I wish I could say that at this point in life, I have conquered procrastination. I have made progress, but there are days when my motivation is low, and I can find a whole lot of things I want to do, except what's on my to-do list.

How about you? Do you find yourself constantly putting things off, even when you know accomplishing them is the best thing to do?

If so, you are certainly not alone. Everyone procrastinates at some time or other. The problem is that chronic procrastination can damage your health, ruin you financially, and create a rash of mental and emotional problems.

Sometimes procrastination is intentional. This is certainly true for me. But often it is a byproduct of our lifestyle.

Listed below are 6 common reasons why you procrastinate. Understanding the motivation behind your avoidance and putting off of responsibilities is the first step to stopping that behavior.

1. Poor Diet

Many people living in modern civilizations eat too many processed foods. They are consuming sugar, salt, MSG, trans fats, fast foods and other food-like products that are unhealthy.

This has led to the highest incidence rate of obesity and overweight in human history. When you are tired, lethargic and your body does not get the nutrients it needs, you have little energy, and worse yet, your brain does not function properly.

Get more live, organic, fresh fruits and vegetables into your diet. Eat less foods that come in a wrapper, bag or box. Start reading food labels, and avoid sugar, salt, MSG and trans fats.

Make more meals at home, eating wild caught salmon and tuna, nuts, berries, grass-fed beef and organic dairy products. You will not only sharpen your mind and stop procrastinating, but you will also become healthier and lose unneeded body fat in the process.

2. Lack of Motivation

When a task is boring, or you "just don't feel like doing it", it is easy to put it off. Remind yourself why you are doing any particular task or handling a responsibility. When you understand the important reasons why something is on your to-do list, you can motivate yourself through to its completion.

3. Time Issues

Most people in today's busy society have a lot on their plates. There are a lot of tasks and responsibilities to handle. But the truth is, we waste so many hours every day and week because we do not properly prioritize or plan our actions. A daily, weekly and monthly activity planner solves this problem.

4. Fear of Criticism

A perfectionist attitude can easily lead to procrastination. You want something to be "just right" before you cross it off your to-do list. This is really a deep-seated fear of criticism, either from yourself or others. Understand that nothing is ever perfect, make it acceptable, and move on.

5. Fear of Rejection or Disappointment

Have you ever put off making a telephone call or speaking with someone? The communication is important and you know it, but you still keep finding reasons to put it off.

This could be based on a fear of disappointment or rejection. You don't want the other person to tell you something you don't want to hear.

6. Avoidance of Failure

Sometimes your "I'll do it later" attitude is very simple to understand. You are afraid of failure. No one likes to fail.

However, all of the great achievements in human history were made on the back of repetitive failures. If you are afraid to fail, you may never achieve anything truly important in your life, mentally, physically, emotionally or spiritually.

Conclusion

While the 6 points above were mainly addressing the common issue of procrastination, the suggested solutions are valuable as a means of achieving success in whatever you undertake in life. Take the last point, fear of failure. It is common wisdom to realize and accept the fact that your ultimate success will be built on a succession of failures... the secret is to keep on trying until you find the winning approach.