Will You Show Up Regardless?
In an alternate universe, this would be a story about how I defeated the mighty arms of procrastination and broke the back of stalling, but we’re on Earth, and that is definitely not the case.
You may delay, but time will not.
― Benjamin Franklin
“I’ll do it later"—this is something I’ve found myself saying over and over again.
Let me give you some sort of perspective on how long it took me to publish this, I started writing this four years ago, in October 2020, and we’re in August 2024. There you have it. The Perfect Paradox, me writing a piece on procrastination.
When I started this, I was in another country, a different continent, and here I am, 4 years later, 11:25 am, completing a piece on procrastination. Old habits die hard, but they could die if you let them.
Let’s talk about procrastination, shall we?
POV
Twenty years from now, you’re being called up the stage to receive an award for your immense contribution to your area of expertise. You walk down the aisle, grinning from ear to ear while rehearsing your speech for the umpteenth time. As you climb the stage, someone taps you, and you’re pulled back to reality
sucks, right?
You’re brought back into the present, and you can’t deal with all the deadlines you have piled up. You remember your dream and wish you could fast forward to the future and live your dream.
I wish it were that easy. I wish all we had to do was think about something and poof! Like magic, it becomes our reality, but Life doesn’t work like that, does it?
No one is born an expert of anything, it takes accumulated, consistent efforts to be successful.
Remember how you started the new year with a heightened sense of motivation to be the best version of yourself? What happened to that? You got tired, you got demotivated and just stopped trying?
“I’ll do it later” comes up in your conversations with people, more often than not. You feel like there’s nothing you can do to regain all the time you’ve lost, so you reduce the intensity of your goals and say to yourself, “maybe this was unrealistic”.
I’m here to tell you that while it might be true that you can’t regain lost time, I’m pretty sure that you can still achieve your goals by showing up regardless.
The magic wand you need to make your way into that future you desire is DISCIPLINE.
Self-discipline is choosing to invest in your future over present pleasures. It is avoiding plausible excuses or valid feelings and choosing to show up regardless.
Every day is an opportunity to choose between taking a step further into your desired future or choosing to remain stagnant.
I’ll leave you with this…
No one is born an expert, it takes accumulated consistent efforts to be successful. I hope you remind yourself of this when things get seemingly tough.
Small, consistent steps > Delayed efforts.
See you at the TOP!
