It’s a horrible affliction that strikes so many of us. Yet, it goes undiagnosed by all, discounted as any type of serious condition that could affect your health. They are the dibble-dabbles and they can strike at any time, but most often right before you are ready to start something important. Need to write your book? Check your email first. Need to do that project? You should clean the bathroom first. Need to plan your future? Better find that remote in the couch first. Yup, it’s procrastination and boy is it a time-suck.
Well of course it is, that’s what procrastinating is, wasting time. Right? Wrong. That’s how procrastination manifests itself, but that’s not what it is. Procrastination is refusing to commit. It’s not indecisiveness, it’s not vacillation, it’s not the opposite of commitment. No, procrastination is the proactive decision to not commit. Sounds all the same, let us dig a little deeper.
You may already know but I’ve been writing a book. In fact, there’s a draft, printed out, sitting on my nightstand that I edit every night. In fact, the last time I put pen to paper, I worked through a dozen pages, great right? Well, the last time was about three weeks ago. Don’t worry though, the next time I take vacation, I’ll finish the editing and also work on the cover art and e-book formatting. Just like the last time I was on vacation. Which was also when I last edited. Except out of the 10 days I had off, I worked on my manuscript for exactly…one day.
It’s frustrating because all the times when I’m busy, all I can think about is how I can’t wait to get this project done. When I’m driving in the morning, I make grand statements of how much work I’ll get done that night. Then those dibble-dabbles hit in the evening. I need to check email and surf the web, I need to eat, I need to catch up on some TV, I need to rest before I get to work. After all that, it’s pretty late I know I won’t get any quality work done, so I’ll aim to do it tomorrow. Then, as I drive the next morning, you can imagine the grand proclamations I’m making in the car. Sigh.
None of this is necessary. When you really want to do something, to get something done, you do it. You want to grab lunch, you go eat. If you find yourself eating later than you planned, it’s because you chose to do something else. That’s how it is, you have a lot more control than you ever think about. And when you choose not to do something, you usually rationalize it, you come with reasons to not do it, you start to dibble and dabble in all the things that don’t matter.
How do you get over it? How do you get past the procrastination? Power your way through it isn’t the answer. It’ll work, but only for a little while. Sooner or later, you’ll burn yourself out, you’ll hit a wall, you’ll fall off the wagon. So what is the answer?
Acceptance. The great thing about acceptance is it goes in any direction you chose. You can accept the lack of progress and commit to changing your outlook. That’s probably the sanest way to go about it. You can accept the failure and give up. Not always a bad thing, like if you’re thinking about running a marathon without shoes. Maybe it’s good to give up on that dream. Or, you can accept that you’re destined to fail and never accomplish anything you set out to do. This mindset gets you one thing: the failure that you so desperately hope to prove true. Regardless of how you deal with it, the bottom line is that procrastination happens when you’re not able to give yourself to the task at hand, whether that be a school project, a work assignment, or a relationship. The key is to not fight the dibble-dabbles, the key is to understand why they showed up and ensuring you don’t place yourself in that situation again. Get it done folks, no excuses.
Coming up: Goodbyes suck