As I read He Said’s article on procrastination I suddenly stopped to look behind me to see if he was watching. Once again, he was reading my mind and writing about exactly my life of procrastination. I wish he wouldn’t air my dirty laundry in public, but I guess it’s EVERYONE’S dirty laundry, isn’t it. How can I stop procrastinating???
As I stopped to ponder, so many times, my feeling of procrastination, but moreso WHY I was having this feeling, it dawned on me. My biggest fear was failure. I was truly my own worst enemy and doing a better job at sabotaging my life than anyone else could. Why is it we fear failure when failure is simply practice on our way to success?
I had to go back into some, what we call old movies, before I had the answer, and then, it became clear that my success was going to include overcoming more than I had anticipated. I would not only have to dilute those old memories but rebuild them in order to push my way through everyone’s arch enemy, PROCRASTINATION.
I’ll be the one to pick out procrastination in an instant…when it’s someone else. I am also quite astute at figuring out WHY they are practicing this terrible habit. Ah, yes, it’s much easier to tell others how to fix something than to look inward at our faults. So, I started my trek into the muddy waters of what was holding me back, almost every time I would attempt to break free.
First came the identification process. Knowing you are putting something off should be very obvious, unless YOU are the one trying to put something off. Then, it becomes smoke and mirrors. “Oh, I’m not procrastinating, I just don’t have time.” FOOL ME ONCE. “I am sure I’ll get to it tomorrow when I’m feeling better.” FOOL ME TWICE.
I have a small business, and thus far, I find myself unwilling to pick up the phone and call a client, when I know they have an interest. After all, people who say “no, thank you” are the ones I wouldn’t dare call, but these people actually gave me their info TO call them.
I freeze.
What am I afraid of? My options are, call, at possibly an inappropriate time, and either they order or they ask me to call back, OR…don’t call and, well, we’ll never know what could have been accomplished. And yet, I select the latter option. Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it.
As I read He Said’s article, I couldn’t tell whether to be upset, knowing he just outed me to a ton of people, or try to change because He Said obviously wrote about me and was, secretly, hoping I would recognize myself in the article and fess up, change, or get over it.
I actually re-read it a few times, hoping that I wouldn’t see myself in it at all, but obviously, I did. And, rightfully so. I am truly hoping that there is hope for me in my procrastinational lifestyle, and know it takes one bold step after another, however…there are things that I procrastinate doing because I truly hate them. Cleaning is one. Nope, not getting over that one!
Leave us a message on what you procrastinate about. Better yet, join’s our conversation and tell us how you got over it!
Just like you, procrastination has dealt with me alot. I have lost some stuffs and missed some opportunities due to procrastination. I always think of the perfect time and never wanted to fail not knowing that failure is a path to perfection. There is no perfect time to do anything. The time is now. Procrastination will end up reducing us.
Thank you, Barry. Honestly, our lives are always driven by us. I never feel I’ve LOST when I procrastinate, rather, I have DELAYED my journey. We are all meant to spend our lives fulfilled and prosperous. We need to stop sabotaging our true place in this life.
I can relate to the topic. I am the queen of procrastination. You are so on point about the fear of failure, I am like that as well. I find that as I grow older I learn to accept failure. Then after I pick myself up and try to stay positive and keep on trying. I find that if I listen or read the motivation posts, help me stay positive. By the way, the I don’t have time is classic! lol I do it non-stop, even try to tell myself now to stop stalking your friends on FB and get some work done!
I will share your post to my sister, she need this as much as I do.
Cheers
I LIVE on positive words, otherwise, that negativity creeps in and Heaven help me! Thank you, Nuttanee. There is nothing better than sharing helpful, or HOPEFUL words. I appreciate you!
I have a terrible fear of rejection, and I have always been a procrastinator, and then I developed anxiety. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. I have found that my anxiety is caused by procrastination. My fear. When I actually just do whatever it is I need to do, my anxiety goes away. So now, I reward myself for tasks completed, and it’s worked great.
What an incredible idea! I do love the reward system! I tried to do that with a weight loss goal I set. I do believe God has suggested that I NEVER be thin…that was my message.