Anti-Procrastination Challenge: Do it Now!
Today's Anti-Procrastination challenge isn't so much of a one-time challenge as it is the practicing of a habit. I call it the Do-It-Now Principle.
The idea behind the Do-It-Now Principle is to practice Anti-Procrastination on everything that you do. There are plenty of people for whom that comes naturally, but unfortunately I am not one of those people. I am forever convincing myself that things will be easier if I do them later.
Here's an example that occurred just today. I had been out shopping all day, and when I pulled into the driveway it was already well past the children's naptimes. I looked into the back at the jumbled mess of bags, kids, coats, diaper bags, and who-knows-what else and thought to myself, “Right now I just need to concentrate on getting these kids down for their naps. I'll clean the van out later.”
The only problem is that later never seems to come. By the time everyone is down for naps and I've had a couple minutes to put my feet up, it's time to make dinner and straighten up the house. Before I know it, bedtime is upon me and later becomes, yet again…later. The next day I'll most likely forget all about the junk that's sitting in the van. I'll continue to forget about it until a very inconvenient time, like when we're already late for church and we're looking for the kids' coats. I'll then remember that they're in the van, along with a bunch of other stuff. We'll hurriedly jump in on top of all the stuff, allowing it to get trampled under the kids' feet while they climb into the back. I could continue to go on with the possibilities – a bottle of lotion getting squirted all over the place under a kid's foot, finding a bag of spoiled cheese (not that I've ever done that or anything), a coat that now has to be washed because it just got walked on with dirty shoes.
What begins as an attempt to make things easier ends up creating more work and making things take longer. And the longer you procrastinate, the worse they become.
I am learning ever so slowly that those who always seem to have their house clean are the people who have a habit of practicing the Do-It-Now Principle.
Whatever we do, let's quit procrastinating, okay? Let's make our lives easier by doing things now! Will you join me? If you're already in a good habit of doing things right away, will you cheer me on?
*By the way, I did clean out the van before I put the kids down for their naps! Good habits are developed one decision at a time!*
If you're just now joining our Anti-Procrastination challenge, you can read all the details here. be sure you're subscribed to email updates or follow me on Facebook to receive each day's new challenge!
This post may be linked to one of these parties.