Did you ever drag your feet on doing something and when you finally did it you thought, “Now why didn’t I do that sooner?” Or “I wish I did that sooner”? Yes, probably most of us have. The beauty is to remember that you did it and therefore can feel good about it.
Yet… there can also be a benefit to waiting. Right?
Now, I’m not promoting procrastination but there have been many times I delayed doing something and when I finally did it, I benefited even more than I originally thought I would. You know, those times when something has happened or shifted in the meantime (while I was delaying) that intensified the beneficial end result. Strange, huh? If you think about it, I’m sure it’s happened to you also.
One of my clients had been talking about taking a specific action for many months, when I finally asked her if she really wanted to do what she said she wanted to do. She did and through our conversation she realized that she had been putting it off because it wasn’t the right time to do it. Sometimes timing is everything and that is a key piece. Once she realized that, she gained a lot of peace and ease around it.
You can do the same thing. Ask yourself do you need to do this now? If not, then you can postpone it and be on your way feeling good, feeling free and knowing that you will get it handled when the timing is right.
But wait… how is postponing “better” than procrastination? If you look up procrastination in the dictionary (you don’t have to, I did it for you) it says: to postpone doing something, especially as a regular practice. So what is procrastination really? It’s a habit. A habit of doing something regularly so that it begins to be the way you are, how you are being. Truthfully your way of being can make or break your success. If you’re postponing on a regular basis, it’s a problem.
However, let’s leave off the ‘especially as a regular practice’ and take the part where it says “to postpone doing something”. See, often in order to say ‘Yes’ to something we need to say ‘No’ to something else. That can be hard to do! Therefore we think we are procrastinating when we really are postponing. Does that help take the sting off of you procrastinators?
Look, running your own business — heck your own life — has one challenge after another come up. And that’s okay. Lots of what we do is problem solve. Being clear on whether you are postponing or procrastinating can mean all the difference between negative outcomes or positive outcomes.
Share below a time when you postponed something and discovered the pieces fell together in a better way. I know it’s happened to you!
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