Why start Sunday's sermon now when Newsweek arrived in today's mail? Why make those last few phone calls before going home when you can make them during halftime of the Monday Night Football game?

It's no easily exorcised habit, this demon of procrastinating, putting off until later what should be done this very moment. A pastor who cherishes every moment, John Maxwell has felt the squeeze procrastinating puts on his life and ministry.

This article is excerpted from The Time Crunch: What to Do When You Can't Do It All, co-authored by John Maxwell, Greg Asimakoupoulos, and Steve McKinley. It is the latest volume in the book series Mastering Ministry's Pressure Points, co-published by Multnomah Press and LEADERSHIP.

We pastors are tempted to put off tough but necessary tasks. We need to confront a member about gossiping, but that could get ugly, so we visit someone in the hospital.

We need to propose some cuts to balance the budget, but the tradeoffs will be painful, so we read a book.

We need ...