The Space Between
I’ve been intending to write a blog about procrastination but kept putting it off. See what I did there? I, like many of you, have been plagued by procrastination. Its subtle, entrenched roots are deep in my psyche and require little prompting for them to engage fully in a stalemate to any type of action whatsoever.
I have so much going on, ideas to ponder, goals to achieve, laundry to do… Regardless of my intention, that smooth talking voice of procrastination, think Barry White, sneaks into my brain and whispers, “Nah, you’ve got time,” or “It can wait.” Many times, more than I care to admit, I listen and kick the proverbial can down the road and vow to do it, whatever it is, later.
This propensity does not serve me well. With my coaching business taking shape and life continuing on at the speed of light, I knew it was in my best interest to reevaluate my time management strategies.
Lately, I’ve been paying attention to the space in between. By that, I mean the time between my intending to do something and the arbitrary time I assign it to be done, be it later that day, tomorrow, next week, anything but right now. How will I be spending that time in between? Will I be flipping through a magazine? Scrolling Instagram? Devising an alternative means of cracking Pistachios? Perhaps I’ll simply be justifying to myself why I feel the need to put that something off. Oftentimes, what presents itself as that justification is so trivial that it’s embarrassing. I’ll shake my head at the thought and then recommit to doing the thing right then and there as opposed to later. It’s my little brain hack and it seems to be working.
Notion to do something
Formulate a more desirable timeframe, ie. sometime later
Refocus on the time in between
Do I still procrastinate? You bet but now I’m conscious of the fact that I’m likely just falling back on an old habit of making excuses. Now, I force myself to pay attention to the space in between. While that has helped me to manage my time more efficiently, there is still laundry to do.
That can always wait.
