Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Procrastinate - Do You?

How often do we create our own stress?  Even though we would really like to lay the fault at someone else's feet?  Why accept responsibilty for my own procrastination which is generally the reason for my stress?  Procrastination....what a word.  What does it mean exactly?  Aha, putting off, laziness, dilatory, unhurried, slow, and the consequence of not getting around to it.  Recognize yourself here?  I do, darn.  The reason I am even writing this is because of my own procrastination which caused me to stress out and the longer I procrastinated the more stressed I became.  The project involved some craft skill of which I don't possess much,  some boards, some fabric, some glue, some staples, and perhaps some ribbon as well.  All of those items were at the ready, just waiting for the last minute, waiting silently on the table top.  Every day I looked at the pile of objects, every day I shuddered to think what had to be done, every day I postponed the inevitable.  Finally push came to shove and I pushed my sorry self towards the pile, sorted it according to order of use, then began.  The telephone never rang to pull me away; no knock at the door to distract me; the television tuned to a program of no interest; even the pups were no bother.  That left only me and "the project".  Taking the board, feeling the weight of it, a quick measure of the fabric, and I was ready to roll--no longer putting off.  Layer, wrap, staple..why had I put this off?  Too bad the staples that I needed did not fit the staple gun in hand.  A quick trip to Harbor Freight  would only be a temporary diversion.  For a little cash I was headed home to "the project" once more.  Amazingly it went together much as I hoped it would, actually a lot easier, and within an hour I was on the phone calling a co-hort to let her know "the project" was completed!  Not only that, but the discovery that only one board was necessary.  All that was left now was to write down the directions so that any other procrastinator could follow them.  Writing directions is a technical thing isn't it?  No first person, second person, or third person.  No possessive words, no story flow.  A piece of cake and it was delicious.