Now Reading
Deliberation Of Procrastination

Deliberation Of Procrastination

It took me about two whole months to write an article on procrastination. Was I on vacation? No. Was I sick? No. Was I too occupied with other stuff? No. I simply thought, "I’ll do it later," but later became never … until today.

I’m sure we all fall into this soft bed procrastination prepares for us, but does that mean it’s okay? No. Procrastination robs us of so much we can offer. It’s a trap—it’s comfortable and legal, so it seems harmless. It’s often joked about and justified with "I work better under pressure, ha-ha." But there’s no laughing once we begin to experience the consequences of our procrastination.

So what is it? According to a study, procrastination is the deliberate act of excessive postponing, and it always has a price. Procrastination usually has the same net results in all areas of one’s life—wasted time, missed opportunities, poor performance and/or increased stress. My life is a testimony to these unfortunate results.

Let’s take a stroll down the many dead-ends of procrastination, shall we?

Television—wow, what an amazing piece of technology! That’s procrastination talking, not you. My favorite channel was the TV guide channel. I could gaze into that menu forever. Oh! Who’s the boss is on at 11 p.m. on Superstation! A Baby Story’s on at 2 p.m. on TLC! It kills me to think of how much time I could have saved if I hadn’t watched so many syndicated episodes of The Real World and A Baby Story and A Wedding A Story and A Makeover Story and A Dating story … Instead, I could have been creating a story of my own. Wasted time, folks.

As if the television wasn’t alluring enough, the Internet came along to seduce us! Ah, the beauty of the World Wide Web. People from all over the world wasting time—together. Ironically, instead of spending time with God, I got online to chat with other believers. Now here’s the funny part—I found it so hard to spend time getting to know the God I could not see, yet I spent countless hours getting to know faceless beings online. How crazy is that? This is time I’ll never get to have back.

The result of procrastination? Idolatry. Sounds harsh, I know, but it’s true. Our focus shifts from God to man-made temporaries to fill in our time that would be better spent with Him or tending to other important aspects of our lives, like relationships, health, education—you name it.

Idols come in all forms, shapes and sizes—video games, shopping, food, drugs, chatting and even sleep, to name a few. We procrastinate, and during that time, we worship a new idol for the day. I know I’ve pushed away working on several papers until a few hours before the due-date. Other papers I didn’t even get to until it was two days late. The result of my irresponsibility was poor grades, but more importantly, a robbery of my talent and intelligence.

I could continue with pages and pages of the truth and consequences of procrastination, but I’m sure you get the picture by now. It’s time to get out. Get out of bed! Get out of that zone! Break out of complacency! Jump out of the box!

It’s a daily process, and it requires death to self. Doesn’t sound too appealing, huh? It may bring a load of discomfort at first, but the reward is a life free from the bondage of procrastination.

RELATED LINKS:

EXERCISES FOR LAZY PEOPLE

LET’S GET PHYSICAL: TURN OFF THE TV

READ MORE LIFE | POST COMMENTS BELOW

View Comments (2)

Leave a Reply

© 2023 RELEVANT Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Scroll To Top

You’re reading our ad-supported experience

For our premium ad-free experience, including exclusive podcasts, issues and more, subscribe to

Plans start as low as $2.50/mo