Sarah Speaks....: Procrastination: The Biggest Lie

The biggest lie we tell ourselves in the area of action is, "I'll do it later." As C. Northcote Parkinson said, "Delay is the deadliest form of denial."

Putting things off is known, of course, as procrastination. I know that "pro" means for, but I don't know what "crastination" means. Maybe it means laziness. Maybe it means don't go after your Dream, but kid yourself into thinking that someday you will. Whatever crastination means, I'm against it.

You could say I'm pro-anticrastination. (I looked it up: crastination comes from crastinus , Latin for pertaining to tomorrow. Pro crastinus is "putting things off till tomorrow." "Never put off till tomorrow," Mark Twain said, "what you can do the day after tomorrow." Procrastinus-crastinus?)

The interesting thing about "later" is that a statement containing it can never be proven false. One can never reproach us for not doing something. If confronted, we can always say, "I said I'd do it later. It's not later yet." In this way, we can put off and put off and put off indefinitely. We only run out of laters when we run out of breath. Death is nature's way of saying, "No more laters left."

We know how many laters we have stockpiled from the past. We know that adding another later to that pile is like adding a grain of sand to a beach. Somehow, we know we're probably never going to get back to that particular grain of sand. We know "later" is a lie.

If you trap the moment before it's ripe,

The tears of repentance you'll certainly wipe;

But if once you let the ripe moment go

You can never wipe off the tears of woe.

If you can do something now, do it. If it can't be done now, (a) decide if it is going to get done. If yes, (b) choose when it will get done.

If something doesn't get done, and you decide you will still do it, reschedule a specific date and time . Write it in your appointment book. If it's not worth the amount of time it takes to schedule it now, it's probably not going to get done "later."

When we put necessary activities off until some mythical Later-land, we drag the past into the future. The burden of yesterday's incompleteness is a heavy load to carry. Don't carry it so get going!

About the Author: George Barendse lives in California and has been involved in the Internet for many years. He finds his work both interesting and motivating. “It is interesting work and keeps me young---good for the brain”, says George. He is certain you will benefit from all the useful information in his article, and thanks you for visiting. Further information from Georgre Barendse is available at: HubPages