Up until today, I went over a week and a half without posting anything new to my blog. I guess I fell victim to the dreaded "P" word. This is not an unfamiliar problem to most people - in a quick "google" of procrastination, most websites concur that up to 70% of people procrastinate while 25% of them are chronic procrastinators.
After the first couple of days with no new post I thought I had writer's block. Then I remembered one of my favourite authors (Ted Dekker) saying there is no such thing as "writer's block", that it is just something writers say when they don't write anything. Whether true or not, I thought of what else it could be. I thought, maybe there is nothing going on in my life. Well, that's not true - 2 jobs, 2 kids, 1 wife, the upcoming Christmas season - things are busy, there is a lot going on! Then I thought, maybe I've just been too busy. Well, there was that hockey game I found time to play, and the Grey Cup I found time to watch - surely there would be enough time to post something. Well, I guess that leaves one thing - plain old procrastination.
Uh oh - not good! Many of us do it, but it never produces positive results. Think about that the next time you put off any task. My wife is wonderful at this and I am learning much from her. She gets so much done just because when she thinks of it, she does it! In the same time it takes me to decide which task to tackle, Robbin tackles something, finishes it, then starts the next task before I even begin the first! Or, I tend to think of something, say to myself - "hey, that's a good idea I'll have to do that..." soon/tomorrow/ sometime/eventually - it is an undefined time frame, and undefined time frames are just asking for trouble. Plan what needs to be done, and put a due date on it. Make it realistic, but do it or it could slide out of your conscious awareness and just not get done. We all know that we shouldn't put off to tomorrow what can be done today, but that is so often the case. Let me encourage all of us to commit procrastination assassination and do the tasks set before us in a timely, responsible fashion - whether that be family responsibilities, job duties, other commitments, or... blogging!
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3 comments:
Wow! I've been rewarded for my patience (or lack of it). Thanks for leaving the procrastination for tomorrow and writing
something(s)today. I always enjoy your work, young Timothy.
Old Paul
Procrastination many times means never will do it. I usually do the things i dislike to do first (like cleaning the toilet) so I can enjoy the rest of the day doing things that are enjoyable.
Yes, procrastination assassination, that is what we need to do... I may have to use that term with my clients! In fact, I talk about this very thing, using a different lexicon, with my clients. Often times my clients complain about experiencing "anxiety". We discuss it for a while, and often discover that the origin of this anxiety lies in the fact that they are overwhelmed with all of their responsibilities. I suggest to them that one of the reasons they are overwhelmed is because they are not doing anything to "strike tasks off of their 'to do' list", and the list keeps building, which causes the anxiety to keep building. However, if they were to simply begin taking small steps to pick away at their list, their anxiety would start to fade. Consequently, they begin to feel better and, therefore, become more motivated to work on the remaining tasks. So the next time we have anxiety as a result of "too much on our plates", try assassinating the procrastinating part of you, you'll see your anxiety begin to disappear.
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