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Who among us doesn’t procrastinate? Often it doesn’t really matter. The important things get done … eventually. But when it prevents us from being financially responsible, procrastination can wreak havoc on our bank accounts, and devastate our sense of self-worth.

We all say we’ll start spending less after the holidays are over; we’ll ask our spouse to review the budget when he or she is in a better mood, we’ll ask for a raise when the economy improves, or fund our savings account after we pay off the Visa. Meanwhile, we’re paying late fees on overdue bills, buying things we can’t afford, going deeper into debt, and losing out on accumulating interest in our savings accounts. And we’re losing thousands — tens of thousands — over the course of a career because we’re not asking to be paid what we’re worth.

Why does money — and what to do with it — trigger such prodigious procrastination?

Procrastination is about fear. Fear of making the wrong decision. Fear of rejection. Fear of losing what we have. The irony is that when we procrastinate about issues of money we often inadvertently cause the very circumstances we fear the most.

We think we procrastinate because we’ve got a million other things to do, errands to run, and just don’t have the time. But what’s really happening is that we’re petrified.

Petrified we don’t measure up.

In our culture, money is the ultimate measuring stick. We use money — how much we have and how much we earn — to measure how good we feel about ourselves on any given day. We let our salaries, net worth, or ability to carry a certain purse or park a BMW in our driveway, determine our personal sense of self-worth. And that’s dangerous territory.

Because when we do that, every decision about what to do with our money gets bogged down with the burden of having to make us feel better about ourselves, or impress people we barely even know. When every financial decision has to pass through that emotionally-charged prism, guess what happens? Nothing.

We procrastinate. We hesitate asking for a raise because we’re afraid our bosses won’t think we deserve one. We ignore our budgets because buying a new pair of shoes just feels so dang good. We delay setting up automated savings because we judge ourselves for not being able to save as much as we imagine other people are. We avoid opening up bills or sitting down with a partner to discuss the monthly budget because we don’t want to feel bad about ourselves or our relationships.

When we avoid taking responsibility for our financial lives, we’re essentially telling ourselves: “I’m not worth it.” That message, in turn, perpetuates the cycle of procrastinating, keeping us from doing the very things financially that would make us feel good about ourselves.

Stop beating yourself up and start beating procrastination at its own game.

To retrain the deeply entrenched and emotionally-tangled habits about how we deal (or don’t deal) with money, we need to bite off significantly less than what we know we can comfortably chew. We don’t want to do anything too “big” that might trigger the old habit of procrastination.

Give yourself permission to procrastinate … strategically. Every day, take just the smallest, easiest next step toward your goal: a turtle step. Doing so tricks us into thinking we’re doing practically nothing at all — a procrastinator’s dream, and still lets us get something done and feel good about it.

Tackle it like a turtle.

What does a turtle step look like? It’s whatever feels 100% doable and still manages to move you, in whatever small way, emotionally, mentally, physically, and materially closer to your goal. If it’s not 100% doable, break it down until it is.

For example, if your goal for the last two years has been to save $3,000 for an emergency fund and you still don’t have a dime stashed away, forget thinking “big.” Forget thinking you have to figure out right this minute how you’ll find that extra $250 to save this very month. You’ll just get frustrated and start trolling the Internet for cat videos or find yourself sidetracked in the kitchen, just you and that alluring bag of double-stuffed Oreos.

Take a turtle step. Go online to investigate account options with your bank, or figure out how much interest you’ll earn. For some of us, simply finding a calculator on our cluttered desks is the first step. Yes, sometimes you have to start that small.

In fact, the longer you’ve been procrastinating about a particular issue, the more ridiculously easy your first steps should be. The initial sense of accomplishment you’ll get will give you the momentum to tackle more complex steps that require more time or commitment.

If you fantasize about asking for a raise, first steps could be researching competitive salaries in your field, or reminding yourself of all your credentials and accomplishments by writing them out. Intermediate steps could be dry-cleaning your confidence-boosting, favorite outfit, or practicing your “I deserve a raise” speech on your best friend.

Taking non-threatening, low-investment-type turtle steps helps us prepare emotionally and mentally for the bigger steps that will eventually come, like clicking the button to activate automatic transfers to savings, or getting on your boss’s schedule for that long-delayed salary sit-down.

Go get ’em, turtle.