Home > Big Ideas > Your Brilliance Unleashed > Procrastination Perfected

I blocked the day off to write today.  This morning when I went to my computer, I noticed I didn’t have an internet connection.  I spent the next 35 minutes on the phone with the cable company following the directions of a pleasant, but somewhat annoying computer generated voice that had me unplugging and re-plugging various devices.  When my connection was finally restored, I happily dove into my email, saw a request from a client, and endeavored to fulfill it – figuring it would only take a few minutes.  Half an hour later, I realized that my Quickbooks program was sending invoices that weren’t supposed to go out for weeks.  Looking into the situation, I saw some numbers that were incorrect and ended up spending the next hour and a half moving from one screen to another, scratching my head.  While I was in there I thought it might be a good idea to get a better handle on my monthly expenses, so I did a review of them and created a spreadsheet for myself.

My stomach started to churn, and realizing it was lunchtime I went into the kitchen to warm something up.  Eating in would allow me to save time, I figured. And it did, until I brought my dirty dish to the sink and decided that I would feel better if I washed the other dirty dishes that had collected there.  Hands elbow high in warm suds, I wistfully imagined the day my kids would actually learn to clean up after themselves.  Then I realized that I still needed to put together an Art Masterpiece presentation for my oldest son that I would be leading in his classroom tomorrow.  I pulled the packet from the pile of other things waiting for me to get to and went through the materials there to see if the notes previous presenters left in there were adequate.  As I read, I became fascinated with the Chamash Indians, whose rock paintings the class would be discussing.  I did a quick Internet search to see if I could come across any additional interesting facts and ended up becoming fascinated by a related website on shamans and the role they played in ancient civilizations.

Coming to my senses an hour later, I spent the next 25 minutes creating a document for parents to explain what the kids would talk about and do in class during my time with them – all the while wondering if anyone ever really read those things.  And then I finally reassembled the materials and put them back in the packet, realizing that I pretty much had everything I needed for that project from the start and berating myself for wasting so much time.  I looked at the clock and remembered that in an hour and a half I would need to pick my son up and take him to baseball practice. Wow.  Woefully little time left.  I still needed to prepare for the client meetings I would be having the next day, and then I would take a shot at writing, I reasoned.  I spent the majority of my remaining time prepping, save for the two phone calls that shook my concentration and sent me back to my email to take action on them.  While I was there, I saw a new subscriber alert appear in my inbox.

I suddenly realized why I felt so disappointed in myself.  It wasn’t that I didn’t accomplish anything of value (though I will concede that I did seem to spend time doing quite a few things that had little or no importance).  I had broken a promise I made to myself and as a result got sucked into a myriad of activities that were entirely unrelated to the one thing I really wanted to do today – WRITE.  The painful irony of it all is that what I blocked the day to work on was a new chapter of the book I’m writing – a chapter about – ready for this? – PROCRASTINATION and other AVOIDANCE MECHANISMS and DIVERSIONARY ACTIVITIES that keep us from unearthing our greatness.

That one new subscriber returned me to my place of power.  I had spent the day gripped by fear that kept me from rising above the minutia to do what was most important.  My fear was related to stories I have that lead me to believe writing will be harder than I think and that I may not be able to do justice to the subjects I feel called to write about.  In that one moment, reflecting on the fact that someone took the time to click that button and read my stuff helped me to remember that it isn’t really about me at all.  It is about what I can do for others.  And most of us can relate more to each other’s mistakes and missteps than we can to their successes.

So, let the mistakes and sloppy writing rip.  Let the email wait.  Let the dishes sit.  Leave the bookkeeping and other administrative tasks to people on my team that are far better qualified for and passionate about those jobs than I am.  If that new subscriber would have appeared this morning when I checked my email, would I have spent the day differently?  Probably.  Upon reviewing the day I thought of all the things I could have done to stay focused (tactics I teach my clients to use when they fall into the same traps I did – mostly because I need to learn them myself).  And then I realized that today’s experience inspired me to write this post – and gave me some great fodder for my new chapter.

In any instant, no matter the circumstances, we can shift from a place of procrastination and avoidance to one of focus and flow.  Sometimes our deviations and detours help to bring us back to where we really needed to go – and to recognize the little obstacles we tend to throw into our path so that we can keep from tripping over them.  Eventually, we can stop creating them altogether.  Do you procrastinate?  You’re not alone.  But you don’t have to let it stop you.  Decide what you most want.  Believe in yourself.  And bring it on, baby.

Photo Credit: gothick_matt