I’d Rather Be Procrastinating

My worst bad habit is procrastinating. And I want to kick it to the curb.

Everyone procrastinates sometimes, right? When faced with a big, daunting task that you just don’t want to do? Even if it’s for a minute or two…or twenty?

I am definitely guilty of putting off the daunting tasks. The reason I’m writing this post is because I had planned to share my kitchen/dining room tour last Wednesday. I never finished the items on my to do list, so I never took the pictures or wrote the post and then it never got done. And I felt REALLY crappy about it.

I had spent a lot of time thinking through the topics I wanted to write about. I planned out my editorial calendar for the rest of the year, I broke down everything into the tasks I needed to complete and assigned deadlines in my 2Do app. Granted, only I knew about this self imposed schedule. But I let myself down. I had a momentum going, and I wanted to keep it up. And now here I am, writing about procrastination the day before the post is scheduled to go live. << UPDATE: it’s the day of, about 20 minutes before and by the time I’m done will probably be at least 20 (read: 60) minutes AFTER I planned to post…ahhh… am I hopeless??

While I willingly admit to procrastinating when faced with a daunting task, my biggest hurdle is actually making it through my mornings. You see, I like to linger, and I wake up early so I don’t have to rush (oh, the irony). I have a cup of coffee, sit on the couch, catch up on emails or browse blogs, scroll through Instagram, sometimes Pinterest. But I usually push it too far. And then lingering turns into total chaos when I end up scurrying around to get myself ready and out the door on time.

The thing is, all that lingering doesn’t bring me nearly enough joy to counteract the stress I feel later. I don’t even know why I do it. With the bigger, daunting tasks I know it’s tied to perfectionism. But not in the early mornings when I’m putting off getting ready for the day. Maybe I’m just lazy. Or maybe I’m just tired and need time to wake up.

Whatever the reason, I find mornings to be tricky. I need to find a happy balance. Because those days when I get up and ready right away, and don’t take the time to wake up slowly, I feel more tired earlier in the day. One way I’m trying to achieve balance is by planning ahead.

Planning Ahead

I find that if I take the time to do these three things each week(end), it helps me immensely. Even if I push the limits and linger a little longer than I should, I am not quite so stressed as I head into my day:

1. Meal Plan: having a plan of what I’ll eat and when makes life so much easier. I don’t have to come up with something on the spot. This also helps me make healthier choices because I can plot it all out in advance. I don’t usually go so far as planning dinners, but I do plan what I’ll have for breakfast, lunch and snacks during the week. I don’t like to eat the same exact thing every day (that’s just my preference), so this helps a ton.
2. Food Prep: aside from planning my meals, actually preparing them in advance saves a lot of hassle in the mornings. It’s amazing how much time it can take to wash and cut fruit, or to put together yogurt and granola cups, build salads or come up with healthy snacks. I do most of my food prep on Sunday, and then some things the night before—like cutting strawberries to have with my take-to-work breakfast.
3. Plan Outfits: I do this after I’ve (hopefully) gotten through all the laundry and I have my full wardrobe at my disposal. I check the weather forecast first and plan a variety of outfits for the whole week in one shot. Occasionally an outfit doesn’t work (I don’t try on in advance), and then I scramble. But for the most part I’ve had success and it makes getting ready that much simpler.

As in most areas of life, I am still a work in progress. Acknowledging the problem is the first step, right? And planning ahead is definitely helping. I just need to be aware that I’m procrastinating, hold myself accountable, and then get my booty moving!

Do you procrastinate? Or is there a different bad habit you want to kick?

Many thanks and much love,