looking back at you today and being pleased you were able to finish whatever it is you're working on. Do the same for 10 years in the future, and 15 and 20. Then, imagine yourself five years in the future after you've failed to complete the task. Imagine what a detrimental effect it's had on your life. Feel the pain of not finishing it. Same for 10 years, 15, 20. Here you're using future pain and pleasure to motivate yourself today. Notice how much nicer it felt that you'd completed the task? So now, stop reading, and get started on it.

Find out 'how to get motivated' at http://www.howtogetmotivatednow.com