Tag Archives: procrastination

Procrastination is an ugly beast.

Procrastination never served anyone. (I have a hard time spelling that word anyway.)

The word totally resonates with non-action through its complex spelling. To me, it suggests monkeys jumping through hoops for no reason whatsoever, or being stuck in place.

stuckWiki’s interpretation of the word: Procrastination is the avoidance of doing a task which needs to be accomplished. It is the practice of doing more pleasurable things in place of less pleasurable ones, or carrying out less urgent tasks instead of more urgent ones, thus putting off impending tasks to a later time.

Hoohah.

What is your favorite tool for procrastination? Mine is laying jigsaw puzzles on my iPad. I could spend all day doing puzzles, but I blushed just telling you what my fave “wasting time” tool is.  Today, I’ve laid three puzzles so far, but in my defense  I did some important yard work, WHICH DID NOT MOVE MY BUSINESS FORWARD. The excuse afterwards: I’m too tired now to do anything but lay puzzles.

Then I get furious with myself since I have a list an arm long to take care of.  By the way, I teach people how to get out of a slump / stuckness, and avoid procrastination…. (with art.) Yeah, for real. I guess it makes me human, and all I have to do is take charge and get going (even if I don’t). It does become easier the more I exercise the anti-procrastination muscle.

And what is that muscle?  I have lived by my Dad’s words for many years, and they work remarkably well. “If you have an unpleasant task ahead of you, do it right away so that you don’t have to think about it any more.”

Words of wisdom! In other words, don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

Chopping off bite size pieces of “things-to-do” works very well too. Take your list and denote how many hours or minutes you will work on each task every day, and then do it.  It’s no different  than exercising, really.  Many tasks in life are not fun or pleasurable, but they have to get done or weigh you down more every day.

I do have a stubborn streak and I avoid my better sense many times, but at the end of the day, who suffers? Not the cat, that’s for sure.  I feel like crap for betraying my own trust, and that ought to be a lesson in itself, but there is that strange stubborn streak sneaking up daily if I don’t watch out.

Psychologists say that fear produces procrastination, and that is true, but when I’m not afraid of the tasks, why put them off?? It’s a bad habit and the constant struggle against the internal nay-sayer.

monster
Procrastination

Time is just going faster than it used to… hehe.

So what do you do to combat this daily beast if you don’t possess magic?  Do the tasks anyway. That’s where a schedule can be helpful, and the discipline and promise to myself that I will do things that support myself and my dream.

The turtle wins the race.  Just do a little bit at a time. It will get the work done.  All I know, the monster will not go away so it needs to be trained to within an inch of its life. It sits when you say “sit!” Same with fear. If we let fear rule our life, we would never get anything done or go anywhere.

A gentle stretching of that fear moves us forward. That is a promise. If procrastination bugs you, you might be standing before a major breakthrough. Isn’t that an exciting thought??

Kick this to the curb if you have one… NOW!

reclinerOn that note, I did get this blog post written after I got up from the recliner. It was a choice.

xo

Maria

P.S. Check out my art e-courses HERE.  I also do one-on-one coaching. Click on the link in the menu at the top of this page. Have a great productive day–every day!