Do you ever postpone things, or just forget about them for a while, or tell yourself, "I"ll get to that later?" Do you sometimes feel guilty about it? Well, it"s true that procrastination can be a bad habit, but there are times when it can be useful.

Procrastination When You Are Unsure

Sometimes procrastinating makes sense if you aren"t sure you should be doing something. If you haven"t started that business, for example, maybe your unconscious mind is saying you aren"t ready to do it. Look into the reasons for your procrastination, not to rationalize your lack of action, but to see if there really is a good reason to wait.

Procrastinate When You Know It"s Wrong

This is where we all need to learn better procrastination. Just put off eating that piece of cake until later. Wait a few more days to go to the casino, or to get together with that friend that always gets you into trouble. Anytime you are thinking about doing something you shouldn"t be doing, just say, "I"ll get to that later."

The key to creative procrastination is to recognise which things you should and shouldn"t do. By all means, learn to overcome the habit of procrastinating on good actions, but let yourself get into the habit of waiting to do harmful or time-wasting things.

Of course it"s better to quit bad habits and actions, but this is really just an easier way to quit. Put off smoking that cigarette often enough, and you"ll be smoking less of them. Wait a couple days to go eat that fast food, and you"re breaking the habit, one step at a time. That"s creative procrastination.