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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

If Not Today, Why Bother?

The art of procrastination - or, the type C personality.

We all know the "type A" folks who are always overbooked and under pressure. Most of the pressure is of their own making, but don't try to tell them that. They have to get to the airport way early so they can be the first to know that their flight will be delayed. They get angry because the car wash has no passing lane. Then we have the "type B" person who might be heard to say, "Well, I meant to get that done today, but I just didn't get to it. Maybe I can do it tomorrow." They don't put too much stress upon themselves or anyone else. Life is to be enjoyed, experienced, savored, and it just doesn't make sense to get all flustered over every little thing.

But we seem to have a third group that no one is talking about. Maybe we should call them "type C' personalities. These are the folks who never appear to busy doing anything, but never seem to have time to get anything much done. They don't seem too bothered about it either. Some of them have developed procrastination into an art form. Carl Hurley tells about the two fellows sitting in the shade of a tree near the road. One is facing the road, one facing away from the road. A girl walks by and says "hey". The fellow facing the road says "hey" right back. About 30 minutes later, the other fellow says, "Clem, was she pretty?" Clem says "Yes she was". The other fellow replies, "Too bad I wasn't facing that way".

Regardless of our personality type, we all need to come to an understanding about just what we can safely put off, and what we better take care of today. In fact, if we put certain things off, there may be no reason to do them at all. For example, if you are way over due for a checkup, today would be an excellent day to make the appointment, and then KEEP IT! If you have been putting off telling someone you love just how you feel about them, today would be a great time to do that, because tomorrow is not guaranteed to any of us. If someone has done something nice for you and you owe them a thank you, it will mean a lot more today than it might if you put it off. And if you owe someone an apology, today is the right time to take care of it. If you wait, there is a good chance they will become less and less receptive as the days go by. In fact, TODAY is just about the best day there is to do almost anything you have a mind to do!

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