Overcoming Procrastination
Paul’s sermon was powerful. The Roman ruler had to deal with it. He found the perfect answer. It has been nearly 2,000 years and his solution is still the favorite one for those who do not wish to deal with a decision.
Felix spoke up and said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.” (Acts 24:25).
We have a word to describe this behavior – procrastination. I love the words of the poet:
Procrastination is my sin.
It gives me endless sorrow.
I have decided to give it up
And I will begin tomorrow.
We live in a society that rewards procrastination. We really do not give the early bird the worm. When is the best time to get great deals on Christmas gifts? The answer is: “On the first day after Christmas.” We do not reward the early, but rather we punish the tardy. If all taxes that were filed during January had an automatic 10% rebate, there would be little need to provide extensions to tax payers.
Why do we procrastinate? There are several reasons:
(1) Fear. We are afraid we will not succeed so we delay trying.
(2) Busyness. We stay busy doing good things but let that busyness crowd out the important things we ought to do.
(3) It works! By putting off hard tasks till tomorrow we really don’t have to deal with them today.
Unfortunately a lot of our hard work is just the easy work that we did not do when it was still easy.
Here are some ways to overcome procrastination.
1. Quit lying to yourself.
Some people tell themselves that they work better under pressure and looking down the barrel of a deadline. No you don’t, it is just that you have waited till the last minute so often and now you have come to associate yourself with pressure. We work best in a calm environment.
2. Break it down.
Don’t put off the task because it is too big. Start with something, even if it seems insignificant. There is an old proverb that says, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
3. Make a list and be accountable to it.
Better yet, make the list the night before. It is always easier to think we will get up early the next morning to do the task that we could have done the night before.
The tragedy of life is not that it ends too soon, but that we wait too long to begin it!
Lonnie Davis