“You may delay, but time will not, and lost time is never found again.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
If you have been reading Jane’s journal recently, you will know I have been taking procrastination to coaching. A couple of days ago, I wrote about Untangling Procrastination. That post included –
- What is Procrastination?
- How Do You Procrastinate?
5 Reasons to Stop Procrastination Today
Today I am going to focus on 5 Reasons to Stop Procrastinating Today! However, before we do that let’s recap on the definition of procrastination.
What is Procrastination?
If you have been a procrastinator for a while, you may already be familiar with the following definitions of procrastination –
- “the action of delaying or postponing something” ~ Google
- “the act of habit of procrastinating, or putting off or delaying, especially something requiring immediate attention” ~ Dictionary.com
- “the act of procrastinating; putting off or delaying or deferring an action to a later time” ~ The Free Dictionary
- “to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done” ~ Merriam-Webster
- “the action of delaying or postponing something” ~ Oxford Dictionaries
In the above definitions of procrastination, you probably noticed the words –
- act or action, and
- putting off, deferring or delaying.
How Do You Procrastinate?
Maybe you have been putting off –
- taking a step towards your dreams,
- going for that job promotion?
- taking out the garbage?
- cleaning your closet? or
- trying something new?
Whatever it is, something is stopping you from taking that first step. Maybe what is stopping you has something to do with procrastination and/or linked to doubt, fear of failure or success?
If so, I hope the following 5 Reasons to Stop Procrastination today can help you!
5 Reason to Stop Procrastinating Today –
1. You Have a Purpose and Gift to Share
Yes, YOU. There is something only you can do. Love and value yourself enough to follow your dreams and passions. As Hayley Okines has shown, life isn’t about the length of your stay here on earth, it is about what you do with the time you do have. Are you giving everything you can to sharing your purpose and gift?
2. Your Time is Valuable
Yes truly! Need convincing, I found this story a little while back –
“To realise the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.
To realise the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.
To realise the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realise the value of ONE DAY, ask the person who was born on February 29th.
To realise the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
To realise the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who missed the train.
To realise the value of ONE SECOND, ask a person who just avoided an accident.
To realise the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics”.
3. You Could Be Causing Yourself More Stress
If you are putting things off by avoiding the situation and leaving them to the last minute, you are quite possibly creating extra stress in your life. Is there a benefit to you in wanting to do that? I wonder what would happen if you broke down your task in to small steps or chunks and did a little each day?
4. You Need to Have Fun and Relax
Every moment you procrastinate is less time you have spent having fun, relaxing, spending time with family or friends or ???
5. You Are Here to Grow and Evolve
In every struggle we are given – we can choose to contract or expand. Yes I know life can be extremely challenging sometimes, however the longer we hold on to our challenges, procrastinate or the more we live in the past or future – the greater our suffering. All we have is now and at any moment we can choose to be more responsible for our life and make different choices. If there has been challenging situations in your past, please make sure you be kind to yourself and continually practice self-compassion. If you need some inspiration, feel free to read the butterfly story.
Whether you are wanting to start a new project or getting through your day, I hope these reasons to stop procrastinating help take the pressure off yourself and encourage you to take the next step.
Over to You…
If you have any other reasons you would like to share, please feel free to share them below or on our Facebook page. What can you practise imperfectly today?
If you are ready to take yourself on the adventure of getting to know yourself (your true self), why not join the Toolkit? A place where I share tools, inspiration and ideas to live a courageous and openhearted life.
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