#136 – How is procrastination a form of impatience?

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You're yearning to start a dream project. You know it'll change your life because completing it will change you.

And yet, you don't start. What's stopping you?

The Ghost of Time Indifference (GoTI), that servile acolyte of the Ego that tangles present and future into an amorphous ball of yarn.

I nursed the abstract goal of writing my PhD dissertation for seven years. Then, once I sat down to do the work, I completed all the analyses and wrote the whole thing in one year.

The GoTI makes you believe that time doesn't matter. First it lulls you with a false sense of patience – "oh, don't worry, you have time!"

Then, the minute you think of taking the first step, it points at the end product – the project in its entirety, all done and dusted and wrapped with a bow. "That's what you should want," the GoTI tells you, "and you should want it now!"

Envisioning the infinite eternity the work will take, you gasp, your brows climbing towards your hairline. You turn on Netflix, wishfully telling yourself you'll try tomorrow.

But tomorrow, as you know, will be an exact copy of today. And like that, time passes. Knowing you can't have the end result now intimidates you. And because you're intimidated, you don't even take the first step, thus denying yourself your future.

I was intimidated by the elephant that the GoTI had convinced me my PhD project was. Until my friend J.J., an Organizational Psychologist, reminded me that, one bite at a time, I could eat anything.

"Think of the smallest unit of work you can do," he recommended, "and do one every day."

Zooming into the smallest step at your feet forces you into the present moment, which the GoTI doesn't mind. Because it doesn't know it's the small steps that drive transformation, it leaves you alone.

Taking one step at a time helps you see that what looked like patience ("I'll do it tomorrow") was a way to avoid the now. In staying present with each small task, you finally step out of the zone ruled by your Ego and the Ghosts that work for it – not all that comfortable.

What tiny step can you take now that will lead to meaningful transformation tomorrow?

Love,

Carolina