There are 4 little words that people utter every day, and the results can be devastating.
When people are saying them, they actually think that they are making their life better, at least in the moment – but said and acted on often enough, and you have a monumental mess on your hands…
What are those 4 devastating words?
“I’ll do it later.”
What happens when you drop today’s mail on the table and say, “I’ll do it later?”
Be honest. 4 or 5 days later, the stack is 6 inches deep!
How about when you left those clothes in the dryer? Now you have to run them again. Will you get them out this time?
Or how about wiping up the stove? 3 or 4 days later, the stuff is so caked and burned on there that you need a sandblaster. It would have taken you 45 seconds to do it in the first place.
How about your health? When do most people actually do something about it?
- When they find out they have a chronic illness
- When their joints hurt so bad that they can no longer enjoy life
- When they’ve had their first heart attack
I don’t know how we have developed this ‘put everything off until it explodes, and then I’ll do something about it’ mentality. It didn’t used to be like this. People used to do what they needed to do, when they needed to do it. It wasn’t optional.
Stop treating things you need to do as optional.
“But I don’t feel like it…”
So what. Get over it and just do it. Grow up. What are we teaching our kids? They remember more about what you do than what you say.
The next time you are tempted to put something off, especially if it’s something that will take minutes – ask yourself, “How much easier will my life be if I just get this done now? How much worse will it be if I put this off?”
I’m serious. Every time you are tempted to walk over that piece of paper on the floor, or overlook that spill on the stove, or ignore the buzzer on the dryer – think about what you will have to deal with later.
I guarantee that when you adopt a do it now attitude, you will have more time and more peace.
