Procrastination is our enemy, an enemy that always lurks in the shadows, ready to catch us and hold us down, preventing us from doing what we’re supposed to do.
A lot of people never get rid of it, but some people manage to conquer it through discipline and mental strength.
What happens when procrastination wins the battle?
When you get distracted from your priorities and problems, they will not disappear. Tomorrow will come, and your priorities will still be there, waiting for you, and your problems may have multiplied meanwhile.
You know the saying "A stitch in time saves nine". The bigger your delays become, the harder it will be for you to fix your problems.
“What is deferred is not avoided." - Sir Thomas More
Procrastination will cost you big time, and you won’t feel the cost today or tomorrow. You’re going to notice it after many years, because, after all, procrastination is the price you pay for the person that you could have been.
What happens when we win the battle?
The more battles we win against procrastination, the easier it will be to overcome it again and again. When the time comes to choose between our priorities and procrastination, we will be less likely to argue with ourselves if we have a string of victories under our belt.
All these victories will create discipline. Without discipline, procrastination will run free and will have a lot of control over us.
“Procrastination is the foundation of all disasters.” - Pandora Poikilos, Excuse Me, My Brains Have Stepped Out
We have to take charge of our lives again. Understand that we are more than our body, more than our cravings and instincts, and we are more than our brain.
Even if we've lived many years under the tirany of procrastination, we can reprogram our brains by going against what we feel like doing and instead doing what we’re supposed to do. And if that happens enough times, we’ll get back in charge.
The old school method: "Do it when you first can"
We can’t go wrong with this. All we need is a good enough amount of mental strength. We know it’s going to be hard, at least at first, but if you work towards our goals as soon as it’s possible, then we’re going to see how much we’re really able to accomplish.
And we can reward ourselves at the end of the day with a glass of wine or two and by watching an episode of "True Detectives".
For a lot of people, the problem lies in their own reasoning for choosing. They will say, "Oh, I will watch that episode now. I’ll do my work later. " But later comes faster than they expect, and they’ll start pouring some wine and say, "It’s already late. I’ll do my work tomorrow."
“Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it.” - Thomas Jefferson
They are rewarding themselves without doing any work. Living like this means living without discipline.
The lack of discipline is the root of very many evils and problems. Basically, they are rewiring their brains to choose endless "rewards" without getting anything accomplished.
Recommendations
The Procrastination Workbook: Your Personalized Program for Breaking Free from the Patterns That Hold You Back by William J. Knaus and Bill Knaus
This is the book that inspired me to write about procrastination. If you read it, you’re going to find out how procrastination is born, multiple causes of it, and multiple symptoms of it, such as the development or worsening of depression and anxiety. Also, I liked that it has questions that will guide you and help you snap out of the grip of procrastination.
Conclusion
Procrastination is more dangerous than we think, especially in the long term. Getting defeated by it again and again will make your life miserable, to say the least.
The solution is to rewire your brain, to seek to accomplish the most important tasks as soon as you can. This will also build discipline and mental strength. The sooner you start going against procrastination, the easier your life will become in the future.
Cheers!
