Have you ever decided to put something off until later and then discover that when later arrives you still don't feel like doing it? Or, maybe you feel even worse than you did before. Have you ever decided to put something off until later and then forget what you decided to put off? Have you ever decided to put something off until later and then, when you remember or choose to move into action, it has now become a matter of even greater urgency? Maybe even an emergency?
Hopefully, you get the point. Putting things off is just a lousy life strategy. It is even a worse life habit. It seems like it happens too often in my life. Maybe you can relate. I think there are times when procrastination becomes, all too often, our default position. Think about it.
When you are facing things you have been putting off for a long time it is easy to keep putting them off. The same reason that caused you to procrastinate before has not gone away. In fact, more often than not, it has become more complicated. As a result, there is even more of a felt reason for not doing it.
When you are busy it is easy to focus on low hanging fruit and put off the more important things. I don't know too many people who are not busy. Parents are busy runnning children from one commitment to the other yet the importance of building their own relationship gets lost. Immediate problems are easier to define as urgencies yet important things you need to be doing carry an even more consequential urgency.
When it involves interacting with someone you don't really enjoy it is easy for you to talk yourself out of doing it. Life brings all kinds of people into our lives. The very nature of created diversity insists upon it. No one in this world thinks are looks like you. Some people, however, think and act even less like you than others. They are more difficult and therefore easier to put off.
You will put off things you are afraid of or things you are not prepared for, or things you determine others should be doing and on, and on, the list could go. Life provides plenty of opportunity to choose not to do things. The problem is things I need to do have a way of coming back around. They won't go away.
Here are some suggestions you might want to consider if you find yourself relating to this blog to0 much.
1) Choose to do something you don't feel like doing, but need to do, every single day.
2) Choose to get the most easy thing to put off done first in your day.
3) Choose to see all people as a unique learning opportunity.
4) Choose to anticipate and prepare more wisely every day.
5) Choose to block out time everyday to do things you might otherwise put off.
Obviously, there are other things you can choose to do to head off this problem. I just want you to remember that most of the time you are your own worst enemy. We are responsible for creating most of the stress in our lives. Choose to give yourself a break. Get it done. Do well, my friends!
