Procrastination and putting things off you love

Procrastination and putting things off you love

I’ve come to the startling realization that I am a hoarder.

If you enter my house you won’t see piles of garbage or mounds of trinkets stacked to the ceiling.

It’s deeper than that, more of an internal attitude.

Take for example my stash of scrapbook paper. It definitely qualifies as a stash after 15 years of scrapbooking. The amount of paper isn’t the problem.

It’s a strange pattern of thinking that dictates I MUST save the best for later.

To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing— Eva Young

I have a slight fear of using up my favorites, because then they’ll be gone.

It is that same thought process that keeps 33 episodes of House Hunters International in my DVR.

The warped thinking that keeps me obsessively cleaning out my email inbox before I do the fun stuff. As if that one thing will matter. It keeps me from doing my favorite things.

The pile of books that look most fascinating create a pile to be read after the ones that feel more like should reads.

There is a connection here. For someone who talks a lot about living a rich life, this area still needs some work.

Is there an obligatory mental checklist that keeps you doing the lesser things instead of the best things?

quotes about putting things off

Stop putting things off that bring joy

Think on it, leave a comment and let’s talk about it.

For me, it isn’t that I don’t have things that bring me great joy to use, watch, read, experience. Perhaps it is many years of responsibility that trained my mind to get A done before the pleasure of B.

Well, today I will use the paper. In fact, I’ll search out my favorite pieces, the ones with glittered and overlays, and then recreate them into something new.

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living- Dale Carnegie

I’ll watch House Hunters International instead of the news, and dream of traveling to photograph that European architecture.

I’ll read the book that makes my mental wheels turn with possibility.

 Responsibilities do not have to mean death to delight. 

A better balance seems to include the stuff that keeps us dreaming. There might be less doing, but those dreams? If we hoard them, saving them, they’ll never grow and become reality.

Resources to encourage you:

Wabi Sabi: Japanese Wisdom for a Perfectly Imperfect Life

The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?

Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time

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3 Comments

  1. HA! I clean out my email too before moving on to fun stuff. It must be the way we were brought up: first work then play. Sadly, that play is often neglected in favor of work for many!

  2. Oh my gosh–that is me to a “T”! I will eat all the broken chips, etc. before I crunch the good ones. I save the best fabrics just in case that really good project comes along, etc., etc. I agree that I was always taught to work first and play later–is that the case for this younger generation?

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