[March 2, 2019] One day upon discovering a cache of 1st Grade papers my mom had saved, I looked upon several marked papers with poor grades. My wife, who I had been telling that I never got good grades in school, saw them and remarked how amazed she was at my ‘terrible performance.’ The reason was that procrastination was simply my way of getting along in life.
That’s right, I procrastinated about anything that had to do with school; getting out of bed in the morning to get there on time, studying (really bad), doing assigned projects, and asking the teacher questions. My grades reflected my bad habit of putting things off as far into the future my mind could imagine. And I could imagine things not getting done because I didn’t want to do them.
There are several persistent stereotypes about American students. The most common is that they are lazy and like to sleep too much. But this is not so much a problem as it is a long-term habit that will eventually have profound implications later in their lives. Psychologists call this chronic procrastination.
“Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.” – Unknown
Bad habits are tough to break. Getting rid of bad leader habits is even harder because the first step is being able to “see” that something you’re doing is a problem.1 If a leader has the discipline to walk a path to leave their procrastination habits behind, there are a wealth of ways to do so. I wrote about it here (see link). And, I carried my 1st Grade procrastination habits with me for many years and suffered for it.
I still have some of my 1st Grade habits. I admit it. The difficulties I overcame would have been easier if I’d changed my ways early in life. Things would have been better if someone had sat me down and knocked some sense into my head. Like so many young folks, that didn’t happen.
There is a good lesson here for leaders. Leadership means being responsible for those in your care and for yourself. Recognize the signs of procrastination and be laser-focused on helping people overcome it.
List of some really great quotes on procrastination.
https://www.developgoodhabits.com/procrastination-quotes/
“All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” from the Bible, Proverbs 14:23
Hello. I’m new to this leadership website and have found it to be informative as well as entertaining.
The subject today about procrastination couldn’t have been more salient as I too was one of those adults who was a procrastinator. I went to a psychologist for help and, yes, he did help some. But ultimately it was up to me to make things happen and now I do things in life that I never thought possible. The power of the individual will is great.
Welcome aboard, Otto. Please comment anytime and be sure to share your thoughts freely with us.
Welcome to our forum. Good to have you with us! 🙂
Yes, welcome Otto. Also, make recommendations. Gen. Satterfield reads these comments and will often incorporate them into future articles.
An obvious favorite quote for me:
“Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.”
by Napoleon Bonaparte
In Gen. Satterfield’s Daily Favorites he links to a really good article on the Literary Classics becoming infected with the disease of political correctness by SJWs. We, that means all of us, have stood by and watched it happen. Our procrastination (or perhaps we should say cowardice) makes it only worse.
https://www.newcriterion.com/issues/2019/3/decline-fall-classics-edition
Good is being destroyed by evil as we sit around and eat our cake.
Yes, good point.
Thanks Max. You can always be relied upon for a spot-on comment. The disease being spread by SJWs is a terrible blight on our society. Their destination is a tragedy. Protect yourself from them.
I too found that bad habits are not just hard to break but they too come with heartache as well. As a kid, I was a big procrastinator. My parents never really sat me down to explain the problem (there were 6 kids) and maybe they were too busy. I suffered greatly for it and today the attractiveness of procrastination tugs at my psyche.
Another quote from one of the most famous men in history. ““You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” – Abraham Lincoln
I don’t know where you found that quote about “Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried,” but it is an appropriate and on-target one. Too many people whine about the lack of opportunity when I found it boundless. You must have an eye for it. And, yes, procrastination is what kills our ability to see it.
Yes, I agree wholeheartedly. Procrastination kills opportunity. Cowardice is the big brother to procrastination so let’s not forget that it takes great will power to overcome obstacles of humanity.
I’m sticking this one on my refrig.
Sometimes I wonder whether it is ‘procrastination’ or outright ‘stupidity’ that is the real bane of leadership.
Smacked that one good. I laughed heartily at your comment because it was so well said in so few words.
Great comment. I too haven’t decided between the two.
Remember, “stupid is as stupid does.”
🙂
Loved your comment. Thanks Anita.
We all sorely complain of the shortness of time, and yet have much more than we know what to do with. Our lives are either spent in doing nothing at all, or in doing nothing to the purpose, or in doing nothing that we ought to do. We are always complaining that our days are few, and acting as though there would be no end of them