The Real Trouble with Procrastination

Everybody says it's bad, except the folks who are both honest and know it pays off.  Some work done before you're ready, such as washing the kitchen floor, is an excellent idea--because unless you're a mop, there's never a good time to wash the kitchen floor. If, however, the work you've got to do is paint or write or sculpt or build a new computer program, it may be a good idea to wait until your mind signals that it's prepared to focus 100%. I am definitely not saying that you should wait for your muse to show up--she may be on a jaunt to Finland--but only until you can concentrate on the project at hand. Then do not delay. Get to work.

Still, there is, as the title of this little post suggests, a problem with procrastinating even when the work to be done calls for serious focus. And the problem is, some days the only way to achieve focus is to face the adversary--the blank screen--and stare back at it until your fingers start writing SOMETHING. Or stare at the canvas...or fiddle with a program you have already developed and see if you can get it to cough up an ancillary idea.

In other words, if you have a craft or an art or want to grow up to be Steve Jobs, there's no point in procrastinating because you can't clock out for good, you just can't. Might as well start work now, since it IS
your work that's waiting.

There is one--but only one--out. Go wash the kitchen floor. After that, your real work will remind you of Eden.