Here is a timely word of encouragement from Victor our Pepsi GM from Nigeria - remember him?  Here he writes… 

I really love work. I could just sit down and admire it all day!

                                                        - Inscription on a sticker

Tick, tock says the clock, what you have to do, do quick!

-         a nursery rhyme

Procrastination is the thief of time. – an English proverb

 The title of today’s piece is borrowed from a book of the same title (with the exception of the ‘NOW’, which is my own addition) by Brian Tracy. I confess that I have not really read the book but I am fascinated by the title. From a review of it that I read, I know it’s a book I would love to read.

Can you think of the many things you planned to do – a letter to write, an article, a phone call, a proposal, a plan, a ‘Thank You’ note to send, a book to read, an appointment to book, a holiday to take, a loved one to appreciate etc - but which you deferred because you just felt they could wait till later? Be brutally honest with yourself, how many of such did you eventually get round to doing? Most of the time, the illusory ‘later’ never arrives, simply because by the time we get to ‘later’, it’s either there are a thousand and one other things waiting to be done or the assignment is already overtaken by time or you simply forgot! Do you remember your last birthday or social function that was attended by your friends and you told yourself you needed to send a ‘Thank You’ note or text to each one of them thereafter? Did you? Why not? One or two weeks after the event, you convinced yourself that it was time-barred and therefore no longer necessary!

Procrastination is an issue most of us struggle with. It is usually very convenient to leave things undone by telling ourselves we will do them “later”, for the simple reason that it does not seem convenient at the time. What we fail to realize and often have to learn the hard way is that an assignment deferred is an achievement delayed. Those who seek convenience at the expense of achievement usually end their lives in a rocking chair at old age regretting the many things they could have done but didn’t, not because they couldn’t but because they wouldn’t!

I woke up in the wee hours of the morning with the inspiration for this piece and guess what, because I went to bed late, I thought it could wait till morning! It took steely determination to drag myself off the bed to knock it together! It was more convenient to just enjoy my sleep. Think about how many great ideas came to you in the middle of the night and you simply rolled over and said to yourself “I’ll do that in the morning” but even till now, that morning has not come! The two greatest disincentives to success that I know are comfort and complacency. Yet life is structured in such a way that the most inconvenient things you have to do are the very things that bring the convenience you desire into your life!

Life is full of many people whose ideas could have made them Managing Directors but because they are unwilling to do the unpleasant and obviously uncomfortable things involved right now, they are walking the streets looking for a job! I met a young man once who had combed the streets in search of a job for many years. After some discussion with him during which I tried to help him see the ‘invisible’, I pointedly asked him; “If everyone was thinking like you, who would employ who?” He got the message. Never run away from an assignment simply because it is challenging. My study of highly successful people has clearly revealed to me that they succeeded because they learnt to handle difficult (I prefer the word ‘challenging’) assignments PROMPTLY! This is why successful people have plans. They set goals. They DO things. If they have a river to cross, they don’t wait till low tide. They find a means of dealing with the challenge of the present tide. That way, they end up becoming authorities on the subject of river crossing. And guess what, they could become millionaires from that achievement because people will be more than willing to pay them for that expertise! The man who stands shivering at the river bank is definitely not the one to ask for directions on how to get to the other side!

A frog is not one of the most attractive things to behold. And that is putting it mildly. Eating one is therefore unthinkable. Just think about how repulsive the idea sounds to you. Equate that with the feeling you have at the start of a daunting task. There is no assignment of value that seems convenient at the onset. The more success potentials it has, the more challenging it usually is.  

The future is a favourite pigeon-hole of many people. In our part of the world, the emotive spiritual pigeon-hole also comes in handy. When we fail to aggressively pursue and achieve a goal, we often instinctively plug in the ever-ready pacifier that maybe God doesn’t want us to have it!

Unfortunately, the habit of procrastination affects other essential areas of our lives. Our relationships suffer because we defer and eventually neglect to do the little things that help to sustain healthy relationships; an encouraging and inspiring word, a note of appreciation, a phone call, a birthday card or even a simple text. When the riposte of such neglect comes through a cantankerous spouse, rebellious children, a disloyal and disgruntled employee, an intolerable employer, unresponsive friends, we find it difficult to handle.

There are many people who love to do certain things but are waiting for conditions to be perfect. Well, they never will be! According to the Bible in Ecclesiastes 11, if you wait for all conditions to be perfect, you will never accomplish anything.

I coordinate a group that teaches people godly principles of building wealth. One of its activities is an Investment Club. My experience has been that people are initially very enthusiastic about the prospects of an enriched life that enable them to become financially buoyant. However when the time comes to actually implement the decision to invest, people begin to stall. Not necessarily out of doubt but primarily because they keep deferring action. Month after month, they express intentions but never do anything about it. What people fail to realize is that one quality decision is of higher value that one million intentions. The best that intentions can generate are ideas. It takes DECISIONS and ACTION to create events. Nothing happens until someone makes it happen. Nobody can implement your future on your behalf. According to a Yoruba proverb, nobody can delegate a visit to the toilet to even his child. Pursuit is the only tangible proof of desire. When you delay, you decay. When you linger, you litter.

Too many of us easily get distracted by things that are not immediately relevant to our predetermined destination. Sometimes, the distractions are quite attractive and seem legitimate. Mrs. Portiphar in the Bible was very attractive. She had to be to marry the captain of the king’s guard. But for Joseph, she was a distraction to a glorious destiny. So, even attractive distractions are an expensive threat to focus. A focused life prioritizes. A prioritized life sets goals and pursues them with vigour. Procrastination has been described as the thief of time. I submit to you that it is actually a thief of destiny, for the simple reason that whatever steals your time is stealing your very life!

What is the solution to this problem? Begin your day with a to-do list. Identify at least three to six important things you have to do daily. Write them down in order of importance. Tick them off as you accomplish them. Every one done gives you a sense of victory and achievement. If you make your list too long, you will have many deferred tasks and that can be discouraging. Secondly, reward yourself at the end of the day when you have done well in the pursuit of your goals.  Third, give yourself no room for excuses. No one advances beyond his best excuse. Think of your best excuse for not doing the job. Then find ways of beating it.

Finally, employ what I call the DIN factor. Simply put, DO IT NOW! It’s a principle that has kept successful people succeeding for generations. Do you need to go for a course to advance your present position?  A phone call to make? A letter to write?  Someone to appreciate? A trade to learn? Taking your spouse out to dinner. Or a family holiday. Perhaps a book you plan to write and you need to gather materials for. Or an investment you need to make. An enquiry you have deferred up till now. A proposal to submit. Now stop daydreaming about it. Get up and DO IT NOW!

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!

Regards

Victor Oladele

Your response: