There's Always Tomorrow

Have you ever started a project and then said to yourself "there's always tomorrow" and then that tomorrow comes and you haven't completed the task you set for yourself the day before? That's called procrastination.

How many of us procrastinate? Be honest with yourself. I’m guilty! At times I think that I am multi-tasking but I’m actually procrastinating. I have an ever growing “To Do” list that has the nagging tendency to never get shorter. Why is that?

Well for me, I know it’s not for a lack of a “doingness" because I seem to be constantly “doing", but the ultimate question is: Am I being productive and completing my tasks? The answer is sometimes. At times for certain I am, but there are definitely times where I am not.

I have two young children and they really are my life. My world has been forever changed since the birth of these two amazing beings and I wouldn't have it any other way. Add to the mix my career, my husband and four family pets, for whom I'm usually the primary caretaker, and like for most mothers, it can be a pretty daunting task at times. The job of a wife and mother can be all consuming but at the same time incredibly rewarding.

For me finding the balance is key. There is much to be said about the topic of balance that we will look at in future installments but for now let's focus on the reason many of us get behind the eight ball on our "To Do" lists.

Personally speaking I truly believe it’s because I’m not always in the present moment throughout the day. Don’t get me wrong, I’m there, doing, working, caring for my children and the like, but my mind will be racing a mile a minute and lists and ideas are flying through my head of what needs to be done, future projects, etc. and that racing creates distractions. And yet I find when I am fully in the moment I can complete any task at hand and then move forward to the next.

So why don’t I always do this? Distractions and lack of discipline are my main culprits. What are some of the distractions I face? Phone calls, answering emails that pop up, texts and more. And, because I didn’t complete a previous task, that earlier task might pop up in my head while in the middle of a second task so then I stop doing what I was in the middle of to go back to the first task, thus leaving the second task unfinished as well. It’s a crazy cycle!

By focusing on one task through to completion and limiting the distractions, this creates discipline and effectively makes my “To Do” list shorter because I’m completing something and crossing it off my list.

I’m vowing to make a concerted effort to apply what I like to call the “Being Present” method. If I am 100% fully present in the task from start to finish that “To Do” list will indeed diminish.

Give it a try!

If anyone wants to comment and share their successful actions in completing tasks and cycles of action I’d love to hear them.