It has been more than five years since I started eating healthier foods. After learning how bad conventional foods are for any living being, I stopped eating them. Common questions and deep research led me to the same results of eating poorly: cancer, obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, dementia, multiple sclerosis, lupus and so on.

Back then, I was in debt. I owed $3,000 to my brother, I was three months behind in rent, I owed $2,000 to my credit card and my car was broken. Plus my business was only sustaining itself. In other words, I had no income, and my bills were stacking up.

Even though I discovered that eating organic foods is a much better investment than buying conventional foods, I was worried about my wallet as well. I was thinking about this one day while sitting at the dinner table, and I said, “I’m buying organic when I make enough money.” My cousin was walking by, and he replied, “Why don’t you start now?”

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That reply gave me something to think about. He was right: The investment must be now. If I don’t want to suffer in the future and even save money in the long run, owing a few thousand dollars and adding a couple more dollars to my credit card by buying organic foods won’t make a big difference in my wallet, but the food will have a tremendous impact on my health. Why wait? Make the decision now, no more excuses. That afternoon I went to the supermarket and the local co-op to get my organic food. Since that day, I have always been very meticulous about my food and buying organic foods in particular.

Now that I think about it, I was one of the people who most of the time leave things for the next day, next Monday, the beginning of next month or next year. I concluded that postponing things was an excuse for me to not start what I wanted to do; fear and laziness were barriers. I would waste time and make it more difficult to do in the future.

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Lying is a negative behavior. Nobody likes people who lie. We stop trusting people who lie, and we never make commitments with them. Consequently, the first person you should be honest with is yourself. And this might be the reason why each time you say, “I’ll start next Monday,” you let yourself down.

If you care about yourself, want to make a change in your life and know you have to change your life, don’t wait until Monday. Don’t lie to yourself by saying, “Next Monday.” If you have an epiphany on Thursday, put the idea to work the same day. If it happens on Saturday, do it then. If the epiphany happens and you don’t have the resources to put it into action until Monday, find other resources, make a plan and have everything set up to start Monday if it’s your only choice. Be proactive, not passive.

Things will always get in the way, and things will get in the way on Monday, right when you’re supposed to make this change in your life. What’s going to happen then? You’ll postpone it until next Monday or, even worse, next month. Your life will be over before you are ready to change. You will be in a wheelchair ready to die telling yourself, “I regret not doing what I always wanted to do.”

Can you see why starting on Monday could be your downfall?

When I get an idea or I know I need to improve, I don’t leave it for the next day or Monday. I know that the sooner I take action, the faster I will see results. I’m an expert at taking imperfect actions. I make mistakes, I learn, and I get back on course. That is better than just procrastinating until it never happens. I also know that if I leave it for later it would stress me out and won’t improve me as a person.

Starting as soon as possible with my projects has improved my life. Don’t wait until Monday to make “that” phone call, to start your weight loss program, to ask for forgiveness, to enroll into school, to save 10 percent of your income, to give, to help, to improve yourself. Do it now. And keep it as a habit.

Sandro Torres is owner of Custom Body Fitness in Carbondale, author of the book “Lose Weight Permanently” and a Watch Fit columnist. His column appears on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month in Body & More.