Have you ever felt like you have a great plan? Followed by every excuse imaginable as to why you aren’t going to go through with the plan. As well as every reason why you can’t do it now. Not to mention, you have no idea what you would be doing anyway. Mmmh. That, my friend, is procrastination. Some people don’t seem to have any problems with just getting on with getting things done, but then there are other people who really struggle with procrastination. Some might even describe themselves as ‘professional procrastinators’ as a way to make light of the issue. I should know, I have attained mastery levels of procrastination. 

This is a true life account from just last year: “I want to varnish the wooden door. Before I can do that I need to buy varnish, and a brush. Now let me take a closer look at that wooden door. Before I can varnish the wood I will need to strip the old stuff off. Ugh! I don’t feel like doing that, besides I don’t have the right tools. I know, let me buy some wood stripper. A few weeks later. Mmmh. The weather has turned cold, I don’t feel like stripping off the old stuff and varnishing the door in this cold weather. I know, I’ll wait until the weather warms up again, like after the winter. Months roll by. Yay, it’s spring time now! In this nice warmer weather I want to be doing spring cleaning and spending time in the garden. A-ha! I’ll varnish the wooden door before next winter.” Procrastination level – Expert! Varnishing the wooden door – Not Started! Does this ring any bells of familiarity? 

Procrastination, you might be surprised to hear though, is not necessarily always a bad thing, especially if it means you give yourself a bit more time to consider options and think about other details more carefully. For example: “I want to organize my bedroom, but before I can do that I need to de-clutter. So to organize my bedroom I will begin by de-cluttering first. Now I have a plan.”

The problem is when procrastination takes over and all your good ideas go there to...stagnate. This is when your plans to fix something ends without the repairs being done. This is when your ideas to add a pop of colour to your bedroom ends before you even go to the shops. This is when you start to doubt your ability to do anything, and other people start to think of you as somebody that doesn’t seem to get things done. After a while you start to believe these things about yourself and give up on even trying, and worse, you might even forget that you are a creative person with the capability of doing these things. 

There is good news for you, even if you suffer from procrastination. It doesn’t have to end there! You can overcome these doubts about your ability and fight procrastination. The first step is to make a decision to do it, and right away tell yourself that it’s going to be okay even if things are not quite perfect or exactly the way you envisioned it. Taking a decision like that is going to help you with your mindset. However, you’re not done, in fact you have not started yet. The next thing you have to do is actually get started. Maybe you made the decision to make repairs to a treasured piece of furniture, however no matter your mindset you simply do not have any wood working skills. You don’t have to get immediately stuck in the pits of procrastination, instead you can take action right away and begin your search for skilled wood workers who can make the repairs for you. 

To fight procrastination you need a boxer’s combination of a one-two-punch. For fighting procrastination that boxer’s combination requires having the mindset of not allowing yourself to get stuck, followed quickly by taking real-life action to move it forward.