Where did you go this day?
With whom are you with?
What did you do?
Did you had fun today?
Did you became productive?
Did you have to take risk?
Did it pleased you?
Are you satisfied?
Would you like to do the same routine again?
Would you like to risk again?
I had to wake up by 8:00 in the morning today because I have a meeting with our student council auditor for her quarterly financial transparency exhibit. I still have to do my chores before I leave home: fix my bed, clean the house, the old school routines that just ate my time. I reached the office at around 11:00 AM and I immediately started to work. After we had our lunch, we went to a coffee shop to buy some frappes to refreshen ourselves and at the same time, start collecting some stickers for the company's most awaited planner promo. Most of us got disappointed with the total look of the new planner, but everyone's bitter pill turned into sweet pills after getting some talk at a tea house. We had so much fun conversing about stuff, add our gay friend who just made our day. It was already 5 in the afternoon when we got back in the office and everyone's preparing to go somewhere else in the south. It is raining outside and I was tempted to go home with my friend after some smart dialogue about our desired career in the future and about the reign of the late president Marcos in the Philippines.
The travel route I took tonight was the easiest - van from Morayta (in front of FEU) to Bocaue, Bulacan. I can be dropped at Petron Station in Marilao, but I decided to stop over at SM in Marilao. I went to the department store and checked some medical ointments for my pimple. I looked so ridiculous standing in front of some facial care boutique for like 15 to 20 minutes, checking every detail of the product - when it comes to skin care products I really read all the details especially the active ingredient of the product (as if I know how it functions) because I am afraid to use products that are new to me, because of the fear that it may just worsen my skin condition. I was able to find a perfect scrub for my face but I didn't bought any, even though It's tested to be mild and even I have the resources to buy the set. I feared. I feared because I haven't check The Face Shop yet, where all the products have organic components which will not greatly harm my skin. Because I haven't checked Mercury Drug yet, maybe they have a better dermatologist made ointments for pimples. Because I haven't visited Watsons yet, I heard there are good skin care products offered in this all-in-one shop.
But what if I gave this product a chance? What if it cured my skin problem? What if? What if? What if what? What if I did not procrastinated when I was there? What if I just bought the product so I can start healing my pimple?
Procrastination is the evil twin of our conscience, for we would often find ourselves fighting our spiritual self, our inner thoughts, contradicting the right action that should be done in the given situation to get the best result. It is always our choice to procrastinate or do the right thing, but we should always keep in mind that in procrastinating, we postpone the positive end result of doing the right thing or never let the good thing happen at all. But why do we procrastinate? In my case, I did not bought the products because first, I feared. Maybe it would just worsen the condition of my skin. And second, I thought that maybe hitting the mall on the other day would give me more product options than buying this product on my hand at the moment.
You might have experienced procrastinating, maybe once, one hundred times, one thousand times, or you may not have counted how many times you procrastinated since the time you started doing it. Aside from fear and laziness, here are the reasons why a person procrastinates:
3. Indecision - you balanced your decision making criteria and you end up not deciding.
4. Priority Confusion - there always come a time when we weigh each task in our to do list. Sometimes, we prioritize things according to the most desirable to our least liked task to accomplish, rather than weighing these task according to the deadline or what should be done first.
5. Lack of Energy - energy is one factor for procrastinating. Most of the time when we lack the energy to perform task, we tend to rest or sleep.
6. Early Morning Lag - or the scenario when we do not know what to do at the start of the day, so we end up finding ourselves sitting in one corner or sleeping the whole day like a bum.
7. Boredom - this is what we mostly feel when facing repetitive tasks.
8. Complicated Task Anxiety - the tasks that are assigned to us are just so complicated that we end up not doing the task. You break the biggest task into smaller once and start doing it.
9. Unproductive Circle of Friends - this is one factor that the youth should not take for granted because peer pressure is everywhere in our every-friends. If their circle are full of people who did not do anything good in their life but to have fun and get wasted all the time, they are definitely no good examples. Choose your friends.
Or maybe, people don't just appreciate the importance of finishing a task right away - that's why they procrastinate.
One action that I failed to do is to take risk. Being a risk taker (someone who do actions without knowing the outcome) is for me a necessary attitude of a person. Businessmen are mostly risk takers, especially those entrepreneurs who are just starting their business. If Jerry Baldwin, one of the original owners of Starbucks did not took risk in purchasing Peet's, a coffee shop that sells high quality coffee and high-tech equipments for brewing which is owned by Alfred Peet (who know works in Starbucks), Starbucks would not be known internationally, having more than 15,000 branches all over the world, or severe, Starbucks would not exist at all. If it weren't the aggressive attitude of Sam Walton in business, WalMart would not top the Forbes' 500 companies in the whole world for how many years. If the scientist or the normal people who played a big role in the development of human civilization did not took risk to invent and innovate things and improve the natural process of God given resources, we will surely be living in caves right now. If only I bought the product in the department store a while ago, who knows my pimple might be gone tomorrow. We should take risk. I should say, it's a requirement for each person to somehow, somewhere and sometime in their lives to take risk, wether or not they are sure of the end result of our action. But ofcourse, making a risk decision should be properly guided by purpose and reason. We do not risk everytime! There are just some instances that we should take risk to progress, to develop and feel the improvement in our system, in our work, in how we see and do things, or in our life.
Procrastination, is a poison to every successful attempt. Procrastination, as described by Napoleon Hill is the common enemy that everyone must conquer. We do not need light sabers or be in the boxing ring and beat Pacquiao inorder for us to beat this poison, this enemy. Procrastination is can be easily solved through our action. Once you beat procrastination, motivation becomes present because we now see and feel the importance and effect of finishing a task right away. Once we beat this evil twin of our conscience, we are still not safe for not being conquered by it again. We are human beings and we are easily tempted. But viewing the positive and right perspective, we are smart human beings that knows how to be productive and make right decisions for ourselves. Making it a habit to fight procrastination, will eventually kill this evil twin and we will become more motivated and productive than ever. We must remain vigilant in fighting this evil twin as we set our roads to our success.
RIGHT DECISION + INITIATIVE = ENDING PROCRASTINATION
RIGHT DECISION + INITIATIVE + MAKING GOOD RISK JUDGEMENT = SUCCESS
My ending conclusion, I will buy the facial wash tomorrow. It's my action, for me to see the results in my current skin problem. So how about you, what will happen to you tomorrow? Are you gonna be somewhere in the world, hoping to be productive or just wanna have fun with your friends? Who knows, maybe you'll end up creating a blog post, too.
If you would ask me if I became productive tonight, I would definitely say yes, it's in bold and italic. Because by this dilemma I am facing, I was able to create another post, which I am so proud to say that I was able to create a masterpiece tonight. I hope I was able to enlighten some of you, through my post, and help you get motivated to start things right, to the students, especially those who will start another semester this November 8, 2011. Always remember the equation I made above, hoping that it would set your focus and help bring you success in every way.
I remember the short tag line of one of the high-end sports company recognized internaitonally, "JUST DO IT." That's right. Just do what should be done and everything will come along your way.
