If you were guaranteed success, would your thoughts and actions be different from what they are today?  Would you be more daring?  Would you take more risks?  Would you spend more time taking action and less time talking about how things could be? H. Jackson Brown once said, "The biggest gap in the world is between 'I should' and 'I did.'" When you compare today's activities with what you dream of accomplishing, there should be a clear connection between the two.   On the other hand, if your daily actions aren't paving the way to your dreams, one thing is probably true: You're putting off doing what you should. If you struggle with procrastination, you're not alone.  But as Henry Ford once said, "You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do."  To be successful you must learn to close the gap between what you should be doing and what you are actually doing.  Start by following these four steps: 1.  DISRUPT YOUR REGULAR ROUTINE.   James J. Ling said, "Do not tell me how hard you work.  Tell me how much you get done."  It doesn't matter how hard or long you work if you're not accomplishing what needs to be done. Sometimes changing how or where you work can increase your productivity significantly.  Start by shuffling the order of your daily tasks.  If it makes sense, begin your day with a task you normally reserve for the end of the day, or vice-versa. Also, try changing your work setting.  Go to a park.  Work by the pool. Break out of old familiar patterns. And another way to get more done is to steal an hour each day.  Get up an hour earlier.  Begin work on a project during your "off" time. The idea is to take the pressure off yourself by starting a job or doing a task when you're not supposed to be working anyway -- that way whatever you accomplish is gravy. 2.  GET YOUR FIRST FAILURE OUT OF THE WAY.  Henry C. Link said, "While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior."   Plan and execute your first failure so that you no longer have to fear it.  If you need to make sales calls, dial up your first potential client and expect rejection.  Keep calling until you get that first "no." If you're brainstorming to solve a problem or complete a project, start by weeding through the bad ideas, then move on to better ones.  Once you've expected--and overcome--one failure, other ones don't look so intimidating. 3.  BREAK YOUR BIG TASKS DOWN.  Connie Gersick of the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA says that the average person doesn't get seriously down to work on a big project until midway between the start of the project and the deadline, whether an hour or a year away. If the size of a task causes you to procrastinate or completely shy away, break it into smaller, more manageable tasks.  Then, give yourself an immediate deadline for accomplishing each task.  Ray Kroc said, "Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs." 4.  STEP BACK AND SEE THE BIG PICTURE.  Don Shula, former head coach of the Miami Dolphins once said, "If you stacked [the mediocre] teams up against one of the perennial contenders, the talent gap might not be as great as you'd expect.  It's the philosophy gap that separates them.  The losers lack something vital: a sense of purpose." Often people fail to start or complete a task because they don't see any connection between what they're doing and what they really want to accomplish in life.  If you sense that what you're doing is not blazing a trail toward a desired result, it's probably time to rethink your pursuits.  On the other hand, if you know that your work will move you closer to your goals, you will be more inclined to see the task through. Arthur Brisbane said, "Regret for time wasted can become a power for good in the time that remains.  And the time that remains is time enough, if we will only stop the waste and idle, useless regretting." Even if you have procrastinated in the past, you can begin working today with a new outlook on getting things done and use some fresh methods for avoiding procrastination in the future.  Make yourself a promise today to put an end to the phrases "woulda, coulda, shoulda" in your life.