I had a … well for the sake of the guilty parties let’s call it a discussion … with my daughter the other day.
It went like this:
Why didn’t you do X?
I was going to!
But you didn’t
But I was going to!
Procrastination, isn’t it wonderful!
The dictionary definition is
procrastinate: to put off until later; delay
After this ‘discussion’ with my daughter I thought about how times I say “I was going to”. Or the grown up version “I’ve been meaning to” but don’t actually do it.
I do it with friends and family: “I was going to give you a call and see how you are”; “I was going to send you some flowers”; “I’ve been meaning to organise a catch up”.
And with myself: “I’ve been planning to clean up that mess”; “I’ve been meaning to get that checked by the doctor”; “I’ve been thinking about doing some exercise”.
As I made the point with my daughter that “going to” is not the same as “doing” it came home really strongly to me too. Maybe the key is when you think of those things, as much as you can, do them. Text that friend, make that Dr’s appointment, send the flowers, pick up the mess, do the exercise.
What is it that you need to stop “meaning to do” and just straight out do?
Jodie