Here’s an an excerpt from my book, The Common Sense Guide to Mastering Your Money, enjoy:

“I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go

crazy. I’ll think about that tomorrow.”

— Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind

What would your success look like if you created a world with

very little procrastination and discomfort?

Well, in order to succeed, you’ve got to keep your daily life

daily. Breaking your spending down to the smallest time frame

possible will keep it under control. It is about “staying in the

moment” and managing the madness.

For example, let’s revisit the Vegas trip with friends. Maybe

some of your friends have the means to spend freely on a bachelor

or a bachelorette weekend, but you don’t. You are not sure what is

coming for the whole weekend and you are embarrassed to ask.

You throw down your credit card whenever asked, and you hit

up the ATM a few times in order to contribute to the festivities;

you know, throw caution to the wind and live it up.

On the trip home, you are sick to your stomach because

you have no idea what you spent, but you do know it was more

than you had in your budget … or did you even have a budget?

Maybe you simply said you’d worry about it tomorrow, and now

tomorrow is here.

Does this sound familiar?

Of course, some procrastination is very normal, as we all tend

to do the things we enjoy and put off the things that we don’t. We

also have to do what is urgent. We usually have an inner rating

system that determines the urgency factor, and completing those

urgent tasks can be pretty satisfying. What isn’t satisfying — and

can be downright harmful — is to routinely promise yourself that

you will complete tasks or put promised behaviors into motion

and then delay or disregard your own promises.

Here are a few tricks to “curbing your enthusiasm” for

procrastination:

● If the task is small enough, do it in the moment it happens.

For instance: The trash is full and it needs to go out. Go

take it out now! One little step. Each time you remove a

small nagging item from your list of nagging items, the

emotional reward is tangible. It is an emotional pat on

the back, an “I did it.” Yes, the trash will need taking out

again, but it will continue to be rewarding if you do it

when it should be done!

● If the task is a bit bigger — for example, folding the

clothes in your dryer — and you have put it off, set

your phone alarm for a reasonable moment in your day,

and when the alarm goes off, get up and do it. And no

snoozing!

● Even if you don’t write it down (come on, we can’t fix

everything immediately), review what you spent at the

end of each day. Make notes in your phone if need be,

but however you record it, take the time to review what

went on in your financial world that day … before you

turn out the lights and get comfy.

● Open your mail! Have you ever noticed that your mail

seems to become more intimidating the higher the stack?

Start sorting it right away, every day. Separate what is

real from the junk, and in order to feel really good about

this job, get a small shredder and shred the junk before

you review the rest of the mail.

Have a highlighter nearby to mark due dates and account

numbers or subject lines. This small step helps record the item in

your brain, making you less likely to forget. Have a small basket

or box nearby to keep the real mail safe, so you can take care of

each item when it is due and necessary.

Now that you are using your time to kick those small items

in the ass, you are starting to work through these irritating

emotional blocks and erasing some discomfort. So, so satisfying!