10/01/2024
Do you Procastinate?
" A single minute of procastination can destroy a month of hard work and discipline"
During my first year as a professional writer (when i started getting paid to write), my group of friends who often read the stories i posted and sang praises of how good my writing was , talked to me about starting a podcast where i will share stories to a growing audience. I instantly said "Yes" to the suggestion and went to work on finding out all the requirements for launching my own podcast. Before that, i had listened to a few great podcast on the internet some of which includes the Business War Podcast and The Founders. I wanted to imitate these brands and produce great contents like theirs, but there was something missing.
At the time, podcast was just becoming popular and being accepted. I began to research and read articles on how to start a podcast, what to get before starting a podcast and how to name my podcast amongst other things. When i was done reading all the articles i could find, i became discouraged. There was loads of informations and motivation out there but very little support financially. Two of the major equipments for starting a podcast alone cost nearly half a million naira. The rest, could be estimated to be about the same amount needed to build two new central banks in a state.
Back in those days, in attempt to cut cost and begin putting one foot in front of the other, i downloaded a podcast application and started recording using raw voice recorders. i posted the first story i narrated and shared the link and to my dismay i got zero listening and zero comment. I was discouraged. I felt it was because of the quality of the podcast or maybe because it wasn't recorded with professional gadgets. Then i resolved to stop recording until i had mastered voice over, bought the needed gadgets and learned to record a high quality resolution podcast. I thought about this earlier yesterday as i was listening to a podcast by a lady who started about the same time i recorded my first podcast, seeing hat she had gained over hundered thousand listeners monthly and had recorded ov er hundred stories. Then i imagined how big my podcast will have been if i didn't stop after the first one or made the false decision to wait until i was good enough.
Now don't get me wrong, I am not jealous or envious of the ladies success: rather i am motivated about the power of consistency and how much procastination can steal from YOU an me if we let it. Doing what we need to do when we need to do it without excuses is the most powerful a person can do.
Why do i tell you this story?
The answer is simple: Like a lot of adults my age who actually suffer from this self inflicting illness called procatination that have wasted their lives. Ironically we make plans and feel stressed or lack the discipline to get up from our bed or turn off our phones and get to work. We tell ourselves, we will do it later in the day. And yet at the end of the day or year, or even at the end of our lives, we cry about being failures or wasting our time.
We all want to build a business, learn a skill, take a new course, apply for a jo b or read a book everyday. But we have not accomplished any of this because we keep putting it of.
The only people who finally win in life or achieve their goals and dreams ... had learned to deal with kill any excuse and get right to work even on days they don't feel strong enough to do so. The set a time for a task and enure they do it at the set time.
I watched a video recently on facebook where the speaker said these words, "Preparing to do the thing isnt doing the thing. Sheduling to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Making a to-do list to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Reading about how to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Telling people about how you are going to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Fantasizing about the accolades you are going to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Hating on yourself because you failed to do the thing isn't doing the thing...nThe only thing that is d**g the thing is doing the thing."
Somtimes you might procastinate because you are tired, and in that moment you want to quit or rest, but the question is how long can you push your self to do it even when you are tired? Everybody is great when they are not tired, but the difference between champions and everyone is that champions push themselves even when they are tired while everyone quits. Get up today and do what you have to do. Get up again tomorrow and do what you need to do to achieve the success you dream of. Stop procastinating, stop quiting before you are done else one day you are going to wake up an old man or woman and say "I could have been great."
Someone once said "" A single minute of procastination can destroy a month of hard work and discipline"
One of my favorite quotes on self=discipline are these words by Jim Rohn, "We must all suffer one of two pains: the pain of self-discipline and the pain of regret." Self discipline ,eans doing the things that are good for your future but are hard to do in the present. Reading books is hard but watching movies is easy, starting a business is hard but it's easy to procastinate, going to the gym is hard, but sitting on the couch is easy. Choose your prefered kind of pain.
There is a price to be paid for the kind of success you want, and it begins with the ability to get up and do wht you said you will do even when everything and everyone is telling you not to.
Here's a hard pill to swallow , "You will be the exact same person this time next year. The only difference will be if you take ACTIONS or don't. This is what determines your success in life, not what you wish for. Saying you will do it isn't doing it. Only doing what you say you will do is doing it."
Stop procrastinating in the year 2024.
Photo caption: learn to turn off your phone when it's time work.
