Put off that really important thing you need to do right now and read this! You can do it tomorrow or maybe even the day after… if you have time. Who knows?
Everybody is a procrastinator. We’d wait for eternity, if we could, to clean out our car, to start hitting the gym for good, to finally start saving for that trip. We wait until the last minute to do just about anything. It’s much more fun to spend this Friday night going to the bar with friends. I mean, I can start writing that great American novel next week.
Why do we put off doing things that we know we should do? We know that getting that paper finished once and for all is good for our sanity, so why do we continue to play on Facebook instead? The answer is simple. It’s because our immediate want is much more powerful in this moment than we think it will be in the future. It’s much easier to do something now that will give us pleasure than doing something that will only give us pleasure in the future, even if the end reward far exceeds the immediate one. This explains why people buy diet foods but never get around to eating them, or why people have unprotected sex even though they know there are countless risks associated.
So how do we conquer procrastination? Fortunately, this answer is pretty simple too. It just takes a lot of work. Pay attention…
There are two You’s. There is a present You—the one reading this right now—and a future You. Put yourself in the future You’s shoes. Think back through all the time that has passed and how disappointed You are at the past You for not following through with what You wanted. You could be traveling the world right now if the past You had only saved up! You could be playing piano like Billy Joel if the past You had only taken the time to learn. But you’re not… Instead, You’ve never been around the world and You don’t even know how to sit at a piano, let alone play it, all because the past You thought that playing Candy Crush was more exciting… What an asshole!
Travis Barton
Life Coach
.png)
