Procrastination vs. Choosing What Matters
/Today I want to introduce to you one of my heroes. Brian Johnson has no idea who I am, but I think he's a superstar, and his work is slowly but consistently changing my life. (Here's a link to his YouTube channel.)
Basically what he does is find, read, and distill a vast number of books about personal growth and optimal living into formats that are easy to understand and apply. Today's free email from him featured a 10-minute video that summarized a book called Procrastinate on Purpose by Rory Vaden, which I listened to while getting ready for the day. It prompted me to think about some of the things I do that aren't all that important, and that keep me from having time to do what really matters to me. On my list:
- Reading emails that aren't particularly relevant to what I'm doing, just so I can delete them
- Writing down ideas or planning things out but then not actually acting on them
- Comparing myself to other people, and getting caught up in judgments toward them or feelings of my own inadequacy
- Getting sidetracked (checking my phone, eating a snack, whatever) without a clear sense of what I actually want to be doing
- Worrying about how things are going to turn out
- Staying up late scanning Facebook and telling myself that it's relaxation time, when sleep would be even better
What would be on your list?
Can you give yourself permission to stop doing those things that don't matter all that much, in favor of things that do?
When I pay attention, it's clear that things like fun, learning, appreciation, and simply experiencing the crazy ups and downs of life are all more important to me than the things on that list. The trick, of course, is to practice paying attention.
In this moment, and in this coming week, may you remember what matters to you, and have the courage to pursue it.