Commitment is essential to progress. If you can’t commit… if you can’t keep your promises, it will be impossible to achieve your goals. We all think, of course I keep my promises; when I promise someone I’ll do something, then I always do it. Can you say the same thing about promises you make to yourself? All progress comes from change and change requires you to commit to moving out of your comfort zone.

I just finished the first draft and first revision of my new book (working title, The Maximum Productivity Makeover for Creative Geniuses). I set a goal to write a book in 2010, but I knew I had to start long before December or it wasn’t going to happen.

Of course, as an entrepreneur, things come up. Emergencies happen and life gets in the way. After one month and then another zipped by with no progress made on my book, I realized I needed to buckle down.

I intended to honor my commitment to myself, but when I spotted an opportunity to reinforce my commitment by adding some external accountability, I jumped at it. Accountability is an extremely powerful tool to help you focus and take action. I enrolled in a coaching program where a group of potential authors gets together offer instruction, tips and encouragement to each other with the objective being for each participant to write a book in a weekend!

I didn’t really expect to complete my book in a weekend, but I thought that with that kind of rocket launch start to writing my book, I could finish the first draft within a month. Did I need to pay an $800 enrollment fee for a program to get this done? Probably not! So why did I?

Commitment is a powerful energizer, especially if you’ve invested heart and pocketbook! The program included four group-coaching sessions by phone during the weekend, a follow-up session a month later and 24 pages of information you need to know to become a published author.

Even the most successful people don’t have money to throw away so my $800 payment guaranteed I’d make space in my agenda to work through the program. I canceled everything for the long weekend, prepared meals in advance and made sure I accumulated enough sleep and exercise ahead of time so I’d be prepared to take full advantage of this weekend as a springboard for my writing project. And it worked!

Using the momentum I created that weekend, I continued to make space in my agenda to complete the book. More than 250 pages and one month later, the first draft is finished! Yes, it was an intense month, but I stayed focused because I wanted the investment to pay off.

That’s the power of commitment. And just a small sample of what you can accomplish when you honor your most important commitments, the promises you make to yourself.

How can you solidify your commitment to yourself?

What do you need to do to carve out time to complete that long-delayed strategic project?

In the comments, I’d love to hear the strategies you use to keep your commitments to yourself.

If you’d like to start keep your commitment to yourself and double your productivity, join The Maximum Productivity Makeover for Entrepreneurs!. It starts in May.

I love working with entrepreneurs. Their passionate, us-against-world attitude is exciting, but they were always the toughest clients to keep. Brilliance, creativity and a whirlwind of activity just aren’t enough to overcome the procrastination, poor focus and lack of follow through that often cost them their business.

I wanted to help, but I was struggling with the same situation at home! I’d naively hoped Duane’s marriage proposal a month after our first (blind!) date signaled the end of his reckless trouble making and thrill seeking. But, impulsive as ever, he roamed from job to job – sales, clerk, programmer, teacher, project manager…

After crossing the country (twice) following his latest “opportunity of a lifetime,” I put my foot down. He had to stick with his job with a dot com. He loved the excitement but he just couldn’t manage his time or get organized.

Spiraling out of control, Duane delivered a project late (at double what he’d bid!) Ready to fire him (as miserable as he was, Duane would have been relieved!), instead Duane’s boss demoted him, but insisted things improve.

Devastated, Duane thought, “Time for a change!”, but I refused to pack up and leave (again!). I wasn’t even sure our marriage would last… in the few hours he wasn’t at work, Duane was just as unfocused and disorganized at home. I felt like the only adult in our family. We needed help, and as stressful and uncertain as those days were, they provided the incentive for us to find the silver lining to the cloud we’d been living under.

I credit divine intervention for the experimental training program at a local university. Seeking intelligent, creative people full of energy, but who struggled to maintain focus and get organized, they described Duane (and my favorite entrepreneur clients) perfectly!

We learned that some people are better suited to a primal existence. Compare a “farmer” (or accountant, manager or clerk) to a nomadic “rebel” (rock star, artist or entrepreneur). Often labeled with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) as children, as was my youngest daughter, as adults these “Rebels” struggle because they think differently.

Their brain activates with passion, and the time management strategies that work for others just don’t work for them. But once Duane learned to work with his brain instead of against it, life took an exciting 180-degree turn almost overnight! Within weeks, he was back to his old salary AND then surpassed it! Within two years, Duane was vice-president at more than triple his salary. Astonishingly, career rocketing to success, Duane simultaneously cut his hours!

Duane was a new man. I was proud of him, and as was recently described in an article in The Globe and Mail, Duane’s transformation inspired me. I decided I had to share this “secret” with the Rebel entrepreneurs I’d been unable to help earlier in my career.

Numerous time management experts claim to know the secrets of time management, and while their strategies do help many people, entrepreneurs come to me after they’ve exhausted the experts’ advice with little or no improvement. The strategies I teach have proven so successful for “Rebel” entrepreneurs they’re featured in Success magazine.

The challenge I face with my “Rebel” clients is convincing them they CAN DO THIS. Often having struggled through school, failed at job after job, even failing in business before they find their passion, most are convinced they’re the problem, not the solution. But it’s stunningly easy, and once you start working with your brain instead of against it, the transformation is immediate and amazing. It’s hard to believe, but the more screwed up you are, the faster and better these techniques work.

Are you ready to find your silver lining? To learn more, please request my free report, “Top Ten Entrepreneur Productivity Myths… Busted!“

If a pill could cure procrastination, every entrepreneur would want one.  Of course, there’s no procrastination pill because procrastination is a symptom of many different root problems.  Without addressing the root cause, you can’t solve the problem.

An entrepreneur’s first challenge with procrastination often stems from a fear of failure.  Delays in presenting your business plan, publishing your Web site or submitting your proposal are really ways of avoiding putting your business to the test.

If you don’t send your proposal, you can’t lose the sale because your strategy doesn’t measure up.  Perhaps you worry that if you do get a contract, you won’t be able to deliver.  Or maybe you struggle with perfectionism.

Each of these appears as procrastination but demands a different solution.  And should you recognize perfectionism as a delaying tactic you still need to overcome several mechanisms that may slow your progress:

1. Do you constantly circle back and edit as you’re writing?
2. Are you struggling with formatting and presentation more than the writing?
3. Or do you know it’s done, but you’re dotting “I”’s and crossing “T”’s, never satisfied that it’s good enough.

Break the cycle by asking yourself this question: “What are the criteria for success?”

In the case of your proposal, success is landing the sale.  However, you can’t possibly get the deal unless you deliver the proposal on time.  Once you see the problem in terms of success criteria, you’re more likely to see solutions that let you meet those criteria:

1. Write a rough draft and leave the editing until the end or even delegate it.
2. Outsource quality control, final formatting and polishing (virtual assistants are great at this).
3. Block out a set time for a final edit and stick to it.

Procrastination plagues so many entrepreneurs that it seems insurmountable, but where platitudes fail, strategies that attack the root of the problem can help you finally conquer procrastination.