Procrastination, and its deadly twin – Perfectionism – are two of the most fear-loaded words an artist can hear.

When you procrastinate, you avoid doing what you love, you stop yourself from creating what’s important to you.

As well as the obvious effects that procrastinating has, ie you create less, there are all the knock on effects that not creating brings. The less you create, the more your confidence in creating takes a pounding, the more difficult you find it to start anything new, the more you avoid experimenting and eventually, you simply stop creating.

That gushing wellspring inside you called your creative potential has dried up to barely a trickle.

So is there any hope? Is there a way to beat procrastination or should you resign yourself to always being a slave to its creativity sapping clutches?

Thankfully, yes there is a way to overcome procrastination. But there’s a crucial first step you must take. If you ignore it, you will indeed be doomed to a life of minimal creating and endless frustration.

This first step is highly sophisticated, so you may want to get your pen and paper ready to take down the full details...

Ready? The first step to beating procrastination is...

Admit you procrastinate.

That’s it.

Sounds too simple doesn’t it? In fact it doesn’t even sound like a step, it sounds like something you obviously will have done anyway. But that’s very often not the case, and that’s why people get so sucked into procrastination habits – because they don’t recognise or admit they’re procrastinating, so they can’t even begin to conquer it.

How often do you get stuck right in to creating without first “just” checking a few of your favourite websites, “just” making a quick snack, or “just” popping out to get some fresh art supplies?

All these little activities are subtle ways of avoiding creating. In other words they’re all procrastination habits.

For every hour that you tell yourself you’re creating, how much of that are you REALLY creating? 55 minutes? 45 minutes? 30 minutes? 5 minutes?!

This step is not about judging you and criticising how much you procrastinate. It’s about meeting you exactly where you are and getting an honest and accurate picture of how often you procrastinate.

It’s only after you admit that you do procrastinate that you can begin to do something about it.

Until then, you’ll be forever trapped in its stealthy grip, and you’re creative talents will never be fully realised.

So take that first step today.

And, to beat procrastination and set your creativity free in the next 21 days, check out the powerful ecourse “7 Steps To Freedom: How To Beat Procrastination And Set Your Creativity Free” at http://www.HowToBeatProcrastination.com

From Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin