Reflecting on Procrastination

I want to share the following that I received through my e-mail.

Dear Friends

I was with an old friend of mine having known him since I was in school. He was an excellent student and was constantly in the top five positions in class while I was at the opposite side. He went on to be a mid manager and spent most of his time in the office, board room working for a medium sized company in Jalan Ipoh.

After meeting him for lunch, I could see that he was quite envious of what I have done - among other things travelled extensively, sent my kids to Santa Clara University & spent about RM1.6M in that process etc - and he actually asked me how I did all that when my results in school (HSC 1968) was "D E E O" (O = Fail).

We then compared notes and realized that in almost every aspects, he actually beat me flat - he had a great degree, working in a listed company, had great contacts, and the list goes on and I asked him why didn't he strike out on his own when he had all these resources with him?

Same answer: FEAR and Procrastination

So I would like to share some of my views on a little discussed subject "Procrastination". You really don't have to believe me, because I am just relating from my experience, and that does not make it true or false, right or wrong. It’s just my experience I am sharing.

To over come Procrastination, you may need to:

Recognize that there is more pain in procrastinating than not. If you have procrastinated a lot (like me) you might have discovered that.

You procrastinate to avoid doing something that is boring, hard or something like that. You want to avoid that pain. But after having some experience with procrastination you’ll probably realize that procrastination itself causes your more pain than actually just doing what you were supposed to.

Realizing the true amount of pain in the two choices will make it easier to get things done. The pain comes from Regret which comes from realizing later on that if you had taken action much earlier, you would have avoided this feeling of regret which generally stems from "Missed Opportunities". When I looked back to my earlier days, I just could not believe the number of opportunities I passed by . .

1. I could have got a scholarship to the States (yes, in spite of my academic boo-boo results). It was FEAR of "loss of face" that stopped me. My teacher whom I still keep in touch after all these years advised me to “repeat” my Form 6, but you know what that means? As I am well known in school having been one of the few students who won medals in SEA Games, everybody will know that I repeated! The stigma of being a “repeat” student in Form 6 then was punishing, and yeah, the loss of face clouded all other forms of thinking.

Don’t let that happen to you!

2. I could have attended the Mexico Olympics as a competitor. It was my unwillingness to go through a gruelling training program - preferring my "comfort zone".

3. And the list can go on and on and on . .

Just take the first step. When you start to look too far into the future any task or project can seem close to impossible. And so you shut down because you become overwhelmed and start surfing the internet aimlessly instead. That is one of the reasons why it is good to plan for the future but then to shift your focus back to today and the present moment. Then you just focus on taking the first step today. That is all you need to focus on, nothing else.

By taking the first step you change you mental state from resistant to “hey, I’m doing this”. You put yourself in state where you become more positive, a state where you may not be enthusiastic about taking the next step after this first one but you are at least accepting it. And so you can take the next step, and the next one after that.

As they say, it is not necessary for you to see the end of the staircase before you need to take the first step.

Start with the hardest task of your day. Maybe you have an important call to make that you also fear might be uncomfortable. Maybe you know you have gotten behind on answering your emails and have big pile to dig into. Maybe you have the last five pages of your paper to finish. Whatever it may be, get it out of your way the first thing you do. If you start your day this way you will feel relieved. You feel relaxed and good about yourself. And the rest of the day - and your to-do list - tends to feel a lot lighter and easier to move through. It’s amazing what difference this one action makes.

So my beloved friends, ladies and gentlemen, start making your plans. Start dreaming because that is the first step. Dream! Then materialize your dreams. Dream of what you can do to start a business with Little or No Money and when you are halfway up the ladder, please reach out your hand to lift someone else up with you.

Have a great weekend ahead!

Please keep in touch.

From a Friend

Victor Lau

+6016 2293343 (Malaysia)

+65 9172 9111 (Singapore)