Revealing Procrastination

Procrastination is a liar. I probably have known this all along, but I diverted my eyes to avoid being forced to look at the truth head on.

Procrastination says I am just waiting. Procrastination cajoles me into compliance by making me think that I am only putting something off for another time. Procrastination fills me with perfectly acceptable reasons for waiting.

It is too late to start today, so I might as well wait and get a fresh start tomorrow.
It is too cold (or wet, or hot, or dark, or light) outside, so I might as well wait until the conditions are more favorable.
The current focus of this television series (on the streaming channel), the book I am reading, or the video game I am in the middle of needs to be completed so that I can give my full focus to the job.

The truth is that procrastination lies. It weaves master delusions and parlor tricks to keep me distracted from what is right before my eyes.

Ben Franklin has been created with the words “never put off until tomorrow what you can do today” which should serve as a simple reminder to get up and get going. Instead, I find myself caught up in a fog of misdirection stirred up by procrastination. Lost in the fog I become convinced that it must wait.

Procrastination clouds the moment. It tricks my intentions into thinking that waiting is the better way.

The biggest irony for my own journey with procrastination – I started the article several times but always something came up and I put it off. I found plenty of things to do to keep me from focusing on sharing the truth about procrastination.

Procrastination Truths Revealed

Procrastination comes from two words: “Pro” meaning forward and “crastinus” meaning of tomorrow.

I tell myself that I will move forward – as of tomorrow. It sounds like a good idea (at least when I am caught up in the moment) but the problem is that there is ALWAYS tomorrow. Tomorrow is never today.

Today is the time for action and I will only take action in my today when I stop giving into to the delusions of procrastination.

Crushing Procrastination

1. Do it now – and I mean right now. There is something on the list (or a part of a something) that can be accomplished in the one minute, the five minutes, or the three hours that sit there waiting to be utilized.

2. Do it when it comes to mind – because it will slip out of the mind soon enough. If it is not possible to physically accomplish the task then write it down for a future to-do list. Record or respond – but never leave it to the mind alone.

3. Do it the moment it is seen – because out of site means out of mind means procrastination wins. Pick it up. Put it away. Finish it. Do what needs to be done when it becomes noticeable that it needs to be done.

Procrastination will drive me to put it off or to wait because waiting is a better way to get it done. When I make the choice to take action then I reveal procrastination for the liar that it is.

Be Blessed,