why procrastinate joy?
Gotta Have a Reeses
If there’s one thing I miss in the world of advertising, it’s the good old Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercials. They would create absurdly complex scenarios whereby someone’s chocolate would end up in someone else’s peanut butter, for a happy union of seemingly disparate elements.
They were hilarious.
And it was something like that which led to this entry. I was skimming through my newsfeed and came across an article called Jump-Start Your Productivity with the “Path of Highest Enjoyment”. Highest enjoyment? I thought. Sounds like fun!
It wasn’t, really. It was basically saying that you should look at your task list for the day and do the things you want to do first. As if most of us don’t already do that? Maybe it’s just me. So, back to reading articles.
“The Science Behind Why We Procrastinate.” Aha! Procrastination, always a bugaboo of mine. In fact, my stepmother insisted I memorize a little poem about it:
Procrastination is my sin,
It brings me endless sorrow.
I really must stop doing it.
In fact — I’ll stop.
Tomorrow.
I can’t say that the poem helped me any, but the article had some interesting insights. Among other things, it explained that there were two kinds of procrastinators: those who couldn’t make up their minds what to do, and those who knew exactly what to do, but couldn’t bring themselves to take action.
And suddenly the joy got stuck in the procrastination, and I had an epiphany!
Procrastinate Whatever, But Why Procrastinate Joy?
[caption id=”attachment_1335" align=”alignright” width=”240"]
Gray’s Law: Never forego until tomorrow that which you can enjoy today.[/caption]
It’s a simple idea, really: we know what we want. With all the personal-development blogs out there, it’s not too hard to figure out how to get it. In fact, if you’re reading this blog, you have more control over your life and your path than most other people throughout history. And you’ve got more information to guide you on that path, as well, at your fingertips — heck, in your phone. People have been killed for wanting access to just the bible; you have access to, like, a zillion times more information on how to find your joy.
And instead, if you’re like me, you spend a lot of time shooting little birds out of slingshots at snuffling pigs.
That’s ok. It’s totally better than a lot of other habits people have used to calm their mind. But, at a certain point after the last pig has gone *poof*, maybe it’s worth asking: what is it that makes you procrastinate your joy?
I’ve got some guesses:
- “We’re not worthy!” — You haven’t earned the right to your joy yet. It’ll come when you retire, when you’ve lost those pounds, when you’ve made the world secure for your children.
- “It’s not realistic!” — Sure, other people can be happy. Other people have accomplished or acquired or benefited from that thing you want. But that’s them. What are you, some kind of special snowflake?
- “It’s too hard.” — Sure, we could be happy. But that requires change, and change requires work, and I’m tired. It’s much easier to just watch another episode.
- “It’s too scary.” — Somebody told me that even if I get what I want, it probably won’t be as good as I think. In fact, it might even be worse than what I have now! Why risk change?
Now is where most personal-development blogs would tackle each of those reasons and demolish them with rational, step-by-step logic. But we’re more practical here at Love Life Practice, and besides, we have faith in the intellect of our readers.
Whichever of those reasons applies to you — or whichever reason you thought of that I didn’t think of — you know it’s bullshit. You know, when you look in the mirror, that there’s a part of you whispering: Put off whatever you want, my friend, but why procrastinate joy?
The question is: when are you going to do something about it?
Tomorrow?
