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Procrastination is a hot topic when it comes to the typical day to day. Are you trying to stop procrastinating? Are there positive and negative effects on procrastination? What can we do to prevent procrastination?
I admit it. I am a procrastinator. I procrastinate on all sorts of things like taking care of mail and bills, setting up appointments, and making boring phone calls. Even though these things usually only take a few minutes when done on a regular basis, I find these tasks completely tedious, and I dread taking them on.
And because I dread them, I continue to put them off until they really do become daunting tasks. A few papers on the counter become a giant stack of bills mixed with junk mail and receipts. A couple of unanswered emails turn into a completely unmanageable inbox.
The consequences of my procrastination are usually not too terrible, but procrastination has caused me to miss more than one deadline and more than one opportunity. As you indulge in just one more episode of your latest show binge and your “to do” list goes by the wayside, you are probably telling yourself that it really isn’t that big of a deal. You might be right; after all, there will always be more errands to run, more calls to make, and more bills to pay.
Procrastination on Life
However, even though procrastinating on a never-ending list of chores might not have drastic consequences, there is a kind of procrastination that does. This kind of procrastination is procrastination on life.
You might be wondering what I mean by this, but if you think about it, you probably already know. It happens to almost everyone at some point, even to the people who seem to be put-together and organized all the time. Procrastination on life occurs when we lose ourselves to the busyness of life. Our dreams and goals keep on getting pushed until tomorrow while we get sucked into the vortex of staying afloat on daily activities.
We busy ourselves with “to do” lists that never end. And pretty soon the things we meant to do— our dreams— pile up on the ever growing heap of unfulfilled aspirations. We continue deterring our dreams, waiting for a time when life is less busy. The problem is, life doesn’t slow down. The years slip by, and we have little to show for it except for an ever increasing list of things on our daily “to do” list, and ever growing disappointment at missed opportunities.
What is the first step to stop procrastinating?
Life is crazy busy. There is never a lack of things that “need” to be done. So how do we make time for the things that are important and the things we really enjoy? Here are just a few tips that I have learned along the way:
Have a positive attitude.
A positive attitude can turn something unenjoyable into a good time. Why not turn a stressful drive through traffic every morning into story hour with your favorite audio books. Turn the drudgery of cleaning up after dinner each night into a family bonding and team building exercise. With a little creativity and positivity mundane moments can turn into perfectly imperfect life moments.
Speed up.
We all have things we need to do, like filing papers or cleaning. Even though we would rather spend this valuable time on things we enjoy, we still have to get these jobs done. However, if we reflect on how we are doing them, we might come to the realization that much of the time spent is unnecessary.
Maybe you have a complicated process for filing paperwork, but you could still get the same work done without organizing bills alphabetically. Maybe you have a ritual of steps you go through each time you clean the bathroom, but the bathroom would still look clean even if you didn’t polish the grout. Evaluate. Do you really want to spend so much valuable time on such mundane tasks?
Slow down.
I know this sounds really contradictory, so let me explain. While there are ways to speed up tasks to save time, we can also slow down and find creative ways to enjoy doing them. Maybe you have “work out”, on your “to do” list just to get outside and get some exercise. Instead of doing this merely for the practical purpose of exercise and the feeling of satisfaction at crossing it off the list, slow down. Enjoy your walk. Relish this quiet time to yourself by admiring your surroundings. Don’t spend all your time living in the fast lane, or you won’t have a chance to stop and smell the roses.
Let go of perfection.
If you are waiting for life to slow down, or for everything to be perfectly in place before doing what you love, you are going to be waiting a very long time. If you are not intentional about how you fill your time, it will fill automatically with the wrong things. So stop procrastinating. Do something you love today!
Conclusion
Remember, life is about more than just getting things done quickly and checking things off our list. Sometimes we need to not focus so much on how we’re procrastinating, but enjoy the things we accomplish while living a happy holy life. I hope you find these tips helpful and meaningful. Thank you for reading! I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas.
