Procrastination or Celebration? A story of choice

When I was in elementary school I had to walk home from school. It was a little more than a mile which wasn’t too bad, but there was a catch. The catch was that half way home I could see my house, it was just on the other side of a creek. If I could cross the creek then I could cut ½ mile off my walk. This was great – when I was allowed to cross the creek.

There were times where my parents told me I was not allowed to cross the creek, like after a big rain. I, on the other hand, being so much smarter than my parents, knew that I could cross anyway. One day when I was walking home with my friend, after one of those rain storms, we decided to cross in spite of our parents’ instructions. Did you know that if you step in mud that is a foot deep your boots will get stuck and you can’t pull them out? Well, it’s true. Yes, I got stuck. I can still remember standing there with my feet firmly planted in the mud, wondering if I would ever get out. Fortunately I had a pair of shoes with me so I slipped out of my boots, climbed back up to the sidewalk and walked home.

When I got home I went to the back door and walked straight downstairs so I could wash all the mud off before my mother saw me. This is nothing but procrastination. Eventually I had to tell my mom I don’t have a pair of boots – I was just avoiding it.

This is the first time I remember procrastinating on something, but not the last. I saw procrastination rear it’s ugly head periodically in my life. It wasn’t that I didn’t do things, just that I didn’t do certain things. Every once in a while something would pop up that I needed to do, but I really didn’t want to, so it would fall to the bottom of my to-do list. Of course the thing on the bottom of the to-do list never gets done that day so it would be on my list tomorrow. Again, it would fall to the bottom of the list, not get done – rinse and repeat.

After several days the problem compounded. Not only was this a task I didn’t want to do, now I was embarrassed about how late it was. At this point, many things just got trashed and never happened, or I had to suffer the embarrassment of being really late. Either way it wasn’t fun and it would ruin days, or even weeks, of my life.

The solution? Do the most uncomfortable thing first. I have changed my tack and when I look at my day I choose to do the most uncomfortable thing first. This way, not only is it done, I feel really good about myself for doing it. It adds a boost to my self-confidence and energy to my day.

What’s on your list today? Go ahead – do the icky thing and enjoy the great feelings it brings.

And yes, I did get my boots back. My father managed to get them out of the mud and I spent my evening washing the mud off of, and out of, my boots – yuck!