Spiritual Bleach for Cleansing the Habit of “Procrastination”

People who value time and spend it in a meaningful and constructive manner automatically become valuable. Indeed such folks realize that their reputation and honor is intact if their every thought, word, and act is valuable. The awareness of maintaining their pure self pride enables them to use their every second in a wise and useful manner. They realize that their net worth in the form of self esteem and regard from society increases by prioritizing tasks accurately. Why would we want to postpone a task that will benefit many, is critical because of its impact, or is self’s deep passion? Indeed it is not realizing the importance of self and time.

Why do we procrastinate and how do we overcome it?

1. Ignorance and/or carelessness: Can our net worth increase if we waste time on activities that are not helping us grow? It is understandable that sometimes breaks are needed to relax and rejuvenate. It is important to check if those breaks are really giving us momentary relaxation or are helping us stay rested for a few hours (maybe days)? It would be really sad if our means of rejuvenation are actually making us even more tired. Hence it is very important to keep checking how our time is being spent and is it helping or damaging us. Can activities like watching hours of TV, partying, or sleeping be enjoyable if there are many pending tasks sitting in our head. Rewarding the self with a treat is enjoyable when one truly deserves it. The careless attitude prevents us from realizing that our value is diminishing when time is wasted on tasks that give instant gratification without any effort.
• Careless attitude leads to bad time management and incorrect prioritization skills: Holding the self accountable, i.e. if I have given my word then I have to deliver on time, finishes the time management issues. This automatically leads to better prioritization of tasks and responsibilities.
• Carelessness and Laziness always go hand in hand, a person that does not care about the worth of the self, will be lazy too. Carelessness leads to eating unhealthy food, eating randomly without any schedule, or overeating. Laziness increases when the stomach is heavy and uncomfortable. This triggers us to be sleepy and lot of time is wasted in sleeping at odd hours. A lazy person automatically cannot take care of duties and hence they become even more careless about it.
2. Task is uninteresting, hard, or laborious: Instead of adding another task to the todo list, let's check the root cause of postponement. Asking ourselves simple questions like, “why do I want to delay, what will be the consequences of the delay, what will happen if I do it now, etc.” help in making wiser decisions. We would not dilly dally but think about ways of simplifying the task, make it interesting, or getting guidance on it. This simple effort prevents us from piling on the burden of never ending todo list in our head.

Believes that sustain and grow the habit of procrastination
1. “Life is too short, just have fun” - This is a very good excuse that we use for postponing things. We will tell ourselves life is very short, so let's just have fun. We fail to check if our taking life easily is making others life difficult because they were relying on us for completing certain critical tasks. Our carelessness can reach unimaginable heights when we tell others to chill and take it easy too.

2. “Don’t be serious all the time, take life lightly” - Many people feel working hard or fulfilling responsibility means becoming serious. Can one not have fun while fulfilling responsibility or working hard? Is it fun only when we are happy without putting in any effort whatsoever from our side?  I have been told by some people why are you focusing on Spirituality, you are still young so just have fun. I tell them I am having real and consistent fun now😊.

3. “Snooze button in alarm indicates by design our personality is to procrastinate” - We developed the habit of procrastination first, and then science built the snooze feature on alarms to support the personality trait. This does not mean that by design we are lazy and careless. Our design fully allows us to be  prompt, punctual, and proactive. We are not using our full potential or our design correctly, and incorrectly blaming it on our design being at fault.

4. “I am busy and overworked” - The word busy many times arises self pity which in turn causes us to delay tasks. I was taught that being busy is a good thing as it means that I am super useful and in demand😊. This enables pure pride and enables us to keep performing and finishing the tasks at hand.

Steps to Transform the Habit of Procrastination
1. Identify the Temptation that Leads to Compulsion

We don’t have to temporarily deal with the work that we don’t like and instead can use that time for lazing or goofing around. We are able to get others of our back for sometime. At what cost though?😢

2. Repulsion for the Ugly Habit

• We fall in our own eyes and cannot trust ourselves. Our carelessness might prevent us from realizing this, but our conscience keeps biting us even though we try to ignore it.
• People cannot rely on us and they stop assigning important work. This increases the low self esteem and decreases confidence in us irrespective of how much we try to remain unaffected by it.
• Constantly stressed because of the never ending todo list.
• Careless about not being accountable and causing others to stress because they have to end up doing all the work.
• Growth stagnates or declines because of not investing time in valuable manner and wasting it in trivial things.

3. Adoption through the Merits of the Habit of Being Prompt and Proactive

• Self respect increases tremendously because we increase our impact (contribution) by taking more duties and fulfilling them on time.
• People trust and rely on us for important tasks.
• Remains carefree and makes others carefree because others can fully trust their every word. This enables us to receive a lot of blessings from others which protect us in our difficult times.
• The traits of being punctual and organized automatically develop.
• The virtue of accountability increases, and this enables us to maintain high regard of the self and receive regards from others.
• Eager to take up more duties because of great time management skills
• Contentment increases because of being so useful, accountable, and accurate in fulfilling many responsibilities.

4. Activation through Meditation

Meditation is the only way to activate our conscious mind. On an auto pilot mode the habit of dilly dallying is causing us to experience a lot of stress and reducing our self worth, accountability, and reliability. In meditation, the following steps can be followed to be prompt about a task that we tend to delay.

1. Bring up a specific task that you have been postponing or tend to procrastinate a lot
2. Ask yourself questions like - what is the root cause of delaying this task? Is there a self doubt? Is the task not interesting? Is there not enough time? why am I procrastinating a task that will increase my self worth? What am I gaining by spending or wasting time on things that don’t add value?
3. Continue the self talk by visualizing how it would feel if you did not have any to do list. How light and enthusiastic would I feel if I was prompt and proactive?
4. Make a clear cut plan on how you can start and finish the task that you have been delaying for a while. Ensure that all the roadblocks (external and internal) in accomplishing the task are removed.

5. Attention -> Journaling Everyday

Note down everyday in a journal the progress you have made. Ask yourself questions if you have procrastinated any tasks or responsibility that day. Try to understand the root cause of the delay. Remind yourself the benefits and loss from this habit.

In summary, I remember some thought provoking words spoken at Brahma Kumaris, “Even a tiny bird can take care of its progeny by providing shelter and food. We are the most elevated creation of this universe. Are we just barely taking care of the self and our progeny? Are we just happy living an ordinary being?”. Our potential is to help others at every moment through our elevated thoughts, sweet words, and cooperative actions. My journey to move away from below average to elevated life continues. Understanding the value of self and time has enabled me to slowly fall in love (pure and genuine) with the real self. The love for the self is steadily freeing me from wanting attention, appreciation, and acknowledgement from others. Are you ready to fall in true love with your real self?