I don’t like to admit it, but I tend to tell myself I will do that tomorrow. Previously I thought this was very wrong of me. If you want to do something, you should do it right now. The thing is that I don’t believe in a black and white world. This means that I’m not doing these things for no reasons at all and that it probably has it’s value if I use it in its right way. But what is the right way?
Recognizing what you're doing
The that I try to do is recognizing why I tell myself I will do it tomorrow. Maybe it’s just laziness, but maybe I’m lazy cause I didn’t eat or sleep well. Recognizing this is the first step to making sure you will do it sooner rather than later next time. If I can’t really find a reason and I’m just lazy I try to look at the ‘what if’ scenario. What if I would do it tomorrow, what will I do now then? Will I finish it in time? When would I start it? Let’s go for an example.
Sugar-free evenings
Lately, I want to eat less sugar in the evening. I’m kind of addicted to eating anything with chocolate in the evening. Although my whole diet is good, this is kind of my ‘weak’ point. Now I have tried ways but every time it ends up in my telling myself in the evening:” I will start tomorrow.” Yup, everybody does this. The problem is that tomorrow is a relative term and I can keep saying it every day. Cause tomorrow it’s going to be today. Tomorrow never really arrives, so when would I stop eating sugar? Never?
Well, of course not. But maybe my motivation just hasn’t been high enough to push me towards the behavior at that certain moment. Once I start thinking about the consequences, I start being more motivated. With some behaviors the consequences just don’t seem to bad and then I don’t do it. Is this a bad thing?
Honesty is key
I don’t believe so. If I really wanted to do it, I would find the consequences bad enough to actually do it. The risk with this is that you do need to be honest with yourself about the consequences. Not studying now, will mean a lot of stress in the future. Yes, you will most probably still get a good grade if you procrastinated. The only problem is that you just need to study a lot then and you’re probably going to be stressed out. Do you really want that?
Living by the present ('carpe diem'?)
'Carpe diem' is the very old saying that means ‘seize the day’. It means that you shouldn’t worry about the future and should enjoy every day at its time. In recent years we had our own modern version of this called ‘YOLO’ (You Only Live Once). Although it’s a very good thing to live by the day, I would argue that in our modern society it’s a necessary good to think of what you want in the future. Especially with the many opportunities that are giving to us by modern technology, But instead often we just keep it to a dream in our heads. I would suggest making the changes necessary in the present to achieve this in the future. This means that sometimes you have to struggle, but that’s fine, everybody struggles at times. It’s just important that you keep in mind that you at times also seize the day. This is a balance, yin and yang, chaos and order or whatever you want to call it.
This are the things that I think of whenever I think to myself ‘I will do it tomorrow.’ It’s not that I necessarily do not do it. It’s just that I try to be aware of how it will influence me and at what point I would actually do it. Once I realize that not doing it now, wouldn’t change anything in the future, makes me often just do it. And sometimes I’m just lazy and think ‘f*ck it’. I think that’s human, I believe that’s what balance looks like.
I hope you liked the article. Please leave a comment with how you handle the ‘I will do it tomorrow’ habit. Or leave a like, also check out my other articles at www.obooy.com