Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Famous Last Words -- “I’ll do it later.”

We’ve all done it. We’ve all said, “Oh, I’ll do it later.” It’s a fair thing to put some things off to a later time, particularly a more appropriate time perhaps, but some things just need to be started and some projects must be steadily and diligently progressed or we’ll never reach our objective. This will risk letting people down who’re relying on us to do the things we need to do.
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Taking the initiative requires effort. It means we have to resist the temptation to say, “I’ll do it later.” And the truth is every one of us struggles with it. There are so many areas in life we’d want to just relax and cool our heels, or do other ‘important stuff’. Another truth: your life heads south and you’ll end up poorer if you don’t bite the bullet and do what you need to do, now.
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I’ve got “a round tuit” at home. It’s a round plaque that illustrates this exact point. It says,
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“This is a round tuit. Guard it with your life. Tuits are hard to come by, especially the round ones. It will help you to become a much more efficient worker. For years you’ve heard people say, ‘I’ll do it, when I get a round tuit.’ So now that you have one, you can accomplish all those things you put aside until you got your round tuit.”
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Doesn’t that just say it? It’s a constant reminder of the things we put off and put off and again and again, put off. Bill Hybels says in Making Life Work, “Excuses breed excuses. Laziness, sluggishness, indolence, slothfulness, whichever slow moving word you choose -- they all breed more and more of the same slimy stuff. It’s a thick soup you’re sinking into, and you’ll end up stuck in a life of ruin.” (p. 35)
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“I’ll do it later.” Famous last words. Even if we do this thing later it won’t bring us the satisfaction it could if we just do it now. We need to break the pattern of procrastination by taking initiative and by stop making excuses. Make good the commitments you have to people by doing what you need to do.
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Copyright © 2008, Steven John Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

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