I put the pro in procrastination.

In fact, if procrastination was an Olympic event, I'd win gold. Not in the next Olympics though, I'd wait for the one after that.

It used to be an even bigger problem before I learned tools and techniques to slay the stalling.

When I landed my first book deal I was like a dog with two tails. Urgency meant I had to hit a very short deadline so all I did was write, write, write. 

I almost fell at the first hurdle by promising something I had no idea I could deliver. 

I kept the crazy thing I did to get my first deal a secret for ten years until I confessed my sins on Page VII (yes that early) in the new edition of How to Be Brilliant.

But it was my second book that caused the problem.

High on the success of How to Be Brilliant I thought I'd made it as an author. 

I was actually closer than you think to being a one hit wonder.

I'll spell it out P R O C R A S T I N A T I O N.

I found myself making up excuses for not hitting deadlines. Emailing work to my publisher which was way below par and ultimately being close to blowing it.

Here's where I was very lucky. My publisher knew all about tough love.

Basically she said if things didn't improve there wouldn't be a second book.

Ouch!

Here's the lesson.

People do more to avoid pain than they do to gain pleasure.

With that in mind here are five (tongue firmly in cheek) reasons why you should buy a copy of the tenth anniversary edition of my first (and some say best) book How to Be Brilliant and avoid some pain.

1) Without How to Be Brilliant you'll never know the 10 most valuable life lessons, what they really mean and how you can apply them to make your life better.

2) And you definitely won't find out the very best way to get the best people to help you with anything.

And it gets worse.

3) If you miss this edition you won't discover which 'system' I had to apologise for giving such a hard time to for so many years.

4) And you'll miss all my soul-bearing banter of what went wrong and lessons learned along the way.

5) Plus everyone has read How to Be Brilliant! What, you haven't?

So, no more procrastination. If you'd like to order your copy of How to Be Brilliant this link will take you straight to Amazon.

Or rush out to one of the last remaining bookshops (please support book shops) and grab a copy.

Thank you for indulging me with two emails off the trot where I've asked you to buy something.

Normal service will resume next week with a cracking customer service idea.

It's wonderfully simple but guaranteed to make you think differently about your customer.

Be Brilliant!