Don’t do it later.  Do it now. That’s the one thing all fools do, Seneca said.  They put it off.  They let their fear or their laziness win.  We have to be brave enough to push past our fears.  We have to be strong enough to will ourselves to do what needs to be done.  Find our purpose, our truth and do the work for it.  Believe we can do it and follow the path before us when the task appears.  Fear is a showstopper for so many of us and it’s a liar.  Our minds hold the key to everything—what we do now and what we don’t and those actions determine the events that unfold.  Don’t let our minds talk us out of what we know we need to do We think life is short when in reality we just waste it.  The present moment is the most valuable thing you own. Humans were given creative outlets to do precisely that: create.  We aren’t meant to sit on something begging to be brought out of us. 

I’m guilty of procrastinating and not using my time well.  I allow myself to become overwhelmed with what needs to be done.  I have all of these thoughts and things I want to address at once and my brain kind of just stutters and I end up paralyzed.  Next thing I know, time has passed and I’ve fallen back into the routine of getting to my next meeting or needing my schedule again and then I get angry and talk about how I want to operate on my own schedule.  If that’s true, then I need to operate on my own schedule with my time managed well.  Look,  we don’t need every single second of the day accounted for, we need balance in what we do ranging from leisure to various work.  But no matter what we are doing, if it calls to us now, then we need to respond otherwise the moment vanishes.  I can’t tell you how many times I thought I would remember a thought only to have it completely disappear. 

The truth is we are bad judges of time. We delay starting something we think is going to take too long or we jump on something we think will disappear when we should have just gotten started or trusted our instinct to start at a more opportune time.  If we were to truly time the day to day things we do, do they really take that long?  Instead of letting the dishes pile up to where it takes an hour to clean, do them right away and we see it really only takes 10 minutes.   And sometimes the things we think will take a few minutes end up taking way longer—I’m talking to all those people who will be ready in 5 minutes.  Or those who decide to put together that bookshelf at 9PM.  Balance is key.  Proactive planning is key and we have to learn how to navigate and respond appropriately to the curveballs that life will inevitably throw at us.  Don’t be afraid to do what needs to be done. don’t be afraid of the momentum that comes once we get started.  And don’t leave things half-finished.  We can surprise ourselves with a little focus and determination—anything can get done.