Procrastination is probably the single worst habit that keeps us from our passions. There are countless articles, blogs and books published on the subject. And yet we still procrastinate, we wait until the last minute to do everything, from important tasks like starting that new exercise program to seemingly unimportant items such as getting up on time in the morning. Why would anyone allow such a bad habit to persist? There are two reasons in my case, fear and laziness.
Now I think that the motivation or the lack of motivation in fear and laziness are the same. You value the current state more than the perceived out come. For example, I know I do better on a sleep schedule of going to bed early (10 pm) and getting up early (5 am). I am more productive, refreshed, and energized on that schedule. Then why do I constantly slide back to a schedule where I stay awake until midnight or later and then sleep until the last possible second to get up? The simple answer is laziness or lack of discipline and that is correct, but to be more specific it is because at the moment it is time to get out of bed, my brain tells me that the warm bed I am lying is better than moving, or if I stay up late I can get a particular task accomplished (the irony is that the task never gets done and if I attempt to tackle the task I am not as affective).
When you do not do something out of fear the reason is similar. When there is something you are scared to do whether the feared outcome is real or perceived it is easier to stay put than to try and move forward. People, like water, will always follow the path of least resistance and fear keeps us from pushing to change our current path.
Brian Tracy wrote a book on overcoming procrastination called Eat That Frog!, which gets its name from the Mark Twain quote:
“If you eat a frog first thing in the morning, the rest of your day will be wonderful.”
Tracy’s advice in the first chapter is to identify the thing that you need to get done and that you are most worried about doing and do it first (I have only read the first chapter of the book, I haven’t gotten around to the finishing it, its bad when you procrastinate reading the book on overcoming procrastination).
My goal for the next couple of weeks, to overcome procrastination. My next couple of posts will be about procrastination and the techniques you can utilize to overcome it.
I have to admit I was skeptical when I read your email about this blog. My first thought was "oh lord, does he actually expect me to read it?" and "is the internet really ready for the random and incomprehensible ramblings of our family?". But then I realized that perhaps, that is just what the internet has been waiting for and wouldn't it be cool to say I saw it from the beginning? (It all being about me of course) And of course, in the spirit of familial procrastination, I waited to read it until I had something else to do that was far less appealing. So, the irony is that I am procrastinating by reading your blog on procrastination. Profound, isn't it? But enough about me. I have to say that I enjoyed reading it, and I am pleasantly surprised at your literary skills. I confess I do not believe that I have previously read any of your writings, but I found this to be worthy of my time. Keep it up bro.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the approval. And to answer your question about my expectations on will read this blog with any regularity you should read my first post. The short answer though is no one, I told y'all so that I could at least pretend that someone was reading it. This is purely a selfish endeavor.
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