How often have you found yourself looking at a pile of paperwork and thinking, ‘I really need to take care of that.’? Or maybe you’ve been putting off a task or project because you’re waiting for just the right time. We all procrastinate occasionally, and some of us are very proficient procrastinators. But I have found, from experience, that procrastination rarely if ever pays off.

Why do we put things off? We always have rational-sounding reasons: perhaps the weather isn’t quite right for mowing the lawn, or I need information from someone else before I can proceed with this paperwork. On the surface, these reasons sound downright responsible. But humans are rationalization beings; that is, we are unique in that, of all species on earth, we are the only ones with minds designed to rationalize. It makes sense, then, that we can rationalize anything we want, with a little practice.

And, in fact, we do. We do it so well that we don’t realize we are doing it. Every action, however strange to an observer, seems completely reasonable to the person doing it. Every decision, every choice, every expression can be explained once we put our minds to it. Including not doing the things we want or need to do to achieve our goals.

And so we procrastinate, and we do it by explaining to ourselves and others just exactly why it isn’t procrastinating. But it is. And if you can’t honestly see this going on in at least yourself, then you have some work to do being honest with yourself.

With twenty or thirty or more years of convincing ourselves that our reasons for not getting things done make sense, however, we’ve developed some deeply-ingrained habits of putting things off. And that takes some work to overcome.

So here are some suggestions to get out of the laziness habits and get to work on important things:

• Pick just one simple thing that you can finish quickly and do it: Getting anything done, no matter how trivial, is a step in the right direction. It helps exercise the habit.
• Cross off anything that doesn’t move you closer to your long-term goals: If it isn’t specifically applicable to your long-term plan, ask yourself if it matters. If not, cross it off. In this way, you can eliminate a lot of the fluff that keeps you from doing the things that really matter.
• Block out time in your calendar for your to-do list: Maybe there are a few things that you know will take a while but that you really need to ensure get done. Mark time in your calendar to work on them. Give yourself more time than you think you need. Once the time comes, do them no matter what until you are out of time or they are complete. It might even make sense to have 30 minutes every morning devoted to your task list, time that you aren’t doing anything but attending to the items that have piled up since yesterday.
• Celebrate each completion: Every time you finish something on your list, celebrate! It may not seem like a big deal to clean the litter-box, but celebrate it anyway. Make sure you get a good feeling inside when you complete an important task, and it will be easier to start the next one. After a few celebrations, you’ll look forward to getting things done.

There is no time like now to get busy with the things you need to do. Pick something and get started. Better yet, get it done.

In the news

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Quote for the week

Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today. - James Dean

Healthy thoughts,
Jeff