The War with Self

Procrastination. We ALL deal with it on some level and I know for me, it’s an ongoing battle that rears its ugly head at the worst times in life. There are plenty of books and gurus out there ready and willing to take your money to tell you a bunch of things that you already know but simply fail to faithfully put into practice. I think often it’s about our apparent need to fill every waking hour of our days with something so we feel accomplished and justified in our existence.

The greater lesson is to keep coming back to a self-awareness that sees the bad habits we may carry and THEN takes the self-observation and does something about it. In a culture where we have so much information coming at us at all times, it gets hard to either filter or just turn off the spicket to allow ourselves to think and contemplate - two activities that are becoming more and more rare. I see the warning signs in my own life and it’s an incredibly draining mode of thinking and behavior. We procrastinate the important things for the not-so-important things and, what’s even worse, the important things are often the very things we most want to be and do. How’s that for an inexplicable switch. We waste our time on things of little to no real import (we never cease being “busy”) but in the process, whether consciously or not, put aside the activities and behaviors we most desire…leading to further discouragement and frustration.

I know I’m not alone in this frustration and so I thought it would be good to let you know that you’re not alone in this battle with ourselves. Is there an answer? Is there a magic key or secret password that will unlock the great mystery and lead to a “happily ever after” ending? Of course not.

I’ve had a website that I occasionally stumble upon that I’ve recently taken time to look at more closely and I’m going to do some more visiting in the coming days. The site is called 43 Folders and is a wonderful collection of thoughts on our lives and how we organize ourselves. Here’s an excerpt from their “About” page to give a quick bullet-point synopsis of the information they provide.

Topics that come up a lot include:

• productivity and time management tips
• “life hacks” to improve efficiency and get things off your mind
• interesting Mac OS X programs and technologies
• ideas about modest ways to improve your life and reduce stress
• cool or helpful shortcuts that make life a bit easier

The reason this whole thought-pattern has found its way onto my blog today is due to a discovery of a wonderful collection of podcast sessions (8 mashed into 1) that was an interview with author David Allen who wrote a book called “Getting Things Done”. In this interview he addresses some of the overriding issues with procrastination and I’m listening to it again to pick up more nuggets.

To hear the entire interview for yourself, click here.

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