Doing Battle with Procrastination

For me, mastery is the process of dreaming of all life can be then working continually towards that vision.  As you make progress towards that initial vision, it changes and grows.  Mastery truly is a journey not a destination.


Why do more people not seek mastery in life?  Why do people who start out on a journey towards mastery then lose their way?  There are likely as many reasons are there are people on this earth but if you listen closely there will be some common themes underlying the answers.  In my journey one of the biggest enemies of mastery is procrastination.  I also believe that I am not alone in this battle.


According to Wikipedia, the definition of procrastination is the practice of carrying out less urgent tasks in preference to more urgent ones, or doing more pleasurable things in place of less pleasurable ones, and thus putting off impending tasks to a later time, sometimes to the "last minute" before a deadline. 


I get caught up in things that appear to be more urgent, but really aren't and are definitely not more important.  I honestly do prefer to stick to things that are more pleasurable in the immediate sense than those that are not as pleasurable but have long term benefits and payoffs.  Deadlines are great and nothing gets this girl moving like the last minute rush.


What happens when the important things get pushed off for those that appear urgent?  What happens when you do the things that bring pleasure right now but have no long term benefit?  What happens when the things that are pushed off don't actually have a deadline?  What happens when it is an opportunity and the only options are to grab hold or to let it slip away?  This is what mediocre, average living looks like.  This is the kind of living that our culture has totally bought into.  This is my struggle.


When I set my goals this year, I dreamed of the life that I wished I was living.  I really didn't have to think hard about my goals.  They were things that I have meant to do or incorporate into my life and just have not done so.  (The exception to this was doing 50,000 push ups in one year.  Last November that was just pure crazy talk...)  Notice that they were things that I had MEANT to do.  Most of my goals really are not hard but they are live changing if I do them on a regular basis.


How am I doing?  Well, some of my goals are going great but some of them are still being put on a shelf by procrastination.  For me, the battle with procrastination is a daily one.  I am realizing more and more where it has seeped into my life and where I need to work to push it back.  When I don't push back, I am settling for average.


Every year I need to do 40 hours of professional development to keep my professional designation.  Yes, even if I choose to be a stay at mom I need to keep current.  This has been part of my life for nearly 20 years.  I have never missed my year end deadline BUT many years I am cramming in webinars and reading over Christmas.  This is not how I want to spend the holiday season!  I decided that this year would be different.  I decided to go head to head with procrastination.  I set a goal to be 85% done by the end of June and completely done by the end of September.


So here we are at the end of June...  It is time to evaluate my progress...  I am thrilled to say that as of tonight, I am 91% done my hours for this year.  Ha! Ha!  Take that procrastination!!!