{"id":5197,"date":"2019-11-17T09:00:29","date_gmt":"2019-11-17T15:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5197"},"modified":"2019-09-30T20:11:44","modified_gmt":"2019-10-01T01:11:44","slug":"choose-not-to-procrastinate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5197","title":{"rendered":"Choose Not to Procrastinate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Choices change lives\u2026 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Barbara Dahlgren<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Procrastination is the name of the game and in my last blog\nyou learned that I am very good at it. So good, in fact, I decided to continue\nwith that theme. I have a myriad of excuses for not doing what I know I need to\ndo, and they have served me well. Here are a few\u2026   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll wait until I\u2019m in the mood.\u201d Being \u201cgenderly\u201d prone to\nmood swings, I use this for my advantage. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll do it tomorrow.\u201d Known as the \u201cma\u00f1ana syndrome,\u201d I believe in never doing today\nwhat I can put off until tomorrow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll do it\ntomorrow if\u2026.\u201d Known as the \u201ccontingent ma\u00f1ana syndrome,\u201d this\nallows me to put a stipulation on whether or not I actually will do it\ntomorrow. For example: \u201cI\u2019ll do it tomorrow if the sun is shining\u201d or \u201cI\u2019ll do\nit tomorrow if it is raining\u201d or \u201cI\u2019ll do it tomorrow if half my street has\nsunshine and the other half has rain.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI work better under pressure.\u201d This really is a half-truth.\nI will work under pressure, but I won\u2019t work better under pressure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know where to begin.\u201d I get overwhelmed if the\nproject is big. This could lead to depression, so the easiest thing is not to\nstart at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too hard.\u201d Not being one who likes a challenge, I\nprefer to take the easy route, especially if I would have to get out of my\ncomfort zone. When the going gets tough, I take a nap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt takes a special kind of knowledge and know-how that I\ndon\u2019t have.\u201d Sure, I could actually learn something new, but why when I am so\ncomfortable not learning something new.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too time-consuming.\u201d My time is so valuable that I\ndon\u2019t want to waste it doing anything too profitable. It might keep me from the\nmore important things like surfing the net, playing video games, or watching\nmindless TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI might mess it up.\u201d If I don\u2019t succeed at this, everyone\nwill consider me a failure. My logic is simple: How can I fail if I never do\nanything?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI need to have some fun.\u201d A little escapism never hurt\nanyone. I deserve a break today. It will help me clear my head so I can start\nfresh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI need to relax.\u201d I\u2019m so tense! Perhaps I\u2019ll read a little\nor listen to some music first. Then I\u2019ll get started.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m\nlazy.\u201d I know this kind of negative self-talk is unhealthy, but there\u2019s no\narguing with the truth. Actually, I love being lazy. Some people get bored\neasily, but I never tire of doing nothing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA\nlion might kill me.\u201d I rely on this excuse heavily because it\u2019s biblical. Proverbs\n22:13 (NLT) says the lazy person is full of excuses, saying, \u201cIf I go outside,\nI might meet a lion in the street and be killed!\u201d Well, I know I\u2019m lazy, so I\u2019d\nbetter lay low. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Procrastination\nis the one thing I\u2019m really, really good at! However, just because we\u2019re good\nat something doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s good for us! We can be good at robbing banks,\nbut eventually the law will catch up with us. Procrastination catches up with us,\ntoo! Our time runs out \u2013 and time cannot be regained. Procrastination not only\nrobs us of our time but also our money, our productivity, our families, our\nfriendships, our sense of worth, and our relationship with God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Procrastination\ncan make us lazy (Proverbs 13:4). Procrastination can keep us from putting\nfirst things first (Matthew 6:33). Procrastination can keep us from moving\nforward (Philippians 3:13-14). Procrastination can pull us away from God (James\n4:17). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider this\u2026<\/strong> God says to use our time\nwisely (Ephesians 5:16). We shouldn\u2019t put off until tomorrow what should be\ndone today, because tomorrow may never come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One final thought\u2026<\/strong> Today, right now, this moment is what we\u2019ve been given and we need to make the most of it (Proverbs 27:1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Choices change lives\u2026 By Barbara Dahlgren Procrastination is the name of the game and in my last blog you learned that I am very good at it. So good, in fact, I decided to continue with that theme. I have … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}