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“Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.” -Don Marquis
Well, with that quote Don Marquis certainly hit the nail on the head as far as I’m concerned. But that was a short time ago when I was considered the king of procrastinators. I’m a changed guy now, but I’ll tell you what: read how I changed, and maybe that could be of some help to procrastinators everywhere.
Before I start ratting out my lazy life, let me first describe procrastination: Procrastination is the habit of doing something today that should have been done the day before yesterday. Yes, simply speaking, procrastination is the art of keeping putting off tasks. Now, let’s move on to my story:
Once upon a time, specifically three months ago, my routine went something like this: lazing on the couch sipping cups of coffee instead of attending my daily bathroom rituals; bunking exercise, thinking he would catch up tomorrow; delay the issuance of checks that required immediate attention; wasting time on the couch and staying up late at night watching TV instead of catching up on sleep; pushing important tasks like filing my tax returns to the latest due date, and so on.
The consequences added up and my lapses began to appear: my colleagues lost respect for me because I was tired during work hours; my children began to treat me like part of a piece of furniture; my friends started avoiding me because I hadn’t bothered to catch up with them for the old days, and every time I looked into my wife’s eyes, I could read “get fit or get out” loud and clear. The only boy who loved me was Bud, our dog, but that wasn’t enough.
From a fun loving human being, procrastination turned me into a lazy dog and from a lazy dog I was turning into a lazy pig. I had to do something to get rid of my procrastination and regain my self-confidence. I knew that my path to salvation lay in my self-determination, but I needed help. I took my trust in my wife and bare my soul, and from there my journey of redemption began: my wife would now be my guide and mentor and help me stop procrastinating.
Looking back, I realize that getting rid of procrastination is not as difficult as it seems. These are some of the measures I resorted to, and this is what I did:
1. First of all, I had to make up my mind. If he had to do it, he had to do it now. This became a bit of a chant, and although I started slowly, I immediately started attending to the important tasks and gradually got a grip on myself.
2. I began to think positively. I discarded all the negative feelings I had harbored about my boss, my friends, my colleagues, and even my wife, and painted everyone the color of sunlight and my entire thought process changed for the better. The cobwebs in my mind cleared and I began to look at people and things from a new perspective.
3. Positive thinking gradually pushed away all the self-defeating thoughts that used to lurk in my mind. “I can’t” became “I can”, “I shouldn’t” became “I will”, and things started to change because I started getting initial positive feedback from my family members.
4. Gradually, I began to plan tasks and also began to enjoy the process! Granted, my wife was around to goad me on, and my kids were looking at her dad in a new light and that somehow gave me the strength to continue my drive against procrastination.
5. Okay, I’m lying if I say the transformation was magical, because it wasn’t. To begin with, he had to break down important tasks into small doable chunks and then take care of them. But, over time, I found that I could handle monstrous tasks in the blink of an eye.
6. Well, I tried some meditation and found that it had a calming influence on me. Believe me, a calming influence can give you the inner strength to get your work done without anyone’s help or interference.
This is the essence of how I did to end my procrastination. Today, the sun shines brightly on me as I deserve the respect of my colleagues and friends and the love of my family.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to plan next month’s budget and help my lovely daughter with her school project. I started my story with a quote and now I will end it with one:
“Someday is not a day of the week.” – Unknown author
Good luck!