It’s a typical Monday morning and I list down a couple of ‘to-dos’ for the day. As I do that I’m becoming aware that lately I haven’t been completing some of the things I set out to do. For instance, although the thought of writing this came to my mind few weeks ago, I have to admit that I kept delaying it and finding reasons and excuses not to. Just beginning to write this gives me a sense of breaking that pattern and moving forward.
According to Wikipedia, Procrastination is the practice of carrying out less urgent tasks in preference to more urgent ones, or doing more pleasurable things in place of less pleasurable ones, and thus putting off impending tasks to a later time, sometimes to the “last minute” before a deadline. In my experience, this definition seems a bit limited; what about the times when one doesn’t do something out of simple laziness? Doesn’t that become a part of procrastination too? Often I hear myself say “I’ll do it later” (I still wonder when that ‘later’ is), or “I’ll do it when I feel like it”. Hmmm, I wonder when that ‘feeling’ would come. So when I don’t do something I look out for reasons and excuses to justify its incompletion.
Procrastination to me is truly an art. One really goes to various depths to put aside and delay things until there’s an alarm button ringing. The inner voice sometimes say’s ‘next time, I better do this earlier’. How much does one pay attention until it happens again? When it comes to activities that we define as ‘less interesting’ have we ever thought that it could just be an assumption or pre-conceived notion? Maybe if we looked at it from another perspective, it’s meaning would change. As I was writing this I came across this simple yet effective technique to beat procrastination on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA8D1cGW5Qk.
The irony is that I used to be someone who would ‘push’ or remind other people to complete their impending tasks or missions, as some would put it. Amidst that I seem to have neglected my priorities and myself. It’s during this whole exercise that I realized I seem to keep myself occupied with activities that are not necessarily that significant. Before I can complete my own things, I offer to help others with theirs. This is also my way of portraying to others that I’m ‘busy’ for the fear of being judged ‘idle’. The truth is the only person judging myself is me. I now evaluate where I stand in my whole ‘unfinished’ task lists and it seems endless. As much as I tell myself it’s alright to take a breather and just relax, I do realize that I can’t be in that state forever and expect things to move on it’s own.
The next question is how do I address this? Keep writing about it like I am now? Or actually start ‘doing’ some of those. Initially I notice I’m being a bit over ambitious and then I decide to keep it simple. I assess what is achievable checking the order of importance.
So here it is, the final list for today – 1) complete writing this note, 2) laundry, 3) cook 1 meal and 4) organize wardrobe. Reasonable I say to myself. It’s almost time to go to task no. 2 for the day and I smile when I hear my mind saying ‘yes! Task 1 is complete’. A sense of relief sets in as I’ve just taken a step closer towards my intent.
