Set a deadline
One day, while writing an article in the offices of The Irish Times, the sub-editor said to me: ‘I don’t want it perfect. I want it now!’
A deadline is a great cure for procrastination and perfectionism. Set yourself a deadline, a time by which something must be done. Apparently, the origin of the word deadline is a line drawn around or inside a prison, beyond which prisoners would be shot. When we procrastinate, we lock ourselves in the prison.
My first memoir, In My Gut, I Don’t Believe, might well have been called A Psychological Portrait of Procrastination. Even when, after five years in the seminary, I had decided to leave my priestly path, I allowed myself to be persuaded to stay another four years!
Boy on a Fence
You know the old joke about the guy who weighed up both sides of the argument and came down firmly on the fence!
My image for myself was of a boy who often got up on a fence. But I was afraid that if I jumped into the unexplored field, there might be barbed wire hidden in the long grass. I might land in it, ripping my legs.
This week, writing my second memoir, I came across a line from my journal written five years after I’d left the seminary. ‘There wasn’t barbed wire when I jumped off that fence to leave the Marists!
I included that line in my latest episode of Saved by a Woman. When I’d finished my work for the day, I printed my newest 800 words and read it aloud. When I got to that line, I welled up.
Ambushed by a line
I totally didn’t expect that line to evoke any emotional response. But I choked up reading it. Why? I thought about the four extra years I’d spent failing to act on my decision. And the five years I spent teaching, even though I wanted to be a writer. And my habit, even today, of delaying things out of an abundance of caution.
Procrastination and fear
We procrastinate because we fear. I was afraid it might be a huge mistake to leave the Marists. As I said to my counsellor just before I finally left: ‘But leaving the Marists is a major decision with lifelong consequences!’
She retorted: ‘Staying in the Marists is a major decision with lifelong consequences!’
Procrastination, safety and risk
We procrastinate because we feel the ‘safer’ thing to do is not to decide. Or to keep doing the same old thing. But living your life to the full requires calculated risk. Sometimes when we choose the ‘safe’ option, we’ve given up on ourselves and on the joy of life.
Learn, grow, live and love
One of my favourite quotes of all time is a line from Leo F. Buscaglia:
‘The greatest omission in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing gets nothing, has nothing, is nothing. He may avoid suffering, pain and sorrow, but he does not learn, grow, live or love. He is only a slave – chained by safety – locked away by fear. Only a person who is willing to risk, not knowing the results, is alive.’
Set your deadline!
Joe Armstrong’s first memoir is In My Gut, I Don’t Believe. For reviews, see here. He is currently writing his second memoir, Saved by a Woman.
