POST-13: “Procrastination/Distractibility…Who Wins”?🤔🧘🏾♂️
Good afternoon/good evening (hopefully you're reading this bright and early, since this is usually the peak time when people are getting ready for work, about to begin their tasks for the day, or are planning for some future event) ! 🙂
Procrastination or distractability. This is an interesting nuance/subject to discuss. I think we’ve always heard of procrastination as a negative thing, and there’s probably a strong possibility that I alluded to this in previous posts (please, check them out to confirm 🙂 ).
For me, procrastination was always seen as a big “no-no”, especially if you hope to be considered someone who wants to move forward in life...Meeting objectives, deadlines + Putting your best foot forward in life, takes a lot of energy & tenacity. Managing responsibilities, and trying to “Be your best self” is a full time job alone!
Take on the fact that you have other responsibilities in life (ie. Adulting, parenting, being a good sibling, friend, teammate, employee, Boss, student, etc)… What happens is, when all of these elements are now put on your “To Do List”, you have to decide when and where to prioritize your time.
I was always taught that: “We only have 24 hours in a day… what we choose to do with those 24 hours is completely up to us!”.
Someone once told me that: “we have to cancel out HALF of those hours. Leaving you with only (12).“.. That’s half a day left…
“Ok, 12 hrs…Considering we’re “doing all the right things”, realistically, and just to keep things simple,.. Let’s devote 8 hours to our jobs (leaving us now with 4 hours of personal time that should be divvied up between all the aforementioned responsibilities).. And, let’s give ourselves 2 hours of that time towards eating..bc..well.. you have to eat. So, now we’re left with only, 2 hours in our 24 hour pie (Again, this is just an elementary example..)
As you can imagine, there’s not too much you can do with only two hours in a day. And there’s a strong likelihood that within the two hours you’re given, you probably can only accomplish so much (considering the size of your family, responsibilities, roles within your organizations, or position…etc) Let alone, The personal goals and obligations you’ve set for yourself...You're out of time!.. and Man only has so much energy to expend, in a 24hr window”. See the point?
And This is what disallows you from “putting your best foot forward”, so to speak.
Someone broke this down to me in college, many years ago. Which at the time, Struck a lot of panic in me, since i thought: “well, I must really be wasting a lot of time”..
You start to hear old adages like: “ You don’t want to procrastinate”… “don’t waste time”… “seize the day”.. “carpe diem“… and so on.
The problem with all of This, I believe, is that you increase your likelihood for burnout if not properly managed… We think we have the right intentions, or at least feel as though we’re trying our best (or whatever “our best” looks like). We can’t seem to muster up the faith and willpower to strategically take the next logical step… it’s tough.
So, we just take, A, logical step forward, perhaps remain still/ Inactive, and allow the will of God to work from within. Maybe it’s a little bit of both.. maybe in our quiet, waiting time, we can research, reflect and observe, cross our T's and dot our”I’s”… Be aware of our environment... and arm ourselves spiritually from within.
Be a little more conscientious or thoughtful. Intentional about our “planning and preparation” phase. So that, when it is time to act/do the things that we value most, we do them most efficiently…( yeah, I like the sound of that 🙂 ).
Logically, it makes sense. Plus, it sure is an ego boost to know that you’re actually, not a lazy bum… I myself needed to understand: what does it look like to BE a procrastinator?.. in fact, What does it really MEAN to be a lazy - person???..
I am neither one of those titles. I've worked for, and manifested everything good, in my life. Perhaps, a better way of thinking is: “I've planted the proper seeds, and it's a matter of patiently mapping out my next logical step, as I await my harvest”.
I was watching the YouTube channels for Lewis Howes and Evan Carmichael, recently. I can’t remember who’s it was, but check them both out!.. They have really great content that offers a lot of insight!.. These gentlemen are leaders in their own. They host numerous experts on their shows, including scientists, psychologists, thought leaders of all kinds, business professionals and so much more…You get to listen to The insights and ideas that are most important to life: Love, prosperity, Health, Wellness, and success.
Upon watching one of their recent interviews There was a doctor who referenced human performance, neurology, psychology and the affects they have on our results. He or she outlaid this concept with A term called “distractibility”.
I can understand the concept, considering My research, But hearing it defined in that manner, had a different affect on me.
Essentially, they were saying: “You aren’t lazy”.. you’re not a loser…and you are none of the negative associations, the world has programmed you to believe”…I decided to do a quick Google search (which I highly recommend you do as well), and found a couple of interesting results, listed below:
1. (www.Sciencedirect.Com)
(Focused attention vs. Distractibility)
Distractibility or a fleeting attention span refers to lapses in the ability to concentrate on a stimulus or task, and sustain the requisite degree, of focused attention to persevere with information processing or task attainment.
2. (www.Wikipedia.com)
Procrastination: “procrastination is the action of unnecessarily and voluntarily delaying or postponing something despite knowing that there will be negative consequences for doing so”.
Based on my findings and the viewpoints of each speaker: distractibility is more so a response or an opportunity to allow the mind, body and brain to rest and reflect, so that it may perform more optimally (whether consciously or not). Versus, negligently choosing to avoid activities that promote your own welfare (procrastination).
🤷🏾♂️ Not too much more to say about the subject, except I encourage you to research these ideas as well, and ***Please, feel free to comment your search results, thoughts and opinions below*** ✍️😁
My hope is that you found this blog both interesting and informative. 🙂👍
Moral of the Story:
“Don’t beat yourself up in the “comparison game”, if you know in your ❤️ of hearts you’re doing your best under your own, unique circumstances”.
Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, analyze your routine behaviors, and begin to ask yourself: “Am I really a procrastinator who could care less about my results? Or are there other forces at play, leading me into distractibility?..(which isn't always, so bad). 🙂
***Per-The-Usual:
#PerseveranceAndGrowth ❤️💪