Dealing With Procrastination

Yesterday was a LONG day and the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was wash dishes.  They’d already been “soaking” since Sunday night, so they needed to be done.  My husband wasn’t taking the hints.

After he went to bed and the house quieted down and I finished my writing work for the day – I seriously considered going to bed.  “You can do the dishes in the morning.”

I knew the voice.  It comes around so often that I can almost recognize it even before it speaks.  Procrastination was back.  Despite how pleasing he sounds, he’s lying – and he knows it.  I won’t get it done the next day.  There will be just as many excuses to come up with tomorrow.

Plus, I reasoned with myself, even if I do get to it, I’ll just have to put something else off to have the time to do the dishes.  “You can just get up a little earlier than normal.”  Yes.  Procrastination was right.  I could get up earlier.  But he also knew I wouldn’t.  The days that I NEED to get up earlier are usually the ones that I end up oversleeping.

This is crazy – my own voice was trying to over ride procrastination.  You have spent more time thinking about the job than it would take to do the job.  Besides, didn’t you commit this morning to do “just one more thing?”

With a sigh that would have indicated to most outsiders that I was facing a fate close to death, I approached the sink.  Ten minutes later, the dishes were washed, the dishwasher loaded, the sink sparkling clean, and I even loaded the dryer.

Procrastination is a sly little devil.  He wants you to keep putting off what ever it is you know you need to do because that means you can’t be where you need to be.

A side note, I did get up early this morning (without the aid of an alarm clock even).  Instead of having to spend the time cleaning up the mess I didn’t want to deal with, I was able to cook my husband a warm breakfast and visit with him before he had to start his morning commute.  It was a much better use of my time – at least in my opinion.  If procrastination had won, I bet I would have slept in.  Who wants to face a pile of dirty dishes first thing in the morning?