Tag Archives: procrastination

“Never put off for tomorrow…”

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“Never put off for tomorrow what you can cancel.”

—Darren Hardy, Publisher of Success Magazine

Image from diamondresortsmembers.com

Image from diamondresortsmembers.com

Time management is perhaps the most universal issue facing the majority of clients seeking the support of a coach.

Who hasn’t read books and blogs, or attended at least a few workshops or seminars on time management?

The proverbial “to do list” has killed more trees, or now takes up a good deal of our hard drives, with no end in sight! Unfortunately, the more we add to these lists the “behinder” many of us feel.

EXERCISE:

Today is the day I’d like you to take out your red pens and scissors, or use your backspace and delete keys to literally cancel things from your list. This powerful act of saying “NO” once and for all to certain tasks will be challenging at first. This is due to our habit of dragging the weight of the world around. Select and cancel at least one task, meeting, or other commitment each day this week. Eventually you will get to the point where many items never make it to your list in the first place.

“Procrastination is the art…”

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“Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.”

—Don Marquis, American humorist, journalist, and author

Image from connectedhotel.com

Image from connectedhotel.com

My father Marvin is a great teacher relative to today’s quote. One of the characteristics he demonstrates quite often, given his age and occasional forgetfulness, is what I call reverse procrastination. He has developed a “do it immediately” approach to many things.

The new habit can be surprising, because he often stops in the middle of one activity and starts another that has just come to mind. If he doesn’t do it when it comes to mind, he is likely to forget to do it at all. The up side of it is that he does remember to go back and finish the first activity!

EXERCISE:

Where do you fit on the procrastination continuum of “do it now,” or “it can wait for whenever”?

What adjustments are needed to make sure you are not simply keeping up with yesterday?

Life lived for tomorrow

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“Life lived for tomorrow will always be just a day away from being realized.”

– Leo Buscaglia, author and motivational speaker

Image from Unsplash by Ben White

Anticipation, expectation and the promise of a better tomorrow are powerful forces that can mobilize us to call forth our most committed efforts.

On the other hand, consider happiness, joy, fulfillment, and satisfaction. These emotions are primarily experienced in the moment and not in the future.

Far too many people lose sight of what is just in front of their noses because they are gazing off over the horizons of life.

Exercise:

Regardless of whether you are near-sighted, far-sighted or have perfect vision, how will you take the time to look all around today, to experience the fullest expression of each and every moment?