Procrastination

I have been wanting to write an article on procrastination for quite some time now but I just never seem to get around to it. Lame joke but unfortunately too true for yours truly.

There are so many wisecracks, so many observations, so much advice on this matter.

(from a well loved website)

How many of us procrastinate? How often?

Does it not lead to stress? When I have had to do something, the more time I delay and waste, the greater my stress levels. What is worse, being lazy or procrastinating? Is there any difference?

(how often have I been asked when the first book is coming out?)

I am a lazy person, therefore when I have a task to do at work or an issue to resolve, I try to do it immediately. Why? Because I am lazy. It is hard work to avoid doing something knowing that you will have to do it later. It has to be the simplest thing to just do it immediately. Then I never have to remember anything and I can just file it away. The problem is that when I am asked if I have done something, I really have a battle sometimes to remember that the task is completed.

A key area where I used to be exposed for my bad habit of procrastinating was when I was a university correspondence student. I cannot tell you the number of times I was studying late on the last day when I had to write a major exam the very next day. So Very Stupid.

What is the biggest problem with the mindset of a procrastinator? They do not understand that time is a dynamic element. Time never stops for anyone. Never ever, it is an uncontrollable as consequences are to actions. It can be compared to shooting an arrow or saying something cruel or unkind. Once the arrow is gone or the words are said, they cannot be reversed, no matter how sincere our regrets may be.

The key to a good life is the wise use of time.

To manage it by planning. Time is a strange thing; we only exist in the moment. Yet when we try to grasp it, it elusively slips through our clumsy fingers.

To me there is nothing funnier but yet nothing more painful than humour about procrastination, for within every witty observation is an element of truth.

It is true that patience is needed in life but there is a significant difference, procrastination is in front of an event whereas patience is behind. Once the crops have been planted, the farmer must exercise patience, yet if the farmer never acted and planted the crops, nothing can ever happen.

It is easy for the uninvolved person to look at the battler, the struggler and admire with envy what they end up accomplishing. I see that too often in this country, the hard work of the farmer is ignored but the beautiful harvest and farmland is envied without understanding. the wealthy businessperson is envied when they drive around in their flashy car. Mutters of the evils of capitalism are raised. It is preferable to some that we all be poor together, rather than a few have wealth.

Sometimes I have been presented with a difficult problem. I don’t know where to start, yet when I attempt SOMETHING, even ANYTHING, I am amazed at how the problem takes shape. An important observation I once realised from my studies was this: “only when one has the capacity to frame a question, is the questioner ready to understand the answer”.

I think that Steemit is a good case and point. Often when I want to write an article, I have no idea of what I want to write about. I don’t want to write any rubbish because that is an insult to me and anyone who takes the time and effort to read it. I may have many ideas and thoughts and observations BUT until I put "finger to keyboard", nothing can ever come of it. There was a time when I stopped writing for quite a few months and the damage to my progress on this platform is clear to see, I will never be able to make up that lost ground. Why? Because of time, our benevolent enemy.

That is why I love accounting so much, because some problems have no apparent solutions, yet it is almost a creative process in definition and resolution. Another thing about accounting is the DEADLINE. Now generally a deadline arrives as other processes need to be completed first before the accountant can get stuck in. This excuse is often used when procrastination occurs, not when waiting for other junior staff to complete their processes.

My wife is a doer. It always amazes me how she just jumps up in the morning and gets into action. Even when she goes to sleep at night, it is jump into bed and within seconds she is out. I fiddle and faff around, dragging things out.

There is the occasion when I offer to make a cup of hot chocolate for everyone on some evenings. I will go to the kitchen; I will take the cups out but then something will distract me. Later I realise I need to put water in the kettle. I will see a mark on the kettle for example, I will look around for the washing cloth but it will not be clean enough for me so I will rinse it, I will squeeze the cloth out and as I put it on the drying rack, then I will see a few things that need to get packed away, but when put it away, I will see something else. I will go to the cupboard to find the ingredients, but I am fascinated by all the herbs and spices, why do we still have that cooldrink here? Why is no-one using it? Who put that product in this shelf? Where is the fancy sugar? That xylitol stuff? Michele! Why have we not used this jam? Did you know we have three bottles of marmite? I will bellow my astonished observations towards the lounge where the poor woman is crocheting something or other for a friend. A good two hours later, the hot chocolate will arrive. It drives her nuts. If you think that is bad, then wait and see what happens when I offer to make supper! Usually my services are politely declined.

When I decide to do something the timing will be weird and quite inappropriate to do that particular task then. I do try do stuff, but maybe I have attention deficit disorder? This morning for instance, I was doing something, then I felt the need to vacuum a spot. Time is critical in the mornings so the exercise of my initiative is not appreciated.

I am not complaining about these meanderings as I am excited to find out where my unknown and unintended journey will take me.

The only problem is to get that first step a-stepping, so in the meantime I will just…