Procrastination Is Making You Wait

Most of the time we put things off because we're scared. Scared of failing, scared of getting it wrong. But nobody finishes a task or picks up a new skill without first wading in and risking a bad result. Certain people stall on one thing simply because they'd rather be doing anything else, even nothing at all. I've worked jobs where I was required to be present with zero work to do, forced to stay put regardless.

I'll burn more hours dodging a task than the task itself would have cost me, and at the end I still either fail or succeed. So what happens if you just handle a thing the moment it crosses your mind? You might save the time, save the energy, maybe even pick up something about a job you'd been avoiding out of fear. A coward dies many deaths; a hero dies only once.

Think about the clutter you hold onto because you're afraid of tossing something you might, however faintly, need down the road. Weigh it fairly: would it cost less time and energy to buy a replacement or dig the information back up online than to store the thing forever? I picked up a cheap single-serving coffee maker with no instructions included, and it turned out to be a non-issue. I found the manual on the internet and printed it.

People always told me that living in New York City, where rent is brutal and square footage is scarce, forces you to learn this discipline. And I've heard that folks who spent years building up piles of possessions often feel a strange relief once they're no longer stuck tracking and maintaining all of it.

Then there's the "I can't" reflex. Have you actually given it a real attempt while reminding yourself that plenty of other people manage it, and every one of them had to learn at some point? Pushing through also does something to your self-image. You come out of it needing other people less.

So either set up a regular rhythm for the chore, the way everyone handles their trash, or go without it entirely. Swap your top sheet and blanket for a duvet with a washable cover and you've gutted most of the work of making a bed. Or just wait to straighten the bed until right before you climb in, which kills the need for a bedspread and a parade of decorative pillows. Who decided a bed had to be dressed up anyway? Kings and emperors used to hold court from theirs, and I promise those beds weren't made when they did it.

I once helped a patient wrestle a pile of paperwork into order so he could claim a refund that added up to real money. I gave him a deadline. The condition: if he blew past it, he had to agree to throw every saved scrap of paper away so it would stop hanging over him.

We often spend more effort guaranteeing we won't do a thing than the thing would ever have required. We get so lost turning it over in our heads that we don't catch on until the window has closed. My own current fix is setting up a plain card table used for nothing but the paperwork I'm working on right now, away from the TV, the refrigerator, and any people. I haven't managed to keep the pets off it yet. The cat likes to sleep right in the middle of the stack, or plant himself in front of the screen and paw at it. He can't nap on the monitor anymore, the way he used to when it ran warm, now that it's a flat screen. Why he does any of this, I can't tell you.

Somewhere back in childhood we pick up this foot-dragging as a way to wriggle out of things. Stalling bedtime, maybe. Like I mentioned in another post recently, some people pour more hours into dodging work on the job than into the work itself, and I genuinely don't understand how they keep getting paid for it. When I pull the same stunt, at least the only person I'm shortchanging is me. And when you actually stop and add it all up, the whole habit starts to look pretty dumb.

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