6 Proven Methods to Stop Putting Off the Things You Need to Do

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of"
Benjamin Franklin

"Never put off 'till tomorrow, that which you can do today"
We all know this wise admonition by Benjamin Franklin. We heard it from our parents and we repeat it to our children. But we live our lives as if its words were transposed to read, "Never do today, that which you can put off 'till tomorrow".

Unfortunately, there is no such tomorrow. It only exists in the calendars of fools. Tomorrow, for them, is the day when they'll finally reform, work harder, change their habits, begin their journey toward success and riches..

But tomorrow never comes and countless lives that held so much promise are wasted in procrastination. As Stephen Leacock wrote, "The child says, 'When I'm a big boy', but what is that? The big boy says, 'When I grow up', and then, grown up, he says, 'When I get married'. But to be married, what is that, after all? The thought changes to 'When I'm able to retire'. And when retirement comes, he looks back over the landscape transversed; a cold wind seems to sweep over it; somehow he has missed it all, and it is gone".

We keep hoping that at some miraculous time in the future, things will be different. Hope and optimism are good things, but most of the time we cling solely to our hope and don't do the things that we know are important in order to realize the future that we want.

Success and procrastination are absolutely incompatible. In order to succeed you must, and you can, cure yourself of putting things off.

In his book 'Your erroneous zones", Dr. Wayne W. Dyer shares his insights on how one can go about curing oneself of the habit of putting things off. Below are a few of Dr. Dyer's suggestions which I find particularly helpful.

- Look hard at your life. Are you doing what you'd choose to be doing if you knew you had six months to live? If not, you'd better begin doing it because, relatively speaking, that's all you have. Given the eternity of time, thirty years or six months make no difference. Your total lifetime is a mere speck. Delaying anything makes no sense.

- DECIDE not to be tired until the moment before you get into bed. Don't allow yourself to use fatigue or illness as an escape or to put off doing anything. You may find that when you take away the reason for the illness or exhaustion - that is, avoidance of a task - physical problems "magically" disappear.

- Eliminate the words "hope", "wish", and "maybe" from your vocabulary. They are the tools of putting it off. If you see these words creeping in, substitute new sentences. For example -

"I hope this will work out", should change to, "I will make it happen"
"I wish things were better", should change to, "I am going to do the following things to ensure that I feel better"
"Maybe it will be ok", should change to, "I will make it ok".

- Write a contract with your loved ones in which you will deliver the goods you want to but which you may have been postponing. Have each party keep a copy of the contract, and build in penalties for defaulting.

- Think of yourself as too important to live with anxiety about the things you have to do. So, the next time you know you are uncomfortable with postponement anxiety, remember that people who love themselves don't hurt themselves that way.

- Quit smoking.....now! Begin your diet.....this moment! Do one push-up as your beginning exercise project. That's how you tackle problems....with action now! Do it! The only thing holding you back is you, and the neurotic choices you've made because you don't believe you're as strong as you really are. How simple.....Just do it!

I will leave you with Dr. Dyer's words, "If you want the world to change, don't complain about it. Do something. Rather than using up your present moments with all kinds of immobilizing anxiety over what you are putting off, take charge and live now! Be a doer, not a wisher, hoper, or critic".

Sincerely yours,
Daniel Schweitzer