A Post On Procrastination? Let Me Check My Email First.
Where is he? Shouldn't he be working?
This post is written as both a reminder to myself and to all of you. Procrastination is the biggest obstacle to success. Some people think it is lack of time that is the problem, but for most people that isn’t the case. Think about how much busier you are now than when you were in school. Yet, back then you probably felt like you had no time to do everything you wanted and needed to do. And you didn’t. Just like now. No matter how much or how little we have to do, we never have enough time to do everything we want. If we can avoid procrastinating though, we’ll usually have enough time to do the things that are the most important to us. Notice I didn’t say the most fun. I said the most important.
Now I know those of you who are self proclaimed procrastinators are nodding your heads. But the rest of you are probably saying, “Hey, I don’t procrastinate! I’m really just so busy that I don’t have enough time.”
Despite any protests, I believe that we all procrastinate to some degree. Some people do it a lot more than others, but that’s not the point here. The point is that we can all get back some time by cutting down our procrastination. Now procrastination can come in many forms. There is the form where we knowingly say, “I think I’ll play a few video games, then I’ll start working on that project that I have due tomorrow.”
The more insidious form of procrastination though is where our subconscious “remembers” things that we absolutely have to do right this second, like:
- Check messages – There is always a text/email/Facebook/Twitter account that you need to check in case someone leaves you an important message. You don’t need to check every 5 minutes. Really you don’t.
- Check the news – Do you really need to see what the weather is like at home, what the current score in the game is or how the stock market is doing, right now? Can’t it wait? It won’t change what you do on your project.
- Clean your workspace – Suddenly your workspace is dirty? You were okay with the dirt until you had work. It will wait until after you finish.
- Clear the todo list – This is when you suddenly decide that all the little tasks that you considered unimportant should be taken care of now, so that you don’t have to think about them anymore. Unless they’re more important and urgent than the task you are putting off, leave them for later.
- Catch up on reading/television – You have such a backlog of magazines and shows on your TiVo. You better catch up on those so that you can clear the table and have room for more shows. Or maybe you just need to subscribe to less magazines or shows…
There are so many more ways to procrastinate that I won’t list here. You probably know a bunch of them. Besides, if I kept listing them, I’d just be procrastinating. This article is important, but so is what I need to do after I finish writing it. So, I’d best wrap this up and get on to the next thing!
Now, if you can’t help procrastinating just a little bit, drop your favorite or most insidious form of procrastination below in the comments.
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LOL!
I can relate to this post. I’ve always had issues with procrastination. I’ve gotten better about it over the last couple years. I try to maintain a philosophy of “I can’t do fun stuff until everything else is done,” so that means no extra TV watching or video games until I’ve completed those other tasks. I also try to look at each day through the lens of “what do I have to get done” and put a priority on anything that’s time-sensitive (work shifts, appointments, etc.).
Still, I’ve found it’s important to have some balance. Even when I still have things to get done, I may take some time out for fun things. ‘Cause all work and no play makes for a dull life.