Procrastination. We are all guilty of it. We can seem to help ourselves. Sometimes I think procrastination is part of my DNA because no matter what the situation; confronting someone about their less than stellar work performance, or just dealing with a situation I may find uncomfortable, procrastination seems to affect everyone one of us at one time or another. The question is will it stick and be a part of us forever?
Now, I know there will be those out there who will read this post and just laugh. If that is the case, this post is NOT for you. But for the rest of us, the ones who tend to struggle with procrastination or self-discipline at your core level, I write this for you.
I looked up Procrastination in the dictionary and it told me “Procrastination is putting off until tomorrow what you should do today” I absolutely think that definition is very accurate but I would also interject that if procrastination only meant one waited until the next day, I don’t think the problem would be such a problem. To me though, the real issue is the people who put off what should be done today until next year, or worse case, never…those folks are the real concern. Can you imagine waiting a lifetime for someone to take care of something?
Why do people Procrastinate?
I am not a psychologist so I can’t give you reasons for people putting of their responsibility, but I can say, as a manager of people for the last 25 years, many of these folks frankly, don’t take care of what should be taken care of because they struggle mightily with self-discipline (or they are just lazy). I get to watch them everyday. Why is it that someone will only do enough to meet the bare minimum of responsibility, or wait until the last possible moment to turn in what is required of them?I see this problem coming down to personal organization or personal distractions like maybe a difficult home life or worse yet, they are just that “way”. Procrastinator, lazy, or all of the above.
Now we all know someone who fits my description. Sometimes we even find it funny, like our roommate in college who made a living with “just in time”papers to the professor, but he was only able to accomplish this with regular all night coffee binges the night before. When I hear a story like this I ask myself why…? Why is a little self-discipline so hard to accomplish for some people? Vance Havner said, “The alternative to self-discipline is disaster” and I agree with him. Continued complacency towards the future will result is just that…a disaster.
Remember that our success, in any endeavor, depends on the passion we bring to it, like our families or our place of work. God has created a world where your diligence is rewarded and laziness is not. Yes…you heard me correctly, God does NOT reward laziness, misbehavior, or apathy. Instead, he expects us to behave with dignity and self-discipline but what I have found, there isn’t much of those qualities around when you need them.
Proverbs 23:12 says to, Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge, and 2 Peter 1:5-6 tells us, For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness. God’s word is very clear to us; We must exercise self-discipline in all things and NOT put off our responsibilities until tomorrow…
Guys I encourage you to NOT procrastinate but to go out and put in a hard days work because you know it’s the right thing. When you do, you are on your way to a life of character and self discipline…a great place to be…
Until next time…
