Sometimes you know what to do and do it. Other times you don't have any clue what to do so you do nothing. The one, though, that makes you walk on a very sharp edge is when you know what to do and you don't do it.
That, my friends, is procrastination. And if you're not careful you can fall down the wrong end of that blade!
Procrastination is the voice that says, "Just check Facebook again" or "Maybe I should go get the mail" or "I should probably see if I have more emails..." That, my friends, is procrastination, and it can be like the black hole of TV and just cause people to waste away.
Some will argue that procrastination can cause you to produce your best work. I'm not disagreeing ... when you have a hard deadline. Procrastinating on a paper knowing it's due Friday at 5 is different because you have to produce something by Friday at 5 or risk a zero, so whether you start it three weeks early or the night before. Knowing there's a final day and time can sometimes make people who procrastinate produce their best work.
No, I'm not talking about that kind of procrastinating. I'm talking about your WISH LIST. The things you wanted to do with your life, or day, or month, or year....but had no hard deadline nor had to get done for any reason. Those are the ones where procrastination can snatch your list and make it disappear while making you think you're enjoying your days. These are the times when procrastination turns into regrets 10, 20, 30 years down the road.
Want to work on alleviating that regret and working to fight against procrastination? Start by giving yourself just one item to accomplish today, big or small. Then another, and another every few days. When you can do them for a week, reward yourself! Take yourself for another cup of coffee or a mani-pedi. Just make sure it's a reward you don't usually treat yourself to "just because". Otherwise it won't feel special and you won't feel like you really are taking your life back!
So here's to living for the now...not for the now and easy. Because, let's face it, you're 10-year older self will love the new stories those life choices create.
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