I will do it later syndrome

As I sit down to write this, I feel the need to confess; I suffer from ‘I’ll do it later syndrome’.  I have the best of intentions. Yet, invariably I have once again waited until the last minute.

If you are like me, you probably have said to yourself, and possibly to others ‘I work best under pressure’. Just last week a friend said to me ‘I just wouldn’t be happy unless I was right up against the wire.’ These statements are cop-outs! By waiting until the last minute, we have created an environment of failure. Perhaps we are just giving ourselves a built in excuse for failure. I can hear myself now, ‘it wasn’t my best work, but I finished it just in time’ or ‘I didn’t have time to be too creative’.

The reality is, you either play first and pay for it later – or you pay first and can play later. How often have you had to pass on something fun you wanted to do because you had to finish something you should have already completed? It is easy to think there is plenty of time to accomplish your goals later. The reality is – now is all you have.

John Wooden, coaching legend, said that he used to tell his players ‘You have to give 100 percent every day. Whatever you don’t give you can’t make up for tomorrow. If you give only 75 percent today, you can’t give 125 percent tomorrow to make up for it.’  Every time you allow yourself to suffer from “I’ll do it later syndrome’ you have just tried to give 75% today, in hopes of being able to give 125% tomorrow.

What percent will you do today? Choose 100!