Have you ever Procrastinated to your detriment? Do you use Procrastination as a tool or as a reaction? Or does Procrastination just happen to you? Do you just wait, and wait and wait to take action, but the day for action never comes?
Speaking of waiting, today I want to talk with you a bit about the big P – Procrastination.
Some of us never struggle with it.
I think of my kids, who hate to procrastinate and like to get everything finished early, so they are not stressed out. I remember when Amelia was in grade school, she was questioning me about getting her the supplies she needed to start a project. I asked when the project was due (thinking maybe a couple of days away,) imagine my surprise when I learned it was due 4 weeks out! She hates to procrastinate! 🙂
Alas, her Mother is not like that. In the past, I’ve been a Procrastination Queen. In high school and college, I was the one working through the night before and into the morning of on a paper or project coming due that day.
I have a speaker friend who put it this way…”Christy, I feel like I’m always performing a rough draft. I wait until it’s too late to practice, and then just get up and pull it off, but I know I’m not doing as well as I could be doing.”
Do you ever feel like that?
As we get older, the concept of time becomes even more dear. When we were 30, I’ll bet most of us rarely thought of “how much time we had left.”
But as I’m getting closer to 60, I’m acutely aware of potentially how my days are numbered.
Thankfully, I have long-lived ancestors, but you just never know, right? For any of us, today could be our last.
So I think it’s super important we get a handle on this procrastination thing. So that we live our life making the most of our gifts and talents.
I’ve been working on it and a few things have helped me that might help you too:
At the beginning of the month, write down a master list of what is coming due, what you want to accomplish, and so on. You can use it as a mind dump of all that’s on your heart.
Then go through and pull out what absolutely needs to be done. Maybe move some things to the following month, or months out. Once you get in the habit of this, you can take things that are further out, and stay on top of each of them ahead of time.
For example, if you’re going on a trip in October, there are a lot of moving parts to make that trip come together. You’ve got flights, hotels, excursions, etc. If you wait until September to start thinking about it, then you’ll pay more, be stressed and probably not get all you want out of your vacation.
But if you break it into parts, and add each appropriate part onto your monthly calendar, you’ll be able to get everything accomplished in plenty of time to think, research, think some more, schedule, and then fully enjoy your trip.
I give you this fun example because if you have a habit of Procrastination, then you might procrastinate on the fun as well as the not so fun.
I’ve also found I have had to change the way I think. (Sound familiar?)
Instead of thinking and saying, “I’m a procrastinator,” or “I’m always a day late and a dollar short,” I think “There’s plenty of time to get done what needs to get done,” and “I love getting things done in an unhurried and relaxed manner.”
I think these thoughts and write them down in my planner. And it’s helping.
I sometimes still Procrastinate. But changing my thinking, and doing the simple hack of “calendaring” my activities has really helped me a lot, and I hope it helps you too.
I hope you have a great week! Remember…
I’m cheering you on!
xo
Christy 🙂
P.S. I got my bargain value Cold Plunge yesterday! It’s like a glorified pool float with a simple PVC pipe structure, but I’m going to try it today and see how I do. I discovered our cold water here in Texas is only around 65 degrees, and the health benefits of cold water therapy start at 60, so it should be interesting! 🙂