Welcome to part seven of my guide to not being a loser.

Today I am going to talk about procrastination.

Procrastination is something that even our guest writer Dean Hunt has problems with. So if procrastination is for losers then how has Dean been so successful?

The key to procrastination is to accept it and then find ways of dealing with it. I spoke to Dean about this in a recent interview about his procrastination problems:

BS: Deano, today I am discussing how procrastination is for losers, how do you feel about that?

Dean: haha, I am dealing with it a lot better than I was three years ago, but it is a daily battle.

BS: It sounds like an ilness for losers to me.

Dean: Actually many people don’t think it is an illness, but it very much is. It is a mental illness that can ruin lives. I am dealing with it now though, and although it will always be a part of me, I can control it much better than I used to be able to.

BS: Isn’t it just a fancy word for “lazy loser”?

Dean: To some people it is, but there is a lot more to it than that. For me I believe it was a fear of failure related issue, so now I push myself daily to step outside of my comfort zone. I am lucky because I work online, and it is easier to push your limits from behind a pc screen.

BS: What are your tips to stop being lazy…. er… i mean a procrastinator?
Dean: The key is to break your day up into 30 minute segments, try and plan what you are going to do for those time slots, but be realistic about it. I also use tools like netvibes.com and workhack.com to help me.

BS: In what way do you use those sites?

Dean: I used to surf a lot of blogs and forums on a regular basis. I would be doing some work and then say “I will just check this forum”, before I knew it I had checked 10 forums and posted at all of them, 1 hour had passed and I had lost focus completely. If you do that 3 or 4 times per day then you are losing 20 hours per week. I use Netvibes to check the blogs and forums for me, and I use Workhack.com to keep my daily goals.

BS: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview, I was expecting you to procrastinate about it for months.
Dean: haha, I now find it is better to get things out of the way ASAP, the longer you leave them the worse they get. But it is always a pleasure to speak to you.

BS: Keep up the good work Dean.

Dean: You too you tough bastard.

Note: Dean is a leading young SEO and marketing consultant. His services are fully booked until 2010, but you can contact him via his blog at DeanHunt.com