Cleaning the home (25%), managing our finances (18%), seeing the dentist (18%) or doctor (17%) and catching up with friends (17%) are the things we are most likely to put off.

Despite the cost of living crisis hitting household budgets, three quarters (75%) of Brits also say they have not yet reviewed their personal finances.

New research of 2,000 Brits commissioned by NatWest reveals that over half of Brits – 51 per cent – admit they procrastinate instead of acting on tasks that need doing.

Nearly two thirds of Brits feel their life is like ‘Groundhog Day’ – stuck in a rut of repetitive routine, with the typical Brit spending 3.8 hours of their day operating on ‘autopilot’ – as they do the same things in the same way every single day.

That equates to 27 hours a week of monotony – or ten years on autopilot over the average lifetime.

Following this research, NatWest has teamed up with entrepreneur Steven Bartlett to help people take action to reach their goals.

In a new motivational video series – Steven Bartlett’s Money Motivation with NatWest – The Diary Of A CEO podcast host and youngest ever ‘Dragon’ on hit TV show Dragons Den talks about setting goals, starting a business and managing personal finances, with some key tips on taking action to achieve your ambitions in life and business.

He advises people to ‘act like the CEO of their own company’ when it comes to their personal finances, saying: “We all have goals and ambitions – whether that is buying a pair of trainers, saving for a big event or even starting your own business. But we also know how hard it can be to take that first step to make those things happen. The Money Motivation series is aimed at helping anyone to take that first step to setting and achieving their goals – whatever those may be.”

Over a third (32%) of Brits say instead of taking action, they distract themselves by watching TV with 21% choosing to scroll through social media, 19% read the news and 16% have a nap.

Six in ten have bought a self-help book – but half of them never finished it with some not even completing the first chapter.

Exactly a quarter say they drift through five or more hours a day automatically without any real thought on what they are doing. For 64%, there is a daily routine that “hardly ever changes”.

The top five things Brits are likely to do in the same way every single day on autopilot are dressing at the same time of day (cited by 39%), showering at the same time (36%), eating the same breakfast (33%), making the same journey to work (31%) and cleaning their home in the same order (31%).

Eight in ten – 79% – of those who feel they are ‘stuck in a rut’ of repetitive routine admit that this holds them back in their goals, like world travel and learning a new career, skill or craft – even though three quarters of us have compiled a list of goals we would like to achieve in life.

The top ten goals Brits want to achieve but have yet to action are:  

Learn a new skill or craft
2. Travel the world

3. Start a new career

4. Learning an instrument

5. Start investing

6. Reignite friendships

7. Write a book 

8. Research family tree

9. Start a business

10. Go back into education / retrain

NatWest CEO Alison Rose said: “Everyone experiences different challenges and obstacles in life. But we hope that Steven’s inspiring story and motivational personality can help people to set and strive for their own goals – whatever they may be.”