Procrastinate! (A beginner’s guide..)

Martin Banjo
Aug 9, 2017 · 2 min read

Procrastinate! If it was that important you would have done it already. Why think of it as laziness when you could re-frame it as ‘an exercise in self control’? It’s only STUFF after all and ten years/days from now you won’t even remember what it was! Think about it, when was the last time you did something that mattered? You know the type of things your friends will bring up at dinner parties and stir you with embarrassed pride. You know the type of thing that sets you on a soapbox to get others to try it because it’ll make their lives richer. The type of thing you’d love to be the first phrase in the speech at the surprise party thrown by 10,000 of your closest friends, just for being you (note: you’re thinking too long).

I once tracked all i did for a week of my life and sent it to some friends and we had a good laugh at how little sleep I was getting that eventually led to a car accident but that’s another story). It all felt, looked, and seemed important at the time but all I remember today is sitting with my friends on a Wednesday night talking it through and laughing. I am not one to put down the moral and material value of ‘work’ but I can’t help but think that our relationship with what we do masks a great uncertainty about who we are. That the speed of change and the constant access to distractions, that kings of old could only dream of us, lets us amble down the path to unoriginal lives, aiming for the same goals, wishing for the same things, but seeking our own answers.

So take some time this Wednesday and procrastinate a little. If you do it long enough you might just get something really important done.

Martin Banjo

Written by

full time learner and optimist, part time realist

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