Maybe I’ll think about that and get back to you later.
We drive instead of walk because it’s faster. We eat fast food instead of cook because it’s easier. We laze around instead of being productive because well, we can get to that tomorrow. Procrastination is our annoying friend slumped over on the couch with the remote in her hand.
“Can you please change the channel, this show sucks?”
Procrastination is a high hurdle to jump. Why now when we can do something later?
If that strategy magically willed away what we needed to do, then the time spent avoiding the inescapable is a viable investment of our energy. Sadly, spending time in its wake does not make one feel good about themselves.
Why waste any additional amount of time than the task takes in a big black cloud of dread that makes us feel shitty? Because well, we can get to that tomorrow.
Procrastination is conscious and deliberate.
It isn’t something we forgot to do or overlook, rather methodically and strategically avoid much to our own detriments. Often, it seems, the cumulative time spent in avoidance surpasses the amount of time the task might take.
Procrastination is a monumental waste of time in a life where time, (tick, tick, tick), is our most coveted commodity. It is a distraction, an energy suck, a mental destination where we wallow and make excuses for our lazy ass selves. The negative energy it produces can more broadly impact how we feel about ourselves even outside of the task(s) exacerbating anxiety and depression.
Imagine what 1-2 or 5 more hours a week of free time derived from accomplishment, productivity, accountability and proactivity might do to our collective spirits. Imagine the positive energy that thrives in that result.
Seize the moment, time to scale some mountains!
Are we innately procrastinators or is it a learned pattern of behavior?
I don’t know, I’ll think about that and get back to you later.
My professional life single handedly thwarted my early life of procrastination. The consequences of succumbing to its grips were so severe it melted away like ice in the desert heat never to return. The risk of losing my house or business left no room for giving in to its life sucking grip.
Now that I have more time on my hands, procrastination rears its ugly ass head on occasion. Mostly things I loathe but must do. Even my life-lesson-loving self knows better but gets stuck in the mire of the weeds and drudges through the black cloud of dread every now and then.
So why not do today that which can wait until tomorrow? Spare yourself the agony of stepping in the swamp and running from alligators. Surely there is a 7 step program geared for the chronic procrastinator.
1. Get the shit done.
2. Get the shit done.
3. Get the shit done.
4. Embrace the win.
5. Pat yourself on the back.
6. Relish the positive vibes.
7. Rinse and repeat.
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