What is one takeaway from the Pandemic? The precious use of time.
“Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today,” stated one of America’s founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson. He really didn’t originate that saying but he is widely given credit. In fact Ben Franklin has also been attributed with the quote. I came across a collection of quotes on procrastination of which there are many, in this case 186 of them.*
Saint Augustine of Hippo who died in 430 A.D. had a deeper spiritual proclamation on the matter, “God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.”
The great Leonardo Da Vinci put it this way, “It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.”
Literature’s gifted writer Charles Dickens offered, “My advice is to never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time.”
This is dark from famous painter Pablo Picasso -“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone”
I am more in-line with Mark Twain’s theory, “Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well". **
As it turns out National Procrastination Day is September 6th this year and according to the Procrastinator’s Club of America, “To promote the many benefits of putting off until tomorrow everything that needn't be done today”.
When I told my kids what I was writing about they laughed! “That’s perfect for you Dad,” my daughter Emma blurted out.
I was offended by that remark and reminded her that I’m the guy with the job where being late isn’t an option. That’s also when I realized that punctuality and procrastination is not exactly the same thing. To some degree, we all know everyone put’s off some things until tomorrow that they could have done today. We call that prioritizing, right?
Admittedly while I write this I have that list in my head of those things that have piled up with every passing day that have been pushed back. Let's call it the Pandemic Push! The most pressing may be one day picking up after the family dog, you know the "landmines" in the lawn. Another may just be moving that "thing" your wife asked you to move from here to there.
We now have access to our electronic calendars at our fingertips with reminders of what we have to do all day if we program them that way. Ding, dong, buzz, quack or bark, we have unlimited ways to remind us to do the things we need to do today. Ahh but one quick click and that reminder goes away.
For the record, I'm writing this at the last minute and I’m feeling that familiar anxiety as the deadline has been pushed to the absolute limit. Some people thrive off of the pressure while others loath it.
I’m in between. I can be an absolute “get it done” person for some things like employment while I can easily push cleaning the garage into another... decade.
Psychologist’s have their theories about procrastinators too with deep dark determinations about the human ability to deceive themselves into rationalizing everything we do to fit our wants and desires as opposed to doing what we should on a daily basis. Let’s put that discussion off for another day.
Even Mother Nature put off seasons some years! The truth is we’re all guilty of at least a little procrastination, that instant gratification in the moment when you decide… later.
See you in September, maybe… gotta go, I’m late.
* goodreads.com
** From: "More Maxims of Mark”