The Secrets of Eliminating Daily Stress: Stop Procrastination
Photo by Trevor Manternach
Stress doesn’t always come from huge events in our lives. It can be caused in little amounts by small events, and build up to the point where it has the same impact as a major catastrophe. Over the next few Fridays, I’m going to examine some of the causes of daily stress and give some suggestions on what can be done to alleviate them.
Procrastination
Procrastination can cause an awful lot of stress in the form of last-minute rushing. Don’t get me wrong; I am a great procrastinator. However, I am finding that if I make an effort to not procrastinate, things run smoother in my life.
Procrastination can lead to two major types of outcome: rushing and failure.
Rushing To Get Things Done Last Minute
When we put things off that need to be done, we end up trying to complete them at the last minute. A recent example of this in my life were the holiday cookies. I had wanted to put together an assortment of cookies as gifts for those people who don’t bake. However, the Wednesday before school let out I still hadn’t started, and I ended up staying up very late on Thursday evening to get the cookies done. I missed a major ingredient in one of the batches and ended up having to throw the whole thing out after baking. All this could have been avoided if I had started earlier.
Having Something Fail
A bigger problem can happen when we drop the ball because of procrastination. A friend of mine ended up sending a bag of cookies from a convenience store to a school bake sale she had committed to because she ran out of time to bake…even though she knew four weeks in advance. An acquaintance ended up getting stuck on the highway in the rain because she forgot to replace her spare tire in her car. She ended up having to wait for a tow truck and missed her son’s school play.
What Planning Gets You
“A stitch in time saves nine.” You don’t have to be super-organized to avoid these types of problems. “A stitch in time saves nine.”, as the old saying goes. If my acquaintance had taken the five minutes to put the tire back, she would have saved hours. If I had planned my holiday baking out, I would have saved myself the time of making and baking the failed batch of cookies.
One of my favorite ladies, Flylady is all about doing little bits here and there so you don’t end up doing a lot at one time. It’s a great way to avoid procrastination.
Next week we’ll tackle a big cause of daily stress: disorganization
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