Procrastination is the act of avoiding something. You can procrastinate to avoid something unpleasant, like having a difficult conversation, or you can avoid something you actually want to do deep down, like finishing that novel. The list of things we postpone doing is endless.

How you procrastinate is unique to you. Perhaps you distract yourself with some other activity. Maybe you spend a lot of time thinking and thinking and thinking—so much time thinking that you never act. Maybe you are super busy doing nothing important. Or maybe you like to make excuses. We work with many creative people, and we think they may be their most creative when it comes to finding excuses for not doing something!

Despite what you’re procrastinating about or how you do it, there’s really only one reason why we all do it: taking action causes pain. The first step to overcoming procrastination is to admit that you’re doing it to avoid pain.

It’s also important to admit that for most of us, pain avoidance isn’t limited to a single situation— it’s a lifestyle. Without realizing it, most of us instinctively retreat to a comfort zone and try our best never to leave it. Whatever a person’s comfort zone, they pay a huge price for staying inside it. It’s a shrunken world where ideas, opportunities, and new relationships can easily pass us by.

Worst of all, procrastinators squander the most precious asset a human can have: time. Our time on earth is limited. Every moment is an opportunity you’ll never have again. But procrastinators act as if they have all the time in the world. As each moment passes by, you’re wasting your most precious possession: life itself.

The following tools, articles, videos, and programs can help you face the pain and take action to get your life into forward motion.