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I’ll Think About That Tomorrow

A famous line from Gone with the Wind occurs at the end of the movie, right after Rhett Butler walks out on Scarlett O’Hara and she declares, “I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow.”

Sounds a lot like procrastination – putting off until tomorrow what is better done today. Procrastination is a five-syllable word for “stress” – stress that's avoided if you do whatever needs to get done now instead of putting it off until later!

So… why do you do it to yourself? You know you have a huge presentation to give to a prospective client on Friday. It’s Wednesday and you haven’t even started it yet. Maybe like so many others, you wait until December 24th every single year to start (and obviously finish) your Christmas shopping. Do you claim, and really believe, that you “work better under pressure”? Or do you get some kind of “rush” out of waiting to do something at the last minute?

Actually these are just rationalizations for putting off until tomorrow what you just don’t want to do today. And why is that? Maybe it’s fear of failure, or even fear of success, so you sabotage yourself or set yourself up to fail, quite unintentionally of course. Maybe you are putting off a task you really don’t like to do, instead of just doing it and getting it over with. Or maybe you just have too many distractions – computers are especially good at providing them with email, social networks, games, etc.

So, how can you manage procrastination to ease the stress that it causes and the subsequent negative health impacts? Try these suggestions:

• Break a large task down into smaller pieces and tackle it one piece at a time, setting a deadline to complete each piece.

• Get organized before you begin and the task flows more smoothly, with fewer interruptions.

• Do the one thing you don’t want to do first and get it over with so it isn’t looming over your head.

• Schedule tasks according to your own personal “power hours.” Are you a morning person? A night person? Do you feel sluggish in the early afternoon and “pick up” later on? Tackle your more challenging “to do” items during your peak productivity periods and leave the more routine tasks for your “down” times.

• Avoid multi-tasking – you may think you do quite well with it, but handling one task at a time, with your full attention on it, is really a better way to be productive and to stay “on task.”

Procrastination is a bad habit, one that 20% of the population engages in on a regular basis. And… like all bad habits, it takes its toll on your health, your wealth, your happiness and your peace of mind. While we can help manage some of the effects of stress on your body through chiropractic care, wouldn’t it be better if you could eliminate this type of controllable stress all on your own?