Just do it!
May 5, 2009 by Marci
For as long as I can remember, I have struggled with procrastination. My dad would say “Why put off for tomorrow what you can do today?” My response was either “Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?” or “That’s why God made tomorrow!” I used to put everything off until the last minute and then panic and scramble to get things done.
These days, procrastination has less of a hold on me. One reason I procrastinate less is that I’m just older and have learned from past mistakes. See – I guess wisdom is one good thing about getting old! Another reason is that I have learned to be more organized. I have a plan. I don’t just put appointments in my planner. I include what I need for those appointments and set aside time to gather these things. When there is a task looming that I know I don’t really want to do, I give myself deadlines for getting it done with rewards at the end. Sure, there are still areas where I put things off, but I am improving!
As I think about it, I believe one of the biggest reasons I have improved in the area of procrastination is that I see it as only making me busier! And you know I hate busy! Think about it. How much mental energy and time does it take to play the mental ping-pong over “am I going to do this or am I not going to do this” or trying to think of all the reasons that task can wait. Sometimes it is just faster to do it and get it done and get on with our lives!
Stop wasting time putting things off. If it needs to be done, do it. If it isn’t that important and it is causing you stress, forget about it.
Do you procrastinate? What type of things do you put off most? How do overcome procrastination?
Comments (4)
I try not to procrastinate, although I do push off those tasks I don’t want to do until last. I don’t like making phone calls to drs, customer service, HOA, etc. I overcome procrastination by making daily to-do lists. I plan ahead and monthly and weekly translate that which I need to accomplish to prepare for the events ahead into “to-dos”. I assign “due-dates” and write them in my planner. So each day, all I have to do is review and prioritize my already composed to-do list. And yes, those phone calls are prioritized last.
Thanks for this great post.
Abbie
[...] yesterday’s post, I talked about procrastination – putting things off. This has been a major challenge all my [...]
I am a horrible procrastinator when it come to house-cleaning. I absolutely hate it, even though I’m a stay-at-home mother. I can spend four hours cleaning the house and my little ones (4 and 14 months) can have it trashed in a matter of minutes. Highly unfair
. I’m still trying to figure out how to make cleaning more appealing – haven’t found the answer yet. Let me know if you have any ideas in this department.
Yvonne- I hope you like tomorrow’s post. It might have some tips that will work for you. I’ve been where you are and it is not fun! Let me know what you think!
Marci