I procrastinated in expressing my love and someone else bonded with her. I kept postponing the preparation of my certification, and I failed miserably. I kept pushing my project speech-2 and lost 13 valuable months to nothing. At one stage, I realized, if we keep procrastinating, postponing and delaying like this one day when we reflect back on our lives, all that we would see is disappointment, dejection and a destitute self. The moment to act and achieve is NOW. We procrastinate saying the best time is ahead. That best time never comes and procrastination is indefinite. We go into an infinite loop of procrastination to find ourselves starting over again and again and again from the same point like a rat in a wheel.
Talking about time, someone rightly said, “Past is a memory, future is unknown and only the present is the gift.” So why don’t we take control of the present and make the best use of it. Shape our life as we want it to be. A life that all of us dream for, desire for and, if not exaggerated, die for. But on the contrary, we procrastinate owing to 3 basic reasons:
1. Laziness
2. Doubting one’s capabilities
3. Fear of Failure
Here is what we can do to get rid of these problems:
1. We are all aware of the famous brand Nike. Its caption says, “Just do it” And this is the best solution to the first hindrance. If you have observed a toddler taking his first step to walk, you would have seen that the first step is the hardest one and the rest is a cake walk. See it for yourself. Initiate a process of managing your time better. Just initiate it. There is no “right time” to arrive. If there is any right time, it is now. The rest is so much easier to get in place. Remember: “The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.”
2. People believe that they need to prepare and be perfect in order to complete a job. Take for an example, the budding toastmasters. They believe that, only once they have prepared a perfect script and trained relatively like a professional speaker, that they can deliver a speech. Delivering a speech is more about meeting the guidelines of the speech rather than delivering a professional speech. We are in the process of becoming one. So give speeches to learn and not to deliver a picture perfect speech. Remember: “Even the best picture captured or painting drawn has a flaw in it.” Accept and try to work on curbing it.
3. Just ask your-self one simple question: “WHAT WOULD I DO NOW, IF I AM NOT AFRAID?” This question itself has magic in it. The first time I asked it, I conquered my fear of exams. The second time I conquered the fear itself and I found my love. Now I’m onto the journey of realizing my Toastmaster dream of becoming a Competent Communicator. Whenever you feel that something is obstructing you from achieving something just ask yourself this very question. “What would I do now, if I am not afraid?” And you will come up with numerous solutions to your problems.
Now that we’ve seen the solutions, let me put all of them in a single sentence: “Problem is only 1% and solution comprises 99%, so why look at problem when the solution is the bigger picture.” Every problem has a solution and so did the ones I just discussed. And whenever you come face-to-face with a problem, just remind yourself these three lines, “Just do it”, “Nothing is perfect in this world.” And “What would you do, if you are not afraid?” The only moment that you can start your journey towards surplus, satisfaction and success is NOW…
Regards,
VSP
