Do to-day's tasks now--Don't try to do to-morrow's work to-day,
but be sure and do the day's work Now--The baneful effects of
procrastination--Not fair to yourself--Demoralization attendant upon
putting off things--The world looking for people who can do things
Now.
If you have anything to do--do it. If you have any task to perform
to-day--do it Now. If the matter cannot possibly be performed to-day,
stop bothering about it, and get to work doing the things of to-day.
But don't get into that miserable habit of putting off things until
later in the day, or later in the week--do them _now_. The old
proverb: "Procrastination is the thief of time," is true, but it does
not go far enough. Procrastination is not only the thief of time, but
the thief of energy--the thief of efficiency--the thief of success.
We have had much to say about living in the Now--about not dwelling in
the past or fretting about the future. And all this is true, and I
will probably say it over and over again during the year, because I
believe in it, and wish you to get acquainted with the idea. But
living in the Now does not merely mean the thinking of the thoughts of
to-day--the carrying of the burdens of to-day--the meeting of the
problems of to-day. It also means the doing of the WORK of to-day.
To attempt to carry last year's burdens--or next week's
burdens--to-day, is folly of the worst kind, as you well know. But it
is equally foolish to put off to-day's work until to-morrow. It's not
treating to-morrow right--not giving it a chance. The Self of
to-morrow is not exactly the Self of to-day. That is, it has grown a
little and is the Self of to-day plus the added experience of the day.
And it is just as selfish for the Self of to-day to attempt to throw
his burdens upon the Self of to-morrow as it would be for you to
attempt to throw your burdens upon your brother or sister. It is not
only selfish, but it is hurtful to you--it impedes your growth.
To-day's work is set before you because of the lesson it contains, and
if you refuse to accept your lesson, you are the loser. You cannot get
away from the task. It will be placed before you again and again until
it is performed, and you might as well do it at once, and get your
lesson at the proper time, and not be compelled like the schoolboy to
"catch-up" in his work. By putting off things until to-morrow, you are
simply heaping up troubles for yourself to-morrow, as to-morrow's own
work will have to be done as well as your leftover tasks, and the
chances are that neither of them will be done properly. There's no
sense whatever in this habit of procrastinating. It is folly of the
worst kind.
And not only in the immediate effects is procrastination hurtful to
one. One of the worst features of the case is the demoralizing effect
it has upon the whole mental attitude of the man. It cultivates
laziness, indecision, shiftlessness, slackness and many other
undesirable habits of thought and action. It manifests itself in
numberless ways in the character of the man who has allowed himself to
be tangled in it. It impairs his efficiency--affects his value.
Then again, you are really unfair to yourself if you get in the way of
putting off things. You never have any time to yourself if you have a
number of old matters demanding your attention. The man who
procrastinates is never able to spare time for mental improvement,
because he always has some old loose ends to wind up--some old tangle
to straighten out. And he loses all idea of the value of time--of
getting the most out of every hour, every minute. The procrastinator
is the veriest drudge--he has his nose to the grindstone all the time.
He never has any time he can call his own. He is a slave to his own
habit of "laying things aside." Poor man.
I am satisfied that half the failures of life--yes, three-quarters of
them--are due to the failure of persons to do the thing Now. Not only
because of what they lose directly by this habit, but because of the
effect it produces upon their character. The shiftless habit of
thought manifests itself in action. The thought and action, long
persisted in, will lead to a demoralization of the entire character of
the individual. He soon forgets how to do things right. And that is
where so many people fail. The world is looking for people who can DO
things--and who can Do Them Now.
If you are one of the procrastinating kind, start in at once and get
over it. Put up a sign before your desk, your sewing machine, your
work-bench, or wherever you spend most of your time, and have these
words in big black letters on the sign:--"DO IT NOW!" By carrying the
thought of this NOW way of doing things, and letting it manifest
itself in action as frequently as possible, you will find that before
long your entire mental attitude regarding work has changed, and you
will find yourself doing things when they should be done, without any
particular effort on your part. The mind can be trained and taught to
do things right. It needs a little courage, a little perseverance, a
little will-power, but the result will pay you for your trouble. Start
in to cure yourself of this bad habit. Start in at once. Do it NOW.