Word of the Week

Procrastinate

Definition: delay or postpone action, put off doing something

Procrastinate

Consider this...

I am going to be completely honest with you. I am writing these very words a mere few hours before they will be published. Hi there, I’m a procrastinator, and I am not proud of it.

I don’t mean to procrastinate. It just sort of happens.

Sometimes my procrastination is deliberate. I put off scheduling my dentist appointments because dentists make me nervous, and if I don’t have an appointment then I don’t have to interact with the dentist!

Other times my procrastination is accidental. I know that I need to purchase and send my best friend a birthday present and I have the perfect idea and OHMYGOODNESS her birthday is today. Where did the time go?!

Why do we procrastinate? I don’t really know, but I do know that I don’t buy into the “we put things off because we really don’t want to do them” concept. There are plenty of things that I truly do want to do, things that I enjoy doing, that just don’t get done until the last minute.

Maybe procrastination happens because we don’t know how to prioritize? Or maybe it’s because we try too hard to prioritize. Perhaps we procrastinate because we get distracted easily, or because we’re afraid, lazy, or indifferent. Could it be that procrastination happens because there’s just not enough time to do everything? (Who hasn’t wished for an extra hour or two in the day?)

Whatever the reason, procrastination, non-action, is something that we all can, and should, work on. Getting things done, crossing of a task on a to-do list, productivity - these are things that feel great, that boost our confidence in ourselves, that motivate us to keep up the good work.

So. How about we figure out a way to turn that non-action into action? Off the top of my head, I can thinks of two ways to do this:

- Make a list of all the little things that need to be done. The things that slip through the cracks. Phone calls to return, appointments to be made, errands to be done… that sort of thing. Commit to crossing one thing off that list every day. Just one thing! Before you know it, everything on the list will be done.

- Take that same exact list of things that need to be done. Set aside one whole day to tackle everything on the list. You will probably find that you’ll want to do this on a regular basis, be it once a month, once every few months or just a couple times a year.

This week, I want you to ask yourself a few questions (and be honest!): What sort of things do you put off doing? Why do you think you procrastinate? And most importantly, what are you going to do to turn non-action in to action?