I felt like calling this post “Confession Of A Chronic Procrastinator”, but then I waited a bit too long… See what I did there?
Ok, so that was a lame joke. All fun and games aside, I have always had an issue with putting things off, usually until the last moment.
While I have a pretty decent track record of eventually meeting the deadline, there was always a fair deal of stress and, in my case, excitement involved in the last minute rush.
For years I figured that I was just addicted to the rush, but then I noticed something.
Seems like whenever I approached a beneficial task, I came up with a ton of reasons why I could wait a few hours, or even days to get it completed.
I figured as much this was just the unique way I was wired, and I was partially correct.
Apparently, what I experience is a bit common to most people, a psychological phenomenon called Resistance. How is that for a name?
Resistance is that feeling you get whenever you have something to do, the more important and beneficial the task, the stronger the resistance.
Think about how you feel whenever you have to go to the gym, study, take out the trash, reply to that email you should have… Wait a sec, scratch that, that’s all me.
You know that feeling which makes you want to stay in bed a few minutes longer, to scroll through the newsfeed on social media… Think you got the picture now.
Knowing what you’re dealing with is only the beginning. How on earth do you solve a problem, when it’s all in your head?
Seems like there is a very simple fix, at least for me; “Just Do It!”
No, I am not telling you to go buy a pair of NIKE sneakers.
The only way to over come resistance, is to work through it. It’s all about taking action.
As my college art tutor used to say, “Don’t just sit there, do something!” Well, it was more like”…draw something“, but you get the point.
Told you it was a simple fix; I never said it was going to be easy though.
In the beginning it feels like it will take every ounce of will power, but the good news is that this gets easier with repetition.
Having a strong reason to do the task seems to help as well, especially if the ultimate results is related to some sort of purpose, or pleasurable outcome.
Well, you got the fix now. nothing left for me to say but, “Don’t just sit there go do something!”