Should I Put Off Procrastinating?
Should I Put Off Procrastinating?
pro.cras.ti.nate – delay or postpone action; put off doing something: it won’t be this price for long, so don’t procrastinate.
Everybody, please raise your hands if you have ever been procrastinating on anything?
I know I put my hand up.
Confess time.
I have things in my life I consider a chore, boring to do, and lacking fun.
Usually, those are the things I continue to defer, put off to another time, and just plain mull over in my head.
Things like doing my tax, even though I use an accountant – I still need to do the gathering of receipts, collating facts and figures, and boring crap like that – totally un-fun.
Brings you Negative Feelings
One of the things I discovered with using GTD (Getting Things Done) principles is by determining when you’re going to do something and writing it down somewhere, is you’re getting the thought of that action out of your head and storing it safely in a place that you trust.
The challenge with procrastinating is the very thought of having to decide or do something continues to rattle around inside your head.
Your mind continues to dwell on it and because you’re not getting it done, typically negative feelings creep in.
‘I just gotta do it’
‘What happens if I …’
‘This could happen ….’
Blah blah blah.
When you’ve got a few deferred actions you’re procrastinating about, the potentially negative feelings naturally multiply and your state of mind is affected, more and more.
Decide and Be Happy
I always endeavor to go with my gut instinct, for most things in life and definitely from both a business as well as a personal life perspective.
There’s also stuff I mentioned before that craps me to tears and those are the things I procrastinate over – there, I admit I’m human.
I’ve always wondered why.
It’s actually got everything to do with happiness.
Why Happiness Though?
From the book ‘Stumbling on Happiness’ by Professor Dan Gilbert, our brains can synthesize happiness for us and often does. This unique ability also can allow us to move past the delaying of actions we’re deferring.
Here’s an example of why happiness can help:
Suppose we’re currently mulling over making a decision on something. If we make a potentially wrong decision, we always find a way to make ourselves feel like it was ultimately in our best interest.
And guess what happens next?
Our brain accepts this as it feels just like real happiness.
We’re also terrible in predicting how we’re also going to feel in the future and how could we?
When we spend time deliberating over a relatively simple decision, it’s usually a waste of time and effort.
What’s this all mean?
Sure, wait for the optimal time to make a decision but when it comes to all those smaller choices in life, it’s simply best to just choose something and keep on trucking forward.
You’ll be happy with either choice as long as you don’t think further about the past.
Relationships and Procrastination
Yep, all this also leads to relationship decisions and choices as well.
Should I kiss this girl on the first date or not?
Make a choice and simply do it.
Get a knockback?
I’ve never heard of anything bad coming of this and you’ll have also had a good conversation and laid the ground for moving forward in the relationship.
You’ll be fine and happy, no matter what the choice.
Where should I take her on our date tonight?
Do you really think it matters?
She probably won’t since she’s looking forward to seeing you.
Pick a place and go.
Get going into the future.
Speak Your Mind, With Your Opinion
Nice to see you made it this far so here’s what you can do next:
- Do you think it leads to ‘screwing yourself over’ too?
- What’s one thing you’re always procrastinating over?
- Click one of the Share buttons – your friends can then read this article too.
And thanks for reading too – Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
