As I’ve talked about before, I am a big procrastinator. While I may be working on that, I also have a bad habit of pushing things off. It's a lot like procrastinating, but it’s more of a general apathy towards the idea of getting something done—putting off sorting my emails, minor things. Of course these add up to major things but that’s beside the point.
Today I want to talk about a simple philosophy that helps me get those minor things that still need to be done, done.
It’s called, rather aptly, “do it now.” This isn’t revolutionary, or world altering, but it does help me remember to do those small tasks that I am quick to put off.
The idea is fairly self-explanatory. If you are coming into the door and need to hang up your keys, my first instinct is to throw them off to the side, muttering something about “doing it later.” But later never comes. Or worse, when I’m trying to rush out the door, I am thrown into a frenzy because I can’t find those keys. Where are they? Where I threw them when I walked in. This creates chaos, and often, some form of stress—because there aren't many feelings that can compare to the frustration, anger, and the hint of worry that come in that frantic search for your keys when all you’re trying to do is get out the door and on to your day.
But, what if I applied the phrase “do it now” to my keys? So, instead of throwing my keys somewhere in the room, I hang them up over my doorknob, where they belong in my room. So, when I’m trying to leave my room and get off to class, or something, all I have to do is grab my keys from the back of the door before going off to my day.
Now, I’m sure you’re thinking, “Great, some keys. Big deal! That’s it?” No, that’s not it. This can be applied to a lot of things.
One area for me that this applies to is laundry. Not my best example, but I think we all can relate to the feeling after we finish doing our laundry. The first thought is “Hooray! I did my laundry. Look at me being a productive adult.” But the second thought is, “Ugh, now I have to fold and hang up all these clothes!” And my first thought, “Well, I can leave them in the basket until later.” But that later, for me at least, was digging out that shirt I wanted to wear out of the laundry basket until the next cycle of laundry comes.
But, with this “do it now” idea, my first thought is now, “Ugh, now I have to fold and hang up all these clothes! But I’m still going to do it now.” If I do it now, I save myself stress when I need to find that one shirt I want to wear, but I also have all my clothes hung up and relatively wrinkle-free. In my book, this counts as being a productive adult.
While this “do it now” idea may not be the easiest thing to do—no one really wants to hang up their laundry right away—it is worth it. It eases stress and clears some chaos from my everyday life.
So, when in doubt, just think to yourself, “I should do it now,” whether it be a paper, laundry, or any sort of task you’ve been putting off.
Now go out and conquer. I believe in you.
