Today I mowed the lawn.
It shouldn’t really be that big of a deal, right? But it kind of was… Now that we have finally gotten some really good rain in California (yaaay!!), and the rainy weather has alternated with gorgeous summer days, my garden has totally taken off! Things are growing like crazy :) So, while I could almost literally see the grass growing during this past week or so, I’ve also had “mow the lawn” on my mental to-do list. Starting with a pretty neutral observation: “It would be a good idea to mow the lawn soon”, increasing in intensity each day and becoming more self-critical and frustrated “SERIOUSLY… how hard can it be to just DO IT!?”… until I actually listened to myself and JUST DID IT! And this was the hard part: the long moist grass clogged up the lawnmower a couple times, I had to empty the collector bin every few steps and finally I ended up with a very lumpy looking lawn… which means that I will have to get the mower out AGAIN in a day or two once the patches of (still) long grass have recovered from my trampling and are reaching up toward the sun again. Of course this whole incident is not a big deal when I consider my life overall. Nothing to write home about… or even write a blog about :) BUT it got me thinking about procrastination and wondering whether it would ever have a good ROI (Return on Investment) to do so. When we procrastinate, we tend to spend a lot of energy THINKING about that thing we should be doing (or make an effort to AVOID thinking about it), REMEMBERING over and over again that we must not forget to do “that thing,” and maybe even beating ourselves up each time when we notice ourselves spending our time and energy on miscellaneous less important things. My biggest “time-suck” is allowing myself to get drawn into the information vortex of social media and the abundance of really REALLY interesting reading material that’s out there... ;) That’s the “Instant Gratification Monkey” in action! (I encourage you to check out this entertaining and insightful TED talk by Tim Urban). This “monkey” is the voice in your head that tells you that it’s OK to choose the convenient and easy way in this moment rather than putting in the effort towards something bigger that you actually really care about. So, whether the grass got mowed today or a few days ago is of course no big deal but what happens when we procrastinate on more important things in our life, like relationships or our health? It’s so easy to think that we WILL connect with that friend and we WILL spend more time with our family/friends as soon as... (this project has been completed) and, we WILL start exercising and eating healthier as soon as….(we’ve gotten over this particularly busy time). As soon as… As soon as… As soon as… In his TED Talk, Tim Urban points out that procrastination, relating to these long term goals or broader aspects of life (that don’t really have clear deadlines), is the most dangerous. He speaks about how the lack of prioritizing the things that truly matter in our lives will lead to a more drawn-out silent suffering and ultimately, regret. When we no longer have health, we regret not taking better care of ourselves when we were healthy. When a loved one passes, we regret not spending more time - truly being with them - when it was still possible. The potential ROI of investing our time and energy toward more long-term life goals and honoring our core values are significant. And just like financial investments, we have to be deliberate in how we invest and then stay the course even if we don’t see immediate results. When you catch yourself procrastinating next – because we ALL do it – I invite you to use these questions to consider your choices:
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AuthorAs a Holistic Time Management coach Ulrika reflects on ways to live our every day on purpose - with agility. Archives
June 2018
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