With the rate I used to procrastinate, my middle name should have been ‘procrastinator’ so it would sound like; Sadiq ‘procrastinator’ Daniel (sounds cool though). But hey! I would rather stick with Sadiq Daniel. Anyways…..*Digression alert beeps*
Okechukwu Ofili in his article "How To Make Work Disappear" said the only way to make work disappear is actually trying to do the work. You have to get up and do it if you want it to disappear.
We have heard that cliché either from our parents, our bosses or even from books that ‘time waits for no man’ yet we procrastinate. Galileo once wrote, “You cannot teach a person what he does not already know; you can only bring what he does know to his awareness.”
What you are gonna see in this article might seem simple and familiar (depending upon the level of your knowledge) but this piece would bring them to a higher level of awareness.
When you are like “I would read that book tomorrow” you will find out that when ‘tomorrow comes’ it would be another ‘tomorrow’ and at the end that ‘tomorrow’ will never come. What I am trying to say is when you procrastinate; you won’t end up doing that thing till it is too late or when Christ comes.
I used to be guilty of this offense (procrastination) but I was bailed by ACTION.
For good two months that ‘dog-eared’ book containing the lecture notes I was to write was on my table. I never opened it but I knew the notes were ……………. Any time I was to do anything on that table, I would just move the book aside and be like “I would write it later” and this went on and on until I took the bull by its horns (this time around, the horns were soooooo big)
I took action. To my uttermost surprise, when I opened the book, the lecture notes were no more than 5 pages.
So many people are like this. They are afraid of the results, so they procrastinate. Some waste time doing things that is less important ignoring the most important ones.
Finding out the lecture note was no more than 5 pages wasn't what brought me back to life, but that happiness I got when I completed it.
You are designed mentally and emotionally in such a way that task completion gives you a positive feeling. It makes you happy. It makes you feel like a winner.
Whenever you complete a task of any size or importance; be it writing that lecture note (like me, *inserts cute face*) or walking up to that lady you like in your faculty or even launching your start-up, you feel alive. You feel a surge of energy, enthusiasm and self-esteem.
You are lucky. Procrastination has a cure/remedy unlike HIV and its cure is ACTION.
You too can wake up from the dead like me and come back to life with action. Don’t be scared of the results. No matter how small or big these tasks might look, just act on them. Your ability to act on them may be the critical determinant of what you accomplish in life.
Walk up to that lady now and say ‘hi’(if you need tips. Inbox me), start writing that book now, quit that job today, cook that food now, read that book now and even do that…………NOW!
I would love to hear your views on procrastination. Do you have tips or what is your own story?
How did you overcome procrastination? Make sure you share this cure with your friends by hitting the share button below.
PS: Get tweetspired on twitter with the hash tag #morningflakes (7am-8am) weekdays. All you have to do is follow me on twitter: @ayamtheone to be part of this inspirational tweet session designed to motivate you to act and pursue your dreams in life with a context of happiness.