Life Happens One Minute At a Time

Pracrastination may be highly tempting. Believe me, I have been known to be a master at the craft. Sooner or later though the time comes that you will have to do what you have been putting off, or risk it not being done ever.

Many times we set goals for ourselves, say at New Years or before and after big events in our lives. Most of the times these are really great and healthy goals that probably deserve to be followed through on. A good portion of the time we do not achieve these self imposed targets however. Most people assume it is because we lack follow through, are not disciplined enough, or they were too hard and we set the bar too high.

The truth of the matter is not that we've ever really consciously decided to throw in the towel, it is that we put it off too long. When you delay or procrastinate something for too long a period of time it becomes exceptionally easy to completely forget about whatever it was you were trying to achieve. Perhaps you feel you've been away from it for so long that not starting is easier than starting over.

Life, for better or for worse, keeps moving whether we want it to or not. Sometimes it is full of tasks we feel that we do not want to accomplish but we know we need to. Try this on for size, stop reading for one second and think of the most awful thing on your to-do list. It can be the book that you never finished writing, the dishes, a call to a family member, or whatever else it is. If you were able to think about it that quickly then it is on your mind in some place, and it is time for you to do it.

Make that the first thing you finish on your list. Once it's done, it is done and you can get on with your life without anything hanging over your head. If it is something really good for you, say a new exercise regime, then you have already started and every day will just get easier from here. If it is your book then you have proven to yourself that you can write, so get in there and do it. If it is that phone call then you made the effort and reached out. Now you can go have some guilt free fun!

Grant Virtue