Procrastination. Let me give you a scenario:

You’ve been given a deadline at work, at uni, just about anywhere that gives you one, and because it’s weeks away you say to yourself “Oh it will be fine, I’ve got enough time” as you immerse yourself within any other irrelevant task or just catch up on the latest gossip on every single social media known to man.

The days until the deadline are fast approaching, your friends start to ask you how you’re getting on as you’ve complained to them that you’re overwhelmed with work, but still, TheShadeRoom seems way more important than this task right?

“I’ll do it tomorrow” you keep telling yourself. Those 4 words become louder and louder in your mind until the deadline is in fact tomorrow. Reality sinks in. You start to panic and cram four weeks worth of material into 12 hours, deciding to pull an all-nighter, knowing that you’ll feel worse for wear the next morning. You’re aware that this isn’t your best work, but you pray to God that if He just helps you along “for the last time”, you promise to better your time management skills.

You submit your work. A small weight has been lifted off your shoulders. A short time passes and you get your results back. 70% in your coursework. Good feedback from your manager.

This is me.

Over the past few months, I’ve been setting myself some goals that are way too big for me to achieve in the short space of time that I had given myself. Every single time the deadline approaches and I start beating myself up about it.

I haven’t fully overcome procrastination, but there are some steps that I do to help manage my time and priorities well:

1. Pray to God – I’ve noticed that when I tell procrastination that my God is bigger, I feel more at peace within myself, giving myself a bit more motivation to get the task at hand done. Luke 9:62 MSG says: ‘Jesus said, “No procrastination. No backwards looks. You can’t put God’s kingdom off until tomorrow. Seize the day”.’ So if you can’t put off God’s kingdom, why would you put off your work? If you’re a believer, you know that everything you do is for the Lord, so why put it off? Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”, is another scripture that helps me too.
2. Recognise that procrastination is “a thing” – Procrastination for me normally occurs when I constantly have to re-prioritise my workload. I also recognised that there are different levels to this and I can go from briefly procrastinating for a few moments, to purposely procrastinating until the very last-minute. Even the best people procrastinate.
3. Understand why I procrastinate – I wrote down some notes as into why I procrastinate; main reason is because I tend to take on too many tasks at one time, I can never say “no to things”. Most of the tasks aren’t as satisfying as doing this blog for example – such as coursework or work, but I try to get the most tedious tasks out-of-the-way before getting my head stuck into the most exciting ones. I also feel like a failure, especially when it comes to completing coursework but my grades tell me otherwise.
4. Improve my time management skills – I came across this book by Michael Hyatt called “Living Forward” who shows you how to live your life “on purpose, for purpose” by creating a life plan for which you can break down into smaller segments to help achieve the goals you had planned. An example just so happens to be on my ‘30 things before 30‘ list too.

Before I go, this blog has been at the forefront of my mind for the longest, but you guessed it – procrastination came and swooped on in my life. It was meant to have been released on my birthday (1st May) to tie in with my 30 things before 30, but I was too busy doing “other things”.

Let this be a small small lesson; God has a lot of amazing things planned for you in your life, but if you procrastinate then there’s less room for you to be the best person He ordained you to be. Don’t allow the enemy that is procrastination get the better of you. If only I had managed my time well, this blog would have all snazzy by now.

Thanks for reading! I hope I didn’t bore y’all to death LOL

James 4:14-15 The Message (MSG)

Nothing but a Wisp of Fog

^13-15 And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, “Today—at the latest, tomorrow—we’re off to such and such a city for the year. We’re going to start a business and make a lot of money.” You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. You’re nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, “If the Master wills it and we’re still alive, we’ll do this or that.”