We all do it, and it’s hard to get away from. The word of the day is procrastination. I spent my day taking a break, and working through the rest of my photo collection to finish a task that has “long been put off.” Why is it that we put off “important” tasks, until we get “tired” of procrastinating. Or that out life demands that these such tasks are done in a timely manner. Case in point, I never seem to procrastinate about eating. I have food in my house, and when I have the slightest hunger pain I go to the fridge or pantry and get something to eat.
Why do we put off tasks, and waste time watching television, or laying around? The only thing that being a lazy bum gets you is, well nothing. It makes you fat and incompetent. I’m not demeaning myself to a couch potato, cause I at least picked up a couple books today, and worked through a few chapters of Robinson Crusoe. Sorry to get off topic. But what I’m trying to say is that procrastination is a bitch, and everyone does it for a reason.
http://www.counseling.caltech.edu/articles/procrastination.html
… Sorry just got distracted for a few minutes on a tangent. Eh, distraction should be tomorrows word of the day. I’ll write about it later :). While I’m at it, I’ll write something up about sarcasm. hehe… Anywho I get hit with the “perfectionism” aspect of procrastination a lot. Also with the “matter of approach” aspect. Both are explained in the link above. I would like to achieve a jumble of things in any given day, and am held back by the interior force that dictates what I “can” do in any given day.
This “can” do attitude, that normally results in my not getting anything done is a bad approach. Instead I’m going with a new approach (I’m working out the details, but it will revolve around having a set plan for the day, and sticking to it the best I can). This gives me a few things that I can work off. Not only does it give me a rough outline of what I should get done in my day, but it helps in holding myself accountable.
I’m not quite sure how I’m going to setup my daily lists, since I’ve tried moving away from “paper,” but I will think of some cool digital something or another. I love todo.txt, and I wish there were some way to have it work with Google tasks, but that is a pipe dream for now since I’m a lazy programmer. …I procrastinate too much.
The summary of this spiel is to say “f you” to procrastination, and get to work on the things that you “want” to get done. I’m going to build something into my daily ritual to show myself what needs to get done, and somehow chart that the things actually get done. Maybe a time tracking application or the like.
Until then I leave you with a few famous quotes. I first looked at my 20,000 quips and quotes book, but procrastination wasn’t in there? So I had to go to Google.
“You may delay, but time will not, and lost time is never found again.” - Benjamin Franklin
“Only Robinson Crusoe had everything done by Friday.” - Unknown Author