Today's Action Word: Procrastination

I slept in today until 7:30 am instead of getting up at 6:30 am. I performed my morning ritual of writing and did my 20 minutes of meditation. I took my 20 minute walk. I talked with my good pal, Shari, on the phone about all things philosophical. I checked my Facebook page and my email.

Then I remembered, I need to do this, and that, and this, and that.

I have to prepare for an important phone call but instead I go out and cut a small bouquet of flowers for my office. I do my laundry. I empty the trash and recycling.

I know that I should be doing this and that and this. But I don't.

Ah, procrastination. It is like a friend in high school that you really don't care for but he keeps sending you friend requests on Facebook, so you finally cave only to suffer minor regrets from doing so.

pro·cras·ti·na·tion [proh-kras-tuh-ney-shuhn, pruh‐] noun - the act or habit of procrastinating, or putting off or delaying, especially something requiring immediate attention.

We all do it, don't we?  Why is that?  I know that if I just tackle what it is I am avoiding, I often feel a sensation of relief and accomplishment.  Why wouldn't I want to experience that more often than not?

I googled 'why do we procrastinate' and came up with this link at Psychology Today.  According to the experts consulted for this story, procrastinators are made not born and we do this in order to avoid success.   But we can change our behavior according to these folks as well.  We can read some books on how to rid ourselves of this terrible habit.  We can even get some therapy.  What I am going to do is just pause for a moment and as soon as I publish this post, I'm going to tackle one of those things I am avoiding.

And, then I'll take a look at those other suggestions after I put the laundry in the dryer.