We are born with no absolute knowledge of who an enemy is and how he looks like. This is something that we develop and learn about along the way and at some point you find yourself listing the number of enemies that you have, and maybe the names and other details. You know it better. I don’t do it myself though.
How I wish life would be lived without the idea of enemies anywhere in the picture. If wishes were horses. Life would be more than we can ever think of. But wait, did you know that is very possible? If no, now you know. Ask me and I will tell you that I can do everything and love everyone through Christ who strengthens me.
If you ask anyone you meet today including me, “Would you like to be successful at some point in life?” The answer is, of course, yes. I suppose that is the same case for you. But that is not what turns out to be for most of us. Meaning there is something that is not right somewhere, in most cases.
There is one animal that I have come to realize is a dream destroyer for most of us. I have been a victim and I bet you also have been. The animal is dangerous than anything you may opt to think of; procrastination. I am pretty sure that you can relate. procrastination is the enemy of progress.
What is procrastination?
Procrastination is the habit of postponing things of utmost priority and repeating the cycle for a long time.
Procrastination happens to be one of the temptations that we confidently find a reason to always justify ourselves for dong it.
I remember during my college days, especially during the exams period, most of us would lie to ourselves that we gonna study when the paper is near. We thought to ourselves it was an easy thing to do in just a couple of minutes and we will be ready for the paper. But wait until the day comes, I would want to remember what used to happen. I know you can relate.
Common excuses for procrastinators.
It happens that this behavior is always justified by some reason for which some are just excuses.
- I am gonna doing this in the last minutes. I am used to it. I have done this for the last few years and it worked out so well for me.
- I have other things to attend. Better things than this.
- Right now I do not have enough energy to do it. I will do it in the evening or tomorrow.
- I still have time.
- I am not yet good enough to do this. Let me perfect first then I will pursue it when I am confident.
In as much as we may justify ourselves for not doing what ought to be done the consequences will always be there and of course, we cannot run away from them.
In the long run, procrastination has an effect on how we approach things and our daily routine as well. If not dealt with it become a habit which finally may seem to be okay.
Negative Effects of Procrastination
- Damaged Reputation. There is nothing bad like a damaged reputation. It is not easy to gain lost trust. If you are the kind of person that keeps on postponing things people will seize to depend on you as they will be worried you will procrastinate and leave them to clean up the mess. No one would love that at all. This will in turn lower your self-esteem and self-confidence.
- You feel like quitting because life becomes regretful. By quitting I mean quitting your job, career or studies or whatever. You feel like secluding yourself and breaking away from people just to hide your pain and regrets. The way you work directly affects your results, how much you achieve, and how well you perform.
- Lowered performance. The performance will automatically go down exponentially with time, it becomes the ultimate deadlock and finally becoming a habit.
- Unfinished tasks. Procrastinating things that you ought to have done makes you have a pile of undone work. Starting a task and leave it at the middle to start another one does not help at all. All it does is piling up unfinished tasks in the name of balancing or whatever excuse you give yourself.
- Increased stress level. Delaying to do something important increases the amount of stress. If we know that the deadline is in presence, we will feel a perplexity, confusing experience to reach the target or to finish that job under pressure and lots of stress.
- You tend to become a dull and lethargic person who cannot take any more responsibilities. You constantly see yourself as a failure and fear to fail someone else.
Clearly procrastination is a very deadly disease that needs to be dealt with in its earlier stage before it becomes chronic. Start by accepting that indeed you are affected and that you need to do something about it.
If you can’t do it right, then don’t do it at all. This is something that can be a hindrance. I think everyone should have a healthy amount of perfectionism, but if you have too much of it, you’ll put things off and start procrastinating because it cant be done the way you wanted it done.
I hope that by now you fully understand that procrastination is the enemy of progress. Make a point today to start fighting this deadly disease called procastination.
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