Go forward securely, joyfully, and swiftly, on the path of prudent happiness. ~ Clare of Assisi #quote
As a hard-working and busier-than-all-get-out woman, I hate to admit to you and to myself that I procrastinate. But the truth is powerful and I’m not alone in wanting to develop better habits. If procrastination is “the action of delaying or postponing something” then I want to act quickly in order to gain what is best. Take for example that for months I have wanted to have a personal business card to share with others. Yet today I have no business card to hand to you.
According to The 80/20 Rule and Listening to Your Inner Procrastinator I need to consider
The top 20 percent activities that produce 80 percent of your results are the very same things that trigger you to procrastinate — to delete old emails or water plants instead….It’s not that we don’t want to work. It’s that we’re afraid of doing work that will move the needle. Most of us are afraid of success.
So I need to, “Flip your daily to-do list” and ask my daughter to format my business cards before I tackle my many mundane and urgent trappings. And I can use the “procrastination demon opportunity detector” as a sign that my business cards are a part of something important. I can hire my son as a personal assistant and “Make constructive use of the time you liberate” by delegating mundane work to him. I can avoid “Perfectionism is the root of all evil” by doing what is excellent and uncomfortable, which is to engage more formally with my community via business cards. And because most procrastination isn’t doing nothing, I will continue to “Put ‘Do Nothing’ on Your To-Do list” by honoring Sunday as a day of rest.
According to Why We Procrastinate, I need to consider my future self as a real person who has needs that can be met, to some extent, now. So if my future self is a consultant needing a large community who knows me well and how to contact me, then indeed I need to start handing out business cards instead of, let’s say, monologuing at my teenager about cleaning his room.
The disconnect between our present and time-shifted selves has real implications for how we make decisions. We might choose to procrastinate, and let some other version of our self deal with problems or chores. Or, as in the case of Parfit’s smoking boy, we can focus on that version of our self that derives pleasure, and ignore the one that pays the price.
And from the creator of the image included with this post and her blog post, Don’t Wait To Read This: Why You Procrastinate? I need to ditch any “facade of time” by treating time as a gift while seeing the ” Disconnect between Action and Reward” as a way to practice patience. And finally,
Previous letdowns, low self-esteem, and hopelessness all contribute to a desire to ignore reality and procrastinate instead.
My reality is that I need to get business cards made because they are a concrete sign that I am transitioning into a new season of my life. While this juncture is intimidating, I am determined to slay my nemesis with courage and discipline. And business cards.
Do you procrastinate? Leave a comment and let’s share ways to move forward swiftly on the way to happiness.
Thank you. Go on and get to it! ~~~~~~~~ Angie Mc
Family Love Does More 
I almost put off reading this … glad I didn’t 🙂
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Awww, Heidi, thanks for reading, liking, and giving me a good laugh! Glad to have our paths cross again ❤
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Angie, This is AWESOME!!!!!!!!! And I’m going to figure out how to reply directly on your blog as soon as I stop ……PROCRASTINATING!!
Love, Mom (:
Sent from my iPad
>
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You did it, Mom! This comment showed up perfectly via your iPad! Next, figure out how to make and upload a YouTube video of you and Dad dancing to Happy 🙂
Thanks for stopping by. This is fun!
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Hi mom. I really loved this post. Keep up the good work!
Love, Ian:)
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Thanks for your encouragement, Ian! It’s great to have you aboard. With your creativity and tech interests, I think you’ll enjoy getting to know the blogging platform.
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Mom, this is an ideal post for what I am working on with all my big goals. Hopefully I can apply some of the ideas and be more aware of when i procrastinate or ignore the tasks I need to accomplish. Love you and keep up the good work:)
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Thank you, son. Procrastination is sneaky but if we all keep our eyes open for it, we’re off to a good start. I’m happy to know we have each other’s backs.
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Some wise words here, Angie! I loved the part about taking care of your future self now. That really hit home. I don’t think we ever even stop to consider what impact our procrastination today will have on our selves tomorrow. Talk about a slap in the face! LOL
Love all the family support in the comments, too. 😀
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I agree! Interestingly, I have referred to my younger self as if she was a different person, because in so many ways she was! I look back with gentleness, as in, she did the best she could with what she knew, poor thing 🙂 But I can picture her…my future self? Not as easy to picture but I hope she looks back on these times with happiness and gratitude. She will!
Thanks for noticing my family’s comments, Ness. I’ve been talking with them recently about how I want my “real life” self to merge with my “online presence” more often. I’m grateful they are willing to give my (sometimes crazy) ideas a try ❤
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Procrastinate? Yep. I’m procrastinating the last load of laundry as.we.speak!! 🙂 But, that’s not what you’re looking for, is it? I had to think a bit on this one, but I really enjoyed your article! Hits home! I do procrastinate, but not like everyone else, I don’t think, so it was harder for me to identify. I’m pretty self-motivated…but….if I can’t *visualize* a solution, I tend to put it off. And, if I have decided that something is a waste-of-my-valuable-time-but-I-gotta-do-it-anyway task…like some form of triple-redundant paperwork…THEN I procrastinate BIG TIME!
Favorite take away from your article: –> Flip your daily to-do list! That’s do-able for me!
Goal: –> Make a list of things I’ve been procrastinating. Be honest. Ugh. Flip my daily to-do list 2x/week.
Doable? 🙂 I’m adding it to my planner right now!
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~~~waving to you, Jen, and thanks for stopping by!
You wrote, “if I can’t *visualize* a solution, I tend to put it off. And, if I have decided that something is a waste-of-my-valuable-time-but-I-gotta-do-it-anyway task…like some form of triple-redundant paperwork…THEN I procrastinate BIG TIME!” I really appreciate your take on this. Since I’m a big picture person, I may struggle “visualizing” how all the details will come together to make it happen. So I need to keep breaking things down into small, doable pieces. And, my oh my, I will drag my feet if I feel a task is a “waste of my time” which is likely connected to tasks being placed upon me from outside sources. Yep, I have some paperwork to do for Aiden’s college applications. Talk about triple-redundant!
I’m going to look at my Evernotes and see which ones have been languishing. And I like your idea of flipping your list 2X a week. Saturday and Tuesdays seem ideal with my current schedule. Heading to my calendar right now… 🙂
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Excellent info, procrastination drives me crazy, not just when I do it but when others do it and their procrastination falls on me. Anyone interested in starting a Procrastinators Anonymous Chapter in your area? I checked there already is a national organization, they beat me to it!!
Great topic, keep them coming!!
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Why thank you very much, Someone 🙂 And you are right, there really is a Procrastinators Society http://prosoc.wikidot.com/faq which states, “What is the Procrastinators Society? We’re just people who procrastinate and stuff.” Made me laugh!
And it really does pain me to think that my own procrastination can negatively affect others. That’s all the more motivation to do what is right, now. And to flip that, I can drum up patience when others procrastinate because I know how hard – for so many reasons – some things can be to get done! Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you soon ❤
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Ugh procrastination has plagued me forever…fo-ev-er. In the academic arena I got a little better at avoiding it my senior year at ASU, but it’s a lot tricker for me to avoid in daily household tasks/personal projects. Best of luck to you – and thank you so much for letting me help with the business cards!
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You’re new to setting up a home and scheduling your work. Be patient with yourself and keep at it! And thank you for the beautiful business cards. I’ll do a follow-up to this post and include a picture of them 🙂
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I am laughing out loud at Heidi´s comment above… Being that said , certainly a very interesting post here. Hope it helps us to avoid procrastination, because as you have well said, it is sneaky,
Cheers, Aquileana 🙂
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Cheers, Aquileana! Thank you for commenting and validating the sneaky nature of procrastination. I am pleased to have connected with you via Sylvester and I look forward to reading your blog which is full of passion and thoughtful considerations. #NF
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Hi Angie, A pleasure to connect, indeed.
By the way I have nominated you for the
The Cracking Chrispmouse Bloggywog Award. You can check it out at the end of this post by scrolling it down:
http://aquileana.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/%E2%99%A0platos-dialogue-the-symposium-on-platonic-love-and-the-myth-of-the-androgyne/
Have a great day, Aquileana 🙂
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Aquileana, how very kind of you! I’m so happy to be seen as a blogger who wants to “Spread joy, peace, hope and love ❤ I will gladly post this to my blog within the week. Happy weekend 🙂
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Angie, my pleaure !!!:
As far as I ´ve seen your blog is a good one and I love the idea of including your family. I have italian roots so for me Family is a very special word…
BTW If you don´t want to follow all the stages related to the award you can just mention that you have been nominated and cut it off… You do as you wish!…
Happy sunday to you ; Aquileana 😉
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Thank you, Aquileana! My Sunday was beautiful as I hope was yours. My step-grandfather was from Italy and gave me a passion for Italian food. I have childhood memories of his mother’s home with minestrone always cooking on the stovetop 🙂 Have a wonderful week ahead!
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I’m glad I read this right away! 😀
I’m a horrible procrastinator. I believe it IS a lot to do with fear of failure… and it’s something I need to seriously get over. I’ll bookmark this so I can come back to your links… really I will. Got kid stuff to deal with now that can’t be put off!
Thanks for linking me to this, Angie!
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Linda, if I can give back just a bit of what you’ve given to me, it is my privilege! I’m on my way to deal with kid stuff too 🙂
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Awww, thank you. You’re too kind. 🙂
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“Most of us are afraid of success”? How interesting! For myself, I think I’m more afraid of continued failure, though – but maybe both, like a sundae topping. Haha! Oh, I’m so guilty in regards to deleting old emails and watering (my dead and now discarded) plants too! Thanks for a great post that we need to all get moving, cuz just starting on a task is sure one BIG step forward!
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Thanks so much for connecting and for your encouragement! Monday is right around the corner… let’s roll 🙂
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Hey Angie,
I really enjoy reading your blogs and scroll around on my day of rest to catch up…actually confessed procrastination as a character defect to address this Lent…meeting with mixed success…this was great to read! I love the upside down list, I have done that at times…great reminder. I am back to doing one thing a day (at least) that I really don’t want to and remember that it will make me a happier person. I have also found that if I write it on our big white board it is more likely to get done. All the best to you and yours!!!
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Yes, I covet your oversized white board! I have a mini-white board on my refrigerator…not quite the impact.
And, I’m thinking about a post that something about when procrastination isn’t procrastination. Wish me luck, lol! Thank, Diane ❤
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Going through some of your older blogs today…this is a favorite, and much needed today…thank you again!
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Since writing that post and since Henry was born, my battles with procrastination are fewer and far between. Some procrastination can definitely stem from the challenging combination of demanding times and grieving. During such times perhaps procrastination is a way of being gentle with ourselves.
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