Every morning I write a to-do list with everything that I would like to accomplish for the day. It is always so gratifying for me to see a list with things checked off at the end of the day. But there are a few things on the list that are on there everyday and never get checked off. They are the things that I know have to get done but for one reason or another, I procrastinate on them. Usually it is because those tasks are complicated and do not entail just doing one thing to check it off.
But even more than that, I think that there is something to learn in what we choose to procrastinate on. For example, let’s say that one of the items is to call an old friend. What is holding you back about calling that friend? Has your friendship changed and you aren’t ready to face it? Or maybe the task is writing your resume. While the task can often be tedious, usually there is something else beneath that. Perhaps there is fear of not getting hired where you want. Usually we mask these tasks that we procrastinate on by saying things like, “I’m just lazy.” or “I’m just really busy.” But the truth of the matter is, there is usually some other reason why we aren’t checking those things off of the list.
What’s yours?
