Procrastination Part 1

In my life, I have procrastinated more times than I want to admit. There are projects that are very important to me, but I put them off until it's almost too late. Many times I compromise my own dreams, because I have left them until the last minute.


Okay, this is the reason I am writing about procrastination. This week I planned to write on a different subject, but I was having a problem. Every day, I needed to write, but I just had a really hard time getting started. Suddenly, I knew my topic for this week was procrastination, because I needed to learn more about the subject.


My procrastination had to stop, so I could write this week's blog and post by Friday.
For me to defeat procrastination, I had to figure out why I procrastinate, why I need to stop procrastinating, and how I can refrain from procrastinating again. If I could figure this out, then, I could not only stop procrastinating myself, but also help others stop procrastinating. This is not just a problem for me. Many people I know procrastinate, so they end up doing things at the last minute. We all know this means many of our projects are done hurriedly, so our projects are mediocre. My purpose in life is to help others with problems they have, so they can become successful.



It was important to figure out why I procrastinate. What I figured out was, for me, I had so many fears. Fear is what makes me procrastinate. There are times when I want to complete an important project, but fear takes over and I end up waiting and, sometimes, never completing the project. Fortunately, this is becoming less and less, and, for my blog, I started writing as soon as I realized I was procrastinating.


Fear is probably the biggest dream killer. For me, it is disguised in different forms. First, it comes to me in the form of failure. If I try something that may seems difficult or important to me, I may screw it up and fail. What I have come to understand is that failure is part of the growing process. For me to succeed, I have to endure some failure.


Second, fear attacks me in the form of perfectionism. Perfectionism is misunderstood. Many people believe that all perfectionists are people who work until they get it right and are high achievers. This is not the case for all perfectionists. Sometimes, I stop working on projects, because I don't think I'm doing a good enough job. All I can think about is how horrible I would feel if I failed. The thought of how bad people would view me flashes through my mind.


Third, I created a busy life, so I didn't have to deal with what really scares me. In an attempt to not feel fear, I filled my life with busy work. What is busy work? Busy work is small unimportant jobs that can be done by almost anyone and are not important to our success. This includes little jobs that friends ask you to do, but they only interfere with the important projects that will propel you toward success.


Fourth, fear actually attacks my body. Many times I obsess over whether I am going to succeed or not and actually make myself sick. Fear is a disease that makes my body ache, my head throb, and depression to take over my whole outlook in life. Good thing I found a solution to controlling my deepest fears instead of fears controlling me.



For me to live purposefully, I must conquer procrastination. This means I need to leave fear in the dust and push through difficult situations. Ephesians 5:15-17 says it well: "…Live purposefully and worthily and accurately…" In verse 16, we are told to make the most of our time, and we need to buy up each opportunity. There are many opportunities that I failed to take, so, now, I must reap the consequences of my foolishness. Not taking opportunities that come to me is foolishness.


When we take opportunities and push through tough times, we are more likely to get past the difficult moments, learn a valuable lesson, and gain the confidence to push through the next difficult task. This reminds me of a lesson that I learned in high school. One day, I was getting my things ready to go home. If my memory serves me correctly, this revelation occurred my junior year. It was the last day of the year and everybody was excited about summer vacation.


As I got all my stuff and headed home, I realized that when I started my freshman year, I was petrified and didn't know if I could make it through, and, due to procrastination, I did receive some low grades. My sophomore year, I felt a little better about starting the school year and I procrastinated less and less. Of course, by the time my junior year started, I was even more confident that I would succeed, because I knew more about diligence and hard work. As I thought about how scared I felt going into each grade, I realized that by the end of the year I had pushed through and worked on the difficult subjects. Even hard subjects were passed, because I never gave up and learned to get my assignments started early and done and turned in on time.


Each year, I got better and better grades. This was because I learned from one tough subject to the next how to pass my classes. In reality, I am an exceptional student, but I allowed fear and procrastination stop me. When I got into college, I realized that it was even more dangerous to procrastinate. College wasn't a requirement, so they didn't have to put up with me. Now, I am in graduate school and take each class knowing all it will take is hard work and determination.