Hi everyone, my name is Meagan, and I am a procrastinator.
I used to like to think that I just worked well under pressure, but I have come to face facts: I will put something off until I can no longer put it off, and then occasionally I will put it off just a bit longer. Until tomorrow, which is conveniently forever in the future.
Enter my new best friend, Gretchen Rubin – or more specifically her book Better Than Before. I feel like I connect with Gretchen’s writing on a near-spiritual level, and since beginning to read it (and listening to her podcast Happier,) I have made some very do-able changes to my daily routine that have made a big impact, like if it only takes one minute then do it RIGHT NOW.
Out of the many useful things that I have gotten from this book, one of the most valuable for me has been the idea of ‘tomorrow logic’ – that somehow the Me of tomorrow will have the desire/skills/time/whatever to do the task that the Me of today doesn’t want to do.
It seems so silly when you see it written like that, but I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who imagines that if I just wait until tomorrow to do this thing I’ll have a good night’s sleep and the alignment of all the stars and planets to help me do it far better than I could possibly do it today. By now you would think that a lifetime of procrastination should have taught me that things don’t work this way, but alas.
In assigning tasks to tomorrow, we miss out on the vital importance of acting TODAY. No one likes to look back at all the yesterdays that have piled up and realize that if we had only started this thing before, we would be much farther ahead.
The key is taking a step right now, even if it’s just tidying up the space you need to do the thing. Gretchen talks about the one-coin argument: if one coin isn’t enough to make someone wealthy, what about if you add another? Or another? At what point does adding one more coin make someone wealthy? With a habit like fitness, every step you take or rep you complete adds a coin to your pile.
So whether it’s a fitness goal, a book you want to read or write, your taxes, or a business you want to start, just take one step at a time, never mind if the stars have aligned or not! Seek out someone who can support you along the way – maybe a friend, a trainer, a teacher, or an online accountability group. Put it in your schedule, IN PEN, and start adding coins to your pile or steps to your marathon.
Just think of how grateful your future self will be that you began today!
Need a coach? Contact me at meagan.walker@goodlifefitness.com to get started. 🙂
Resilience In Motion by Meagan Walker 