Combat Procrastination with the 3 P’s

Are you a procrastinator?  If you’ve been reading here very long, you’ll know that procrastination is one of my big weaknesses!  I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this issue.

Why do I procrastinate?  It is for one of several different reasons.

1. I’m too lazy
2. I’m not looking forward to doing it
3. I’m too busy and can’t seem to make the time for it
4. The job/task seems too overwhelming
5. I’m too disorganized
6. I think I can do it quicker than I really can do it, so I wait until the last-minute.
7. I am trying to do things in my own strength and am not relying on God to carry me through.

So how can I combat this crazy “little” word called Procrastination?  As I’ve been thinking about this issue, the main thing that keeps coming into my head are the 3 P’s.  (It’s funny how the P words are more prominent (LOL) while talking about Procrastination.)

• Patience
• Prayer
• Planning

We must be patient with ourselves and realize that we are only human and that we can’t do everything for everyone.  When you have a family, things take time.  They often take longer than you would expect.  The larger your family, the more likely you are to have more interruptions because there are more people to cause those interruptions.

We must be in prayer!  Why are you doing the things you’re doing?  Because you think that you should be?  Because your pastor, friend or mom thinks that you should be?  or is it because you’ve spent time in prayer about it and know that is what you’re supposed to be doing?  Ask the Lord to give you the guidance that you need in order that you’ll know what it is that He wants you to do.

We must plan!  If you know me in real life, you’ll know that this one is super hard for me.  I love to be spontaneous.  I love to be able to put things off, too. I don’t love, however, the amount of stress that putting things off causes me.  Almost everything that I procrastinate about, I can plan ahead for.

Think about it.  I keep putting off losing weight.  I think that talking about getting healthy on my blog will motivate me to do it, but it doesn’t.  Why?  I don’t have a good plan set in place.  I must have my menu planned.  I must have my exercise planned.  I need to plan to succeed.  If I don’t, I will plan to be spontaneous and enjoy a zillion Dr. Pepper’s in a day along with chocolate all day long.  This cannot help me to attain my weight loss goals.

I must also be patient with myself.  I can’t expect to drop 10 pounds in a week (although that sure would be motivating wouldn’t it)?  I must be realistic, knowing that it takes time to lose weight.  And above all, I must know that I can’t do it on my own.  I have to be looking straight at Jesus the whole time I’m trying to walk on that water.  If I look down, I may get scared and lose the faith that I really can do this.  I must keep Him in focus while I’m tackling the hard things and it should all fall into place!

The same goes for getting organized.  It seems that one project leads to another and then that one to another.  I know that I seriously need to get organized, but I can’t seem to wrap my brain around it.  It’s time to look at it a little more simply.  Be patient.  Know that your home can’t get organized in 24 hours.  It didn’t get disorganized in that amount of time did it?  Pray.  Where does God think I should begin?  Yes, He really cares about the little details and probably knows the best place for you to begin.  I’m sure he’d give you a great idea if you’d just ask Him!  Plan.  Plan to take baby steps to begin getting your home into the organized haven that you hope for.  Tackle one thing at a time.  Figure out what’s most important and go from there.  We really can do this!

I’ve shared with you my 2 biggest pitfalls (weight loss & getting organized) when it comes to procrastination.  There many more things that I procrastinate at, these just happen to be my biggest trouble areas.  I’m slowly working on not putting things off.  What about you?  Do you have certain areas in your life that you always procrastinate at?  How have you been successful at combating your procrastination habits?