I am sure that many of you out there struggle or have struggled with putting things off. You know, that nasty word that we don’t like to admit that we do, procrastinate! We like to use excuses such as “I don’t have time” or -I am going to” or “tomorrow I will” to make ourselves feel better about our choices of action or lack of. But we can only tell ourselves that so many times, and tomorrow never comes. The dishes continue to pile up, the dust continues to accumulate, the bills keep coming, the pounds keep going up on the scale, as does the underlying that we are storing up inside for not doing what we know we should be doing. Procrastination is a sure peace and joy killer and can keep us from fulfilling God’s will for our lives.

But why do we procrastinate so much? Why do we put off the things that we know we need to do, could do, or should do? Some may say “I don’t feel like doing it right now”, Some may say “I don’t want to right now”, Some may say “I am lazy”, and some may even say that they don’t care or it’s not that important at the time. These excuses and many other ones That we give really all boil down to feelings. We put things off /procrastinate Because we allow our feelings to dictate our actions. We let our feelings make our decisions for us. Because we do not have a positive feeling backing up the action that we need to take we choose to put it off. But if we wait to have that positive feeling or want to do it then we will likely never do it.

The crazy thing about feelings is that we can actually create the feelings that we want, and also the ones that we don’t want. For example, the house is a mess and you have been putting off cleaning it up. Because your surroundings are chaotic you are lacking peace and may feel a little chaotic inside yourself. You feel the uneasiness within yourself and want peace. Because you know that you have been choosing to not clean you have some guilt and shame within as well which is disrupting your peace. If you go ahead and clean up the mess it will cause you to get rid of those negative feelings and it will cause you to have the peace that you are lacking. It may not be enjoyable while you are doing it but focus on the good feelings that are going to come once you are done. You are creating the feeling that you desire while getting rid of what is causing the negative feelings, plus you will have the feeling of accomplishment and being proud of yourself for taking care of business.

When I had a truth meeting with myself about why I procrastinated so much -even on the smallest things- I think I went through about a dozen excuses that I told myself -which were all lies covered up- before I got to the real reason. I didn’t want to admit that I had gotten lazy, had wrong priorities, and that my feelings were controlling me. I felt shame and embarrassment that it was all my own fault, that I was causing my own problems, and there was no one or anything else that I could blame but me!

But with that acceptance of my own truth came power. I was able to see and think of things differently so that helped me to have what I call “truth talk” with myself every time that I found myself putting something off until later. Slowly I started changing my actions. It was a process but I was finally making progress! What I used to put off for weeks I would put off for days. Then putting it off for days turned into putting it off for a few hours. Then those hours turned to just go ahead and get it done right then. I didn’t change overnight and I still have times that I will find myself procrastinating on something and will have to have a truth talk with myself.

You can overcome procrastination too. But you have to be honest with yourself about the reason why you do it. Then you have to make the decision to do things different and not let your feelings control your decisions. And Please be patient with yourself and don’t expect yourself to change overnight. Every time that you find yourself wanting to put something off have a conversation with yourself. Ask yourself why you are trying to put it off, how will it affect you if you do put it off, what is stopping you from getting it done now, will you happy/glad when it is done, if you do put it off will that make you feel bad or have regret, and what are the pro’s and con’s of putting it off. Sometimes it helps us to make good choices and decisions when we look at both sides of the choices that we face. But ultimately when it comes to procrastination it boils down to us making the decision that we are going to take care of business when it needs to be taken care of instead of waiting on feeling like doing it. I hope that this gives you some ideas of why you put things off and how you can stop doing so.

What are some of the things that you struggle with putting off? Did anything that I have written today give you some ideas on how to overcome it? If so, what helped you?