Procrastination - The Thief of Time

I knew I should have done it yesterday!!

Procrastination is the thief of time. ~Edward Young

Do you put things off? Even things you really want to do? I've been struggling with that while trying to finish the first draft of my work in progress. I want to write it. I really do. And I am writing it, but what seems at a snail's pace. It's time I hit the homestretch with a burst of speed, but instead procrastination is popping up like dandelions. I like dandelions better. 

How do I procrastinate? Let me count the ways. There are hundreds of them. But I can take solace in the fact that I'm far from the only person who has a tendency to put things off. Procrastination is a basic human impulse and a lot of us humans give in to it from time to time. Some of us more times than others. The word comes from a Latin term meaning "put off until tomorrow." 

Oh, how easy it is to put off until tomorrow! Tomorrow I'll have more time. Tomorrow I'll see the next scene more clearly. Tomorrow the day will somehow stretch and add those extra hours I need to get this writing done. 

Procrastination has been around for as long as there have been people. When you're self-employed, as I am, then you can get extremely good at procrastination. You set your work time. You can break your work times. That's not to indicate that self-employed people don't work hard. Most of the ones I know - whether they're writers, beauticians, car repair people, yard care workers, lawyers, or you name it job - they all work very hard and long hours. 

Plus, we can procrastinate about things other than our jobs. We procrastinate about washing those windows or cleaning out the refrigerator or weeding the garden or whatever chore. I'm sure you can come up with lots of things we put off. Even things like going to the dentist or to get our eyes checked. Things we shouldn't put off. Tomorrow, we'll do it. Next week for sure. Or we'll have more time this summer. Then, maybe in the fall. 

If you want to read a more detailed examination of why we procrastinate, here's a link to an article "Later" on the New York Times site. Some interesting theories and facts there. 

Of course the internet is a great procrastinating tool. There are even applications and software now that you can download to block the internet for a specific amount of time so that you CAN'T procrastinate by checking e-mails or surfing for that one more fact that you just have to know before you can write the next scene. I haven't downloaded any of them. I think I should be able to just use self-discipline, but then the phone will make that little bing that says I have a new e-mail. And while I'm looking at that, I'd better see what's going on over on my Facebook page. And is there a new review on one of my books? Or maybe I'd better pay those bills before they're overdue. Or take Oscar for a walk. Or it could be I just need to organize my pencils here on my desk. I wrote a post here a few years ago about sharpening pencils to delay the start of work.

On top of all those type of reasons for not getting the work I need to do done are the interruptions I have to allow in my day. A call about Mom. A visit to see about her. The church bulletin to do. Birthday gifts to buy. Blogs to write. All important things, but I don't need to use them to delay writing my book. Sometimes that's what I do. Just use them to put off the hard work of writing the next scene. 

So are you a procrastinator? Or what ways have you come up with to keep yourself on task?

Here's a quote I found out on the internet. I promise I wasn't procrastinating. I was looking for something I needed. Honest.

"I am taking care of my procrastination problem. You just wait and see." I think that means I'll get it done tomorrow. LOL.

Through the Thorns to the Berries

I made boysenberry jam a couple of days ago and posted a picture of the finished product on my FB page. It's fun sharing things that are going on out here on the farm. But after I put up the picture there were a lot of questions about the berries. They're like blackberries only bigger than wild blackberries and sweeter tasting. Very yummy berries. However, there is a price to pay for that yumminess. They have thorns. Nasty, if you want these berries you're going to have to earn them with blood, sweat and tears thorns. You see those little curls on the ends of the thorns. That's what hooks you and once you're stuck you don't know whether to move forward or backward to get unstuck. And the leaves have thorns all along them too. There have been times when I've been certain the briars reached for me.

Even so, I like them enough to pick them, but I did tell someone once when we had an over abundance of the berries, that I would not pick them for anyone I hadn't given birth to or who hadn't given birth to me. And the grandkids, of course. The grandkids have always been brave enough to pick those berries themselves - not to put in a bucket, but to put in their mouths. During berry season, they will stand around the bushes like little birds eating everything in easy reach.

But tonight while I was picking a few berries, I got to thinking about reaching past the thorns for the good berries and how - if you want to really stretch the thought - that can be like coming up with a new story idea. When I'm searching for a new story, I have to reach into my creative bushes in order to find the ripe berry of a new idea. Some ideas are not ready for picking yet. Some may be like berries that have dried up on the bush or perhaps blooms that never were pollinated to make berries. But there will be the perfect ripe berry in there somewhere if I can just reach it. That's where the thorns come in. 

The thorns are the worries that this time the idea won't come. This time the story won't work. Distractions can be thorns to keep me away from the right idea berry. After all, it's summer. Jam needs to be cooked. Blogs need to be written. Books need to be read. Grandkids need to visit. Mama needs somebody with her all the time. I don't know that any of those are actually thorns, but they do make it harder to get started on a new book. Perhaps the biggest thorn - the one with the nastiest hook on its end - is procrastination that has me putting off pulling up that first blank page and typing Chapter 1. Got to do that tomorrow.  


"But he that dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose." ~Anne Bronte

 Or berry. Or new book. Wish me a thornless berry/idea bush. :) Thanks for reading.