Putting things off to do ‘later’ is something we’re all familiar with, some of us a little too familiar with perhaps.  It’s certainly one of my main struggles.

So why do we do it?  It’s a complicated topic, because there are all sorts of reasons, such as:

- We think the task will be unpleasant

- We would rather be doing something more pleasant

- We don’t know how to do the task

- We don’t know why to do the task

- We think it will take too long

- We’re not sure if we should do the task

- We think it will be difficult

- We’re afraid of failing at it

- Shock horror - it could even be that we're afraid of succeeding at it.

Gee, all of that.  And you thought it was just because you’re lazy?  Nope, that’s not it.  Seriously, I don’t believe in laziness.  I think what often seems like laziness is often a lot more involved.

What do you do when you’re not doing something you ‘should’ be doing anyway?  You might keep watching TV or surfing the net, or you might actually be working diligently at something else, something also useful and important, as a way of avoiding the thing you’re avoiding.  Sometimes you may be so set on avoiding something that you actually accomplish an amazing amount of other stuff, which is pretty funny.

But eventually, we do want to get that thing done.  We’d just probably rather that somebody else did it. 

Well, do consider that as an option.  When I moved house at the beginning of this year, it took me weeks and weeks to finally get my clothes dryer mounted up on the laundry wall.  I put it off because I knew it would be difficult, and 4 broken drill bits, 3 trips to the hardware store, and numerous sessions of working hard at it later, I saw that it was even harder than I thought, and would probably have been cheaper to hire a man to do it for me. 

Some other things naturally fade off your to do list because it turns out that they weren’t important, didn’t really need doing and so on, and it’s ok to just let that happen where appropriate, and let it go.

But, if it’s you that has to do the dreaded thing, and you’re fed up with putting it off, the thing to do is think it through and plan it out.  As it’s often the case that self doubt, indecision, and not knowing how to do it are the problem, sorting that lot out is a separate task in itself. 

First thing to tackle is why.  If you think this through and have good reason for getting the thing done, this can cut out a lot of resistance in itself.  You may have been doubting your decision to do this thing, and acknowledging to yourself the reasons and deciding you’re happy with them solves the problem.

The next thing is how.  Do you have an idea how long it will take, how many sessions, what you will need, whether you need any help, need to buy anything, need any extra information?  Perhaps you were telling yourself off for not hanging those curtains, but on closer inspection you realise you need to spend money on new fittings, and you’ve got to buy shoes for the kids first, and it’s money that’s been stopping you.  Then you remember the spare rod and brackets in the garage.  It all falls into place.

If you think you should be doing something, but really feel you can’t face it right now, it’s not the end of the world.  If you go and do something else useful instead, you’ll still have a feeling of having accomplished something worthwhile, and having a few other tasks done often clears your head and brings you a little closer to being ready to tackle the one you’ve been dreading.

If the task is something urgent like a work or study assignment, don’t kid yourself.  Sit straight down and plan it out: why, how, when, how long, what do I need etc.  Break it into manageable bite size pieces, allocate times to them, and get on with it.  Just commit to doing the first small part, and you’ll break though the inertia.

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