A few weeks ago, I started on a new journey by an incredibly powerful speaker, who helps people to thrive in their speech, how to tell their story and become a powerful speaker themselves. Eileen Wilder (@eileenwild on Instagram) is a true inspiration and a wonderful person to learn from. Although we have never met, it is amazing to learn from her years of knowledge about how to become a better speaker.
Have you ever suffered with procrastination? Delaying things whilst you know that what you need to do will actually lead to the life you want to live? Isn’t it strange how humans do this to themselves? It certainly has happened to me in my career and daily life.
“Procrastination is the assassination of your destination”
“Procrastination is the assassination of your destination”, is an incredibly powerful quote by Eileen Wilder and it hit me as soon as I heard it.
And it makes sense! Putting things off will ultimately destroy what you want to achieve.
Procrastination is what most (if not all) people suffer with from time to time. But it’s not our friend. It’s an enemy and it must be defeated to really live a life you were destined for. At the same time the word ‘suffer’ is subjective. The moment you realise that you have been procrastinating is the moment you have a choice to come out of it, by simply getting into action. You could say that this moment we realise we procrastinate, is a gift.
“It is in the ‘now’ where we must conquer it and defeat it.”
A new moment has already appeared in your mind, following your procrastination, which allows you to do things differently. Often times when we are in the midst of procrastination we don’t even know where doing it. This enemy is very subtle and fools you into believing that doing other things is what’s best for you at that time. Procrastination is happening in the now, your destination is still in the future. Therefore, it is in the ‘now’ where we must conquer it and defeat it.
Procrastination can appear in different ways too. For example, structured procrastination takes place when you are undertaking tasks, that have benefit, but they aren’t the tasks that you need to do in order to reach your destination.
However, the destructive nature of procrastination can only exist by making itself known to you. Otherwise it would not be an issue and we would never have to deal with it. It wants to stay subtle, but destructive enough to take away your potential achievement. If you listen carefully to yourself and your mind, you will see that procrastination will tell you what it is destroying, where it appears and why.
Now, let’s pause for a moment and realise that it is important to use valuable time to enjoy yourself too! That’s not necessarily procrastination, but it can be. Only you can be the judge of that in your own life. As long as you do things that are purposeful, it will add something to your day. So, live life with meaning. Every moment, as much as you can.
Procrastination, however, will make itself known. If not in your mind, then I’m sure someone will tell you about it at some point. It’s a funny thing.
What’s not so funny is that when we ignore the feedback that we’re procrastinating that’s when it takes out the axe and destroys all that you wanted to achieve. Your potential, your goals, your destination of how amazing life could be, goes simply out of the window. As if the thought wasn’t even there in the first place. It’s quite ruthless.
So, something has to give…
I’ve never stopped learning ever since I started in my voiceover business. And I never will… lest I procrastinate. It’s an enemy that needs to be defeated over and over again by simply ‘doing the work’.
“Do it now!”
Let’s assassinate procrastination and save your destination! Do what needs to be done! Say no to procrastination by taking action now. Or tell yourself “Do it now!” a hundred times a day, as Eileen says.
