“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.” – Pablo Picasso
We all procrastinate. Some of us admit it, some of us don’t, but we all do it. We could do something we know we should do, or even want to do, but we put it off because ____________ (insert your favorite excuse here). Eventually months & years go by and those things never get done.
It might be that there are actually good reasons for not doing some of those things. Perhaps something changed, or we changed, or our goals changed – and that’s fine. But more often it’s simply that we either were too lazy or too afraid to try. Is that how you want to live your life?
Try something relatively easy. At the top of a sheet of paper write down something you’d like to do over the next year. Along the left hand side write down all the reasons why you want to do it (fun, $$, learning opportunity, family, whatever). Along the right hand side write down all the potential barriers to getting that thing done (time, $$, whatever). For each barrier, put together an action plan for how you’ll overcome that barrier.
You might find that it’s going to take some time. You might find that it’s going to be difficult. That’s why you have the list on the left. Those are all the reasons you wanted to do this, all the reasons why the time and energy and money are worth it. Those are the pick me ups when you want to give up. Those are the positive things you need to focus on. Those are the reasons why this thing you’re doing or this change you’re making are worth it – the why it matters, the ‘what’s in it for me’.
Don’t spend your whole life not doing the things you want to do. Don’t settle for something mediocre because it’s easier or less risky or less challenging. Don’t sit in the nursing home and wonder what it would have been like had you done what you wanted to. Start doing it today – it may be the only chance you get. Don’t waste it.
