You may have heard of the saying ‘Procrastination is the thief of time’ before. You might know what it means and you might also equally not give a f*ck about what it means either.
Which is totally fine.
I’ve heard this saying before and I must admit that it resonates with me on so many levels. I myself am a bit of a procrastinator. In fact, I think we all suffer from procrastination on some level, let’s be honest.
Even the top performers in the world procrastinate from time to time. The key difference is that when they do start to procrastinate, they can snap out of it pretty quickly and get back to doing what needs to be done. Some people just end up becoming master procrastinators and get nothing done!
The quote itself has a deeper meaning than just telling you that procrastination is unhealthy. It is stating that procrastination is actually stealing your time. Time that can’t be taken back and once it is used it is gone. Forever!
I do genuinely believe that procrastination is the thief of time because any time I have procrastinated, I have never gotten the feeling of satisfaction after it. Anyway, I’m babbling on a bit here so I want to try and actually give you some useful tips and tricks on how to better handle that master procrastinator within and why I feel that you should start to use this quote throughout your life.
"Procrastination Is the Thief of Time" - Edward Young
Time is precious
Time is the most precious commodity in the world.
It’s hard to get your head around this idea, especially the younger you are. I myself take for granted how much time I am afforded each day just like most people. Now, I’m not saying you need to constantly think about how much time you might possibly have left on this earth and you need to be spending every second of every day productively.
You need to use a bit of common sense here.
What I am actually saying is, use your time how you want to use it. Make it count. Don’t let procrastination take over and use it for you. Become intentional with your time and do the things that you want to do.
Want to eat four thousand calories worth of chocolate whilst watching the Smallville boxset?
Be my guest.
As long as it is how you truly want to spend your time then go for it.
Although, I wouldn’t recommend eating four thousand calories of chocolate all at once. Take it from a man who has probably given it a fair go.
Benefits of being a non-procrastinator
You get your time back!!
My first point is basically the only benefit that you need to know about.
However, I am aware that it can be hard to appreciate the time that you have when you are just going about living your daily life. So, in that case, I will give out some more benefits just to drill home the point that procrastination is the thief of time.
1. Improve mental wellbeing
Your mental health is extremely important and these days mental well being is being highlighted more than ever due to the chilling facts and figures being published. There are a plethora of things that you can do to improve your mental health, so what does procrastination have to do with it?
When you have a goal or objective to work towards and you complete it, this can give you a great sense of achievement. Procrastination can stop you from completing these tasks but if you allow yourself the opportunity to see the task out to completion, then you will overcome your procrastination and achieve your target. Resulting in a recipe for boosting your self-esteem and confidence.
2. Improved discipline
Discipline is one of the most valuable traits that a person can master. Every single successful person that you meet is guaranteed to be a disciplined person in some way. You have to be disciplined to have success in your life because anything worth doing is going to be hard. And when the going gets tough, it is discipline that will get you through it.
I love this quote from George Washington on discipline.
“Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all”.
3. Your income can increase
It’s simple, the more work you do then the more money you can earn. Think of the wasted hours you spend procrastinating on a bit of work that could be done easily with some time and focus.
With improvement on your inner procrastinator, you can free up time to take on more work. You could actually set time aside and build up a little side business that ends up becoming your full-time gig.
The possibilities are endless when you put your mind to something and just focus.
4. Quality of work improves
Has your boss been giving you a hard time about the quality of your work lately?
Maybe you just hate your job so much that you want to piss your boss off in the hope that they sack you. Or maybe you want to actually get your arse in gear and step up and show them that you are one of the best workers in the company.
Overcoming procrastination, especially in your work life will dramatically improve your work as you will have more time to complete your tasks and you will be 100% laser-focused on completing them.
Procrastination is inevitable
As we have mentioned before, everyone procrastinates. Yes even me, the guy who is writing on the internet about procrastination and how it is stealing your time.
The truth is that procrastination is totally and unequivocally inevitable.
Whether it’s for 5 hours or 5 minutes, you can bet there is some sort of procrastination happening in people’s lives. And that is completely fine. In fact, studies are showing that procrastination can be beneficial when used correctly.
5 Tips for procrastination
Okay now for some practical tips on how you can tackle your inner procrastinator.
When you feel yourself in a ‘procrastinating rut’ it’s best not to beat yourself up and risk losing some confidence in your ability. There is always going to be times when you find yourself procrastinating until the cows come home.
There will also be times that you find yourself in a flow state and can’t stop doing what you’re doing. Just try and take the good with the bad.
Now let’s look at my top 5 tips for procrastination:
- The 5-minute rule – When you find yourself in that procrastinating mood, don’t beat yourself up about it. Give yourself 5-10 minutes of doing whatever you want to do and then make a conscious effort to get up and do something.
- Start small and build momentum – start off with a small task and once you complete that you will find that you have got a bit of momentum, which you can carry into your other tasks.
- Recognise your behaviour – Just even bringing your attention to the fact that you have been procrastinating can really make a difference. That is because a lot of the time you’re actually procrastinating unconsciously.
- Future projection – Try and imagine your future self and how they would feel if all you did was procrastinate and didn’t complete your tasks. How would you feel? Use it as motivation to make a move.
- Reward yourself – Find your motivation for completing a task and ensure that you give yourself a reward when you complete a task. Doing this will greatly increase the chances of you seeing the task through to completion.
Good day! I just wish to give you a huge thumbs up for your excellent information you have got here on this post. I am coming back to your blog for more soon. Good day! I just wish to give you a huge thumbs up for your excellent information you have got here on this post. I am coming back to your blog for more soon. נערות ליווי במרכז
Thank you 🙂
Along with every little thing that seems to be building within this area, many of your viewpoints happen to be relatively refreshing. Nonetheless, I am sorry, because I can not give credence to your entire plan, all be it radical none the less. It would seem to everyone that your remarks are generally not entirely validated and in fact you are your self not even thoroughly convinced of the assertion. In any event I did appreciate reading it.
Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is an extremely well written article. I will make sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your useful information. Thanks for the post. I will certainly comeback.
Thank you so much I appreciate it 🙂
Next time I read a blog, Hopefully it wont fail me as much as this one. After all, I know it was my choice to read through, but I genuinely thought you would have something useful to say. All I hear is a bunch of moaning about something that you can fix if you were not too busy seeking attention.
Thank you for your lovely comment 🙂