Bible Reading: 1 Samuel 10, 11, 12, Luke 9:42-62.
Memory Verse: “And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.” Luke 9:59 (KJV).
Procrastination is the avoidance of doing a task which needs to be accomplished. It is the act of unnecessarily postponing decisions or actions. This could be for physical or spiritual matters. Some of the reasons why people procrastinate include: Abstract goals, Rewards that are far in the future, A disconnect from our future self, Feeling overwhelmed, Anxiety, Task aversion, Perfectionism, Fear of evaluation or negative feedback, Fear of failure, A perceived lack of control, Depression, Lack of motivation, Lack of energy and Sensation seeking.
To successfully deal with your procrastination, you need to figure out why you procrastinate and how your procrastination is preventing you from achieving your goals, so you can formulate a concrete plan of action, based on appropriate anti-procrastination techniques , that will help you deal with your reason for procrastination.
Some of the anti-procrastination techniques are: prioritize tasks based on how important they are, break large and overwhelming tasks into small and actionable pieces, get started on tasks by committing to only work on them for a few minutes, remove distractions from your work environment, identify when you are most and least productive, and schedule your tasks and write “to do” list accordingly, set intermediate deadlines for yourself on your way to your final goals, create a daily goal and mark streaks of days on which you’ve successfully achieved it, reward yourself when you successfully implement your plan of action, focus on your goals instead of on the tasks that you have to complete, visualize your future self experiencing the outcomes of your work, count to ten before you indulge the impulse to procrastinate, avoid a perfectionist mindset by accepting that your work will have some flaws and develop a belief in your ability to successfully overcome your procrastination.
To be a true child of God, you must deal with procrastination in your life. The Lord Jesus said in Luke 9:59 (KJV), “And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.” But in response in Luke 9:60 (KJV), “Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.” So Jesus expects everyone to follow him immediately without any form of procrastination. The longer it takes for you to decide for him, the greater your chance of missing him.
Procrastination concerning your work, relationship, health etc is dangerous but procrastination concerning your faith is deadly! What are you postponing concerning righteous living, you need to act now because tomorrow may be too late! Decide for Christ today!
Action Point: Review your life, ascertain where you have been procrastinating and take actions to put an end to procrastination.
Bro. Biodun Oyapero