Can Procrastination Ever Be Considered a Good Thing?

You might be sitting there thinking the answer is probably not but I beg to differ. Procrastination is useful when one is trying to break a bad habit.

Now I know that we all pretend that we have no bad habits but the fact of the matter is that many of us do. If you are someone that smokes, drinks more than you should, eats more than you should, shops more than you should, etc then this post is for you.

So you ask what does procrastination have to do with bad habits? Simple, when you want to change a behavior you will often find that your ‘cravings’ increase and you end up failing to achieve your goal, then you feel bad for not having enough discipline or self control-don’t do that! There are a million ways to modify behavior and you certainly haven’t tried them all. I suggest you make it simple for yourself by employing a method you are probably already ‘good’ at; procrastination. When you feel the urge to have that smoke, that drink, buy that item, eat that whatever, delay doing it. By putting it off instead of denying it, you are not feeling deprived and if you incrementally increase the amount of time that you delay doing whatever bad habit you have, eventually you can ‘delay’ yourself into a new, good habit of not doing the bad habit.

And yes, I know that we all have deep psychological reasons for our bad habits and many of you might think you would need years of therapy to ‘fix’ it but the reality is that those bad habits come from self hate and self punishment so I encourage you to use the ‘time delay’ to read a few pages of a good book like say, Louise Hay’s book ‘You Can Heal Your Life’ or something else in the personal development arena. Give it a try; all you have to lose is a bad habit–right?

Its all in the eye of the beholder

Did you ever go to see a movie because you had heard such good things about it only to be disappointed, wondering if they had seen the same movie you saw? Ever try a recipe because someone raved about how great it was, only to find that you didn’t like that dish at all? If you have then you can understand why they say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

The reason for that is only partially a matter of taste, its also how you see the world, your attitude of life and the people you share the planet with. You can see a movie and think that the message was uplifting and someone else can see the same movie and not get the message at all or get an opposite message.  You can try a recipe and love it because it accentuated a flavor you love and someone else can dislike it because it overpowered their favorite flavor. What you see in something will not be the same thing that everyone else sees.

You could be in a crowded place and witness a mugging and later interview witnesses only to discover that some of the people only noticed the crime while others only noticed how many caring people helped the victim.

Yes, ‘taste’  is subjective but in life you will find that if you tend to look for the things that you like in anything then you will find them and if you only focus on what you don’t like-well, you will find that too.

What will your eyes behold today? The beauty or the ugly things in life? And which will do more to add to your life and your happiness?

The Hard Truth

I know that I have covered this before and I am sure that I will again but the fact of the matter is that you created whatever it is that you life is and has in it. For many people that is a concept that is hard to grasp because they know that what they have is in no way pleasing to them. Some people are even shut down by that statement and stop doing any personal development. Don’t be one of them.

No matter where you are right now, and if that is not even close to where you want to be, you can manifest the life of your dreams if you do one simple thing; think the thoughts of what you want and not of what you’ve got.

If money is tight, don’t constantly be thinking about (and especially worrying about) scarcity, if your health is poor, don’t constantly think about bad health and if your relationships are bad (or nonexistent) don’t think about that either. Focus on what you want, think thoughts of abundance.

How does one do that? Become the best at whatever it is that you do with your time. Full time, part time, sometimes things, it does not matter, the important thing is to master something, focus on that and feel the satisfaction of a thing well done. Before you  know it, you will look up and see that your life has changed for the better. When you don’t take time you don’t have anyway to think negative thoughts then positive thoughts can take over and manifest better things. And that is the hard truth-see that wasn’t so hard now was it?

What’s Your Plan?

By now, you should have a goal list but do you have a plan to achieve your goals?

It’s great if you do but keep in mind that a plan should be like a roadmap not a connect the dots picture.

If you were travelling from New York to Los Angeles and you looked at a map before you started your trip you would see that there are literally tens of thousands of ways to get from your starting point to your destination. Achieving your goals is no different so your plan should be flexible enough to accommodate road construction, weather conditions or say a detour for sightseeing or visiting a relative, breakdowns, etc or in other words; to accommodate life’s little surprises and opportunities.

As it has been said before failure to plan is planning to fail but failing to adapt that plan according to circumstances is like having no plan at all. People who insist on strict adherence to their plan, their own personal how if you will, end up quitting when life does not cooperate.

Life is Like a Sandwich?

I want to share a quote with you that someone shared with me today. It’s not the first time I have read this and I have found when things pop up more than once its usually a sign to take some action.

"Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly."

Thomas H. Huxley

I like this quote because it really says something about discipline doesn’t it. We all procrastinate to one degree or another but perhaps if we can really learn this lesson we might develop a habit that will serve us well. Some people call this eating the crust first. Yeah, I mean that when you have a sandwich and you know that the best part of the sandwich is the middle then you eat the crust first so all you have left is what you savor, what you really like. In fact, its what you truly made the sandwich to have isn’t it?

Life is just the same; take care of the chores, the stuff you don’t want to do and the stuff that you totally love to do (or even just like to do) will be that much sweeter because there won’t be any guilt to nag at you.

Is It Worth the Wait?

Sometimes when you have a big goal that you have been working towards for a while you may be tempted to get discouraged because you aren’t seeing results fast enough. You may even consider giving up that goal or settling for something less than what you really wanted but if you do you will always be dissatisfied, no only with yourself but with your life.

Imagine that achieving a goal is like planting a tree. You put the seed in the ground, water it, fertilize it and wait for it to grow. But how long will you continue to water and fertilize that ground without seeing any growth before you start to second guess it. Did I plant in the wrong spot? Is there not enough light? Is this the wrong climate? Why isn’t it growing!!!!

I heard about a tree called the Chinese Bamboo Tree. This is a tree that, once the seed is planted, must be tended for not one year, not two but for four full years before you see growth. In the fifth year the Bamboo tree can grow as much as ninety feet in just a few weeks. So why is this? The tree spends four years growing a strong & large root system before it breaks through the ground and catapults toward the sky.

Achieving your goals really is no different than growing a tree. Now, it may be that your tree is a Catalpa not a bamboo so you might see fast growth but either way if you do your part the universe will do its part and you will have success.

A Visualization

Some people will tell you that affirmations and visualization are not necessary but I don’t agree.

Ever rehearsed a conversation with someone, a difficult conversation that you didn’t really want to have and in your mind that conversation didn’t go well? And then even though you really didn’t ever want to have that conversation, you did and it went even worse than you pictured? That’s because you visualized it. And you did that with emotion. Thoughts do become things most especially when those thoughts have emotion behind them.

So next time you start to rehearse like that, stop yourself, just don’t even go there and replace it with a conversation of you sharing some great news instead.

Visualizations don’t have to be a long involved process, just a minute or two to think about what you want and feel the feelings of having it. Remember its the feeling that is important, the details can be sketchy; just see yourself happy, feeling that feeling of joy. Do that once a day and see if you don’t start to take that feeling of happiness throughout your day.

The Vacation of Your Life

I could ask you what your dream vacation is but that won’t really give a true picture of your life so the question is; what do you usually do on vacation?

Do you plan it out, in detail, thinking of new places to see, things to do and people to meet? Or do you plan to stay home and sleep in as much as possible? Or something in between maybe?

No matter what your answer is it reveals your approach to life in general. It’s either something that is exciting to you or something less than spectacular.

So give your answer some thought and decide if your life is what you want it to be. Lots of folks spend more time planning their vacations than they do their lives, don’t be one of them.

Maybe it’s time to make a few changes and those don’t have to be big changes. When a plane flies from New York to Miami they don’t just set the course and fly, constant course corrections are required because just a couple of degrees off course can mean the difference between ending up at the airport or in the Bahamas.

And the same is true for your life, just a few degrees, a few minor changes can mean the difference between a happy life or its opposite.