Yesterday I had a list of things to do, all in a short period of time. The truth is, there were some things on the list that I've been postponing for some time and I had enough of procrastinating them. So I made a list and planned to do it all in a few hours.
I left late due to some unexpected problems and knew my time to resolve all those problems just got shorter. As I arrived at my first destination, the voice inside my head already started negotiating with myself, to leave some of the tasks for today. I knew I will to do that as I know myself well.
Most likely I'm not the only one who, occasionally takes the easy way and postpone things for the next day. Once someone said to always leave things for the next day and enjoy the day as we only live once. Yeah, the classical yolo. I see some people never keeping their word given to others as there's always an excuse as to why they can't do what they have promised. But what about your word given to yourself? What about what you planned to do and promised yourself to get it done? How do you deal with your conscience?
After getting the first task done, I headed to my next destination, but at the crossroad it crossed my mind to skip it and go to the third destination instead. This was the most difficult task and the most procrastinated one. So I stood on the sidewalk and weighed my options. I tried to figure out what would give me more satisfaction. Skipping it and gaining some time, or getting it done and enjoying the feeling of solving a long procrastinated problem. After a minute I decided to make an effort, go on with my initial plan and do what I planned for that day.
Feelings come and go, but some feelings last for some time. After getting the second task done, I still had another two on my list, so I headed to my third destination, but while on the road, I couldn't feel happier that one of the most procrastinated task was finally done. The third one was quite a pleasure actually, with a moment of relaxation and after that I was able to do the fourth one as well. It felt good to know all those things are done.
Today is another day and mother nature always have a say in how and when things happen. Seeing the weather today, I know the thing I wanted to postpone for today (the only thing that I could), could not be done as it was raining. This means I would have had to postpone it for another day or two.
These were maybe small things and the world would have not ended if I would have not done them yesterday, but looking deeper into things, maybe you can see a different picture. Sometimes maybe it's smarter to postpone a thing or two, but doing it repeatedly, just because you can afford to, can lead to loss of productivity and lack of results.
I think this is a question of focusing on results, rather than on the short period of pleasure you get by skipping the task for the moment. Some people like to procrastinate difficult and unpleasant tasks, which is understandable to some degree as who likes to deal with difficult things, right? Years ago I spoke to someone who said he likes to address the difficult and problematic matters first as after that, you feel like you got a free day for yourself. It seemed strange at the moment, but he was so right. I tried to remember his words and do the same, with more or less success.
History was not made by those who did nothing. Queen Elizabeth II
Over the years I've seen and worked with people who were always pushing themselves to resolve every problem and do better every day. There have also been those, who were always procrastinating everything, hoping someone else would do it. On the long run, we all know which one is the winning strategy.
Now the question is, which one are you? What makes you feel better? Procrastinating or getting things done?
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