Procrastination, the Art

The Art of Creative Avoidance.
 
When we do nothing, nothing happens. Now, that’s not news to any of us.
 
But, if you start anything, you’ll achieve something.
 
The doing is vital.
 
So many great ideas and aspirations founder on the Rock of Procrastination.
 
The odd thing is that to do nothing, when we know we should be doing a particular thing, is damned hard work.

And it puts a terrible strain on the nervous system, and our energy.
The rationalising we do for why we can’t, don’t, shouldn’t, do it, is exhausting, draining, debilitating.
 
It’s a really tough number to counter.
But we do it with great energy, will, and creativity.
And then of course, we end up drained, tired and wiped.
 
I was a master of it.
 
 I had a writing schedule, and when it came to sit and write, there were a zillion important things to check, like, was there enough water in the kettle in case I wanted tea? 
Was the dog comfortable?
 Had the postman arrived? [good for a 5 minute stare through the window]
Had I enough biros handy?
Did I need the newspaper?
Had I got one?
[great for a 15 minute stroll, a headline scan to see if there were any items that might be relevant to my current project]
Was there petrol in the car?
Did the grass need cutting?
 
You get the notion; we tend to do anything but what we’re meant to be doing.
 
Pretty quickly we get familiar with The Skill of Avoidance.
 
With practice, it can become a real skill.
I believe at times I raised it to the level of art.
It’s epidemic.
It spreads into everything else we want to do.
We become Masters of Creative Avoidance.
We become successful at failing to do what we set out to do..
 
Many of us find this tendency in our lives. And it can be crippling.
 
But there is a way round it. In fact there are a couple.
 
They’re hidden in the morass of confusion that we have so lovingly developed.
 
Stay tuned.
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