Procrastination

September 3, 2018

By Robert Pope

This is Labor Day weekend. What a perfect occasion to write about procrastination as this is a habit that impacts us often in our daily labor….. and in our personal life.

I am a life-long procrastinator. Tough to admit that but it is true. I have been so committed to procrastinating that I have even “inwardly celebrated” when my procrastination worked out perfectly and I avoided wasted effort. Thankfully, with age, I am getting better and not worse.

Even with my “selective memory,” I still cringe at the ways that my procrastination has cost me. The good news is that pain is an effective teacher. When I was running around trying to get an issue fixed on the vehicle at the last minute before a family trip, the pain was considerable.  That is only one painful example. Procrastination generally costs us a lot in both time and dollars.

Why do I procrastinate?

1.      Laziness – Sometimes, I just didn’t feel like doing it so I refused to move ahead. Not smart.

2.      Avoidance – The irony of procrastination in general and avoidance in particular is that the more we avoid action the bigger the obstacles become in our mind.

3.      Fear – This is a big one and way too deep to cover in a short blog. Fear is powerful and the more we cave to fear, the worse it is.   However, fear can be overcome!

4.      Busy-ness – When we live a vibrant life of giving to others, we easily have too much to do. A full life is fun. Being too busy is not fun. If we do not prioritize properly, we are going to be too busy and life will be overwhelming. Not fun. When we are overwhelmed, we generally make poor choices and end up procrastinating on the truly important areas.

How do I overcome it?

1.      Prioritize – We can’t do everything we want to do! Determine what is the most important. Write down your values. Discuss them with a close friend. Cut the clutter. Simplify. Commit and follow through.

2.      Ready, set, GO. – Digging into the tough stuff gives us a tremendous reward. Eating the ugly frog each day is a huge key to overcoming procrastination.

What is one important area in which you have been procrastinating that you can dig into today?