■ PROCRASTINATION

is the thief of time, so the saying goes — and a new study seems to support it. It found that those with a tendency to dither and delay not only waste time but are more likely to be unhealthy, financially worse off and depressed. Delaying never makes things easier — and, usually, quite the opposite. There’s no doubt that some people have more of a tendency to put off doing things than others. This is particularly true of people who are perfectionists but also lack confidence in their ability. Years ago, writing my first book, I worried it wasn’t going to be good enough, so put it off for months, despite having a book deal. A friend told me to write ‘1,000 any words’ each day. I wasn’t to worry about the words, I just had to get something down on paper. This lowering of expectations liberated me to write, and now I’m a great fan of the phrase ‘done, not perfect’. Accepting that something won’t be perfect is the key to cutting through procrastination.