Seizing the Day
Busting the Procrastination Problem
Do you ever feel that you don’t have enough time to take care of everything on your To Do list? Perhaps that’s not the best question to start with. We should ask if you even have a To Do list! Because being organised is one of the key ingredients for successful task management. You choose your priorities, you allocate sufficient time for each task. And you work through your list. Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? So, where’s the problem?
The first difficulty lies in the fact that humans find decision-making quite stressful. Give someone too many decisions to make and they can soon feel overwhelmed. In the face of having to decide on each of your individual priorities during the course of a busy day, it’s easy to understand how items can be overlooked. This is where being organised comes to the rescue. You decide in advance what needs to be done – preferably the day before – and this becomes one single, all-encompassing decision. One decision rather than multiple separate choices.
The really happy people are those who have broken the chains of procrastination, those who find satisfaction in doing the job at hand. They’re full of eagerness, zest, productivity. You can be, too.
– Norman Vincent Peale
In reality, most people could be described as busy. The killer question is to determine whether people are productively busy. Whatever method you choose to measure it, there’s a world of difference between attending to key activities and just going through the motions of being busy. A well-constructed To Do list is intended to resolve this dilemma. You evaluate the essential tasks and place them in order of priority. Now you simply follow the routine you’ve created and the important issues automatically receive the attention they merit.
When the day has no clear structure and you haven’t worked out what you need to do, you’ll discover limitless opportunities to waste the day. It’s human nature. We prefer to do the things we enjoy – whether they’re useful or not – rather than attending to the essentials. It might not be entirely fair to describe this aimless drifting as procrastination but the results are the same. The day slips by and we realise that we haven’t achieved anything worthwhile.
It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.
– Leonardo da Vinci
The answer is to seize the day with a simple and unambiguous structure that focuses on everything that needs to be done – whether you enjoy the tasks or not. This simple expedient has been described as one the great secrets to success. It might not be very glamourous or exciting but it harnesses the day’s potential and delivers measurable results. And these are the foundations of success in any endeavour.
The other problem is our sense of time. We generally don’t appreciate that our time is limited and our days are numbered. If someone delivered a personal message to you right now, announcing exactly how many days you had left, we can be sure that the news would have a very sobering effect on your sense of time!
I remember reading somewhere about an organisation called Procrastinators Anonymous. I think they had been in existence for some years but had never gotten around to having a meeting.
– Unknown
The long-standing admonition to seize the day has its roots in ancient traditions and the advice is as relevant today as it always has been. Let’s face the fact: we do not know how many days remain to us. It’s only when our attention wanders and we slip into the habit of drifting that we lose our sense of urgency. Each precious, irreplaceable day slips through our fingers and can never be recovered. Gone forever. Did you use it wisely? Perhaps we need a wake-up call and a timely reminder to cease taking our time for granted. Let’s accept each new day with gratitude for the opportunities it gifts to us. We owe it to ourselves to make the very most of every minute. The end is inevitable but the pathway is in our own hands.
Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.
– Michael Landon
Perhaps this kind of shock realisation is one of the best ways to break the habit of procrastination. When your attention is focused on your own mortality, you might want to reassess your priorities. It’s a perfectly legitimate way to take note of how you’re spending the precious coin of your life. How are you investing every minute? Every hour? Every day?
Seize the day. Attend to the things that need to be done. Complete the essential tasks and allocate plenty of time to the people who are close to your heart. Extract maximum value from every moment. And live a life that overflows with richness, love, happiness and fulfilment. Then, when the end is near, you will know in your heart that you lived a life that was complete. Perhaps this is the greatest gift you can give to yourself. Go ahead. Seize the day and let the great adventure begin for real.
It was my fear of failure that first kept me from attempting the master work. Now, I’m beginning what I could have started ten years ago. But I’m happy at least that I didn’t wait twenty years.
– Paulo Coelho
Are you ready right now for a completely fresh approach to life’s great adventure? Get in touch with us today for a free session to discover how the growing global movement for personal growth, success, change and empowerment can enhance your life!
Greg Parry created The Wellness Foundation and the Cognitive Empowerment Programs specifically to help people master their stress, overcome their limitations and explore the power of their true potential.
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