Procrastination is the fertilizer that makes difficulties grow

That is the way a pastor of mine put it years ago and I never forgot it.

It’s kind of a gross way to put it, but you can’t ignore the truth of it, nor will you ever forget it now.  You’re welcome.

We all struggle with procrastination.  Something needs to be done, but we just aren’t in the mood.  As though the mood for work ever surfaces.  So we fill the time with things that feel productive but really aren’t, refreshing email accounts, checking facebook and twitter and instagram and pinterest and you get the idea.

Postponing what needs to be by filling the time with the easiest, closest thing greatly wastes our time.  Sure, we will still get the work done.  In a frenzied panic, we will cram to get it in and meet the deadline.  But in the end, all of our time is used up.  Now there is none left to do the leisurely things we would choose.  See, downtime is earned.  If the work is done on schedule, the time off is free to use at our choosing.  If we squander time and rush to get the work in by deadline, there is no time left for choosing leisure.

The solution to procrastination is to be disciplined enough to live by schedule.  If I do what I’m supposed to do when I’m supposed to do it, I get to do what I want to do once it’s done.

Or I can spend all my leisure time being distracted by the internet.

No thanks.