Procrastination: The thief of time.

Don’t do it tomorrow, do it today! Can you not see how uncomplicated, how satisfying, how simple, life is when you just ‘do it now, and get it out of the way?’ Putting stuff off is, well, just a recipe for not getting it done, isn’t it? I mean, what can be so difficult about doing ‘it,’ whatever it is, now? Is it going to ever be any easier to do? No. Is it going to cost less if you ‘wait till later?’ No. So why would you ever want to wait?

The Dalai Lama, he of constant wisdom, says we shouldn’t procrastinate because we know we will die, but we don’t know when, so we should do all the things we want to do, while we can, so we have no regrets, and I can live with that! Procrastination is defined, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, as the action “to keep delaying something that must be done, often because it is unpleasant or boring, to dilly-dally.”

Actually, to delay doing something unpleasant must be the worst indecisiveness ever. Do you want it hanging over your head like a cloud? Procrastination is that naughty little man sitting on your shoulder, the one you should always ignore, that says, ‘Wait!’ Well, don’t wait any longer, or you’ll end up like Oscar Wilde, who said, “I never put off till tomorrow, what I can leave till the day after,” and get nothing done.

I have a friend who has toothache and he told me last night, when, over drinks, I noticed his grimaces of pain. When I asked him what the problem was, he said, “Oh, I’ve got toothache, so when I drink anything that’s either hot or cold, I have to like, squeej (his word not mine) it down the other side of my mouth. It’s really bad.”

Of course, I asked, quite naively it appears, asking whether he had thought about going to the dentist? “Oh, I thought I’ld go maybe tomorrow,” he replied, “It depends. You know what dentists are like, they charge like raging bulls.” “And what,” I asked, “You think he’s going to charge you less if you put it off for a day or two? Do you actually enjoy being in pain?” “Nah, yeah, you’re probably right. I should get around to it... but I have heard clove oil is good for toothache so I might try that first.” I was done. There and then there was nothing to add. All I could do was tut, tut, tut, and in my bemused state reflect upon a couple of minutes of my life that I’ll never get back, reflecting too on other experiences of procrastination, not knowing whether to laugh or cry as Steve grimaced yet again, reaching smartly for his jaw. ‘Well, that’ll help a lot,’ I thought, ‘I wonder if it was the cold drink again?’ and smiled as I watched his agony, tinged with a little less sympathy than I usually would.

He’s a good sound lad is Steve, but sometimes... you just gotta shake your head, look at the floor... and admit defeat.

Some folks put things off for reasons of practicality, or in the name of pragmatism, like ‘when we’ve got more spare cash,’ or ‘when we’re older,’ or ‘when the time is right.’

What needs to change to make you try some gastronomic delicacies like oysters (yum), frogs legs (so-so), chicken feet (urgh), lambs tongue (niiiice), or mountain oysters (no relation to the shell variety), or any other food? Delay, and it will be out-of-season, or unavailable. So, give yourself a wee treat... We need too, to not put stuff off because we’re scared in an irrational way. Okay, I can’t swim, and so I don’t much go in the water, but I think I’ve come to the conclusion that really, it’s my fear of being eaten by sharks that makes me scared to swim, and when you put all those sort of complexities together, they aren’t so much procrastination as irrational. But that’s another story, for another day.

Someone unfamous, once wrote, ‘your future isn’t guaranteed,’ so live... today.