Unexpectedly preschool was cancelled for the week so my single dad son was caught off guard for daycare for four-year-old Jude.
Happily, I volunteered.
The two older kids were in school, but I had a blast with Jude spending the week exploring new sledding hills, trekking to Holland Aquatic Center, and sitting on the floor trying my darndest to not let Yeti fall through the ‘spaghetti.’
On one of our morning jaunts, buckled in the backseat of his car seat, Jude became restless so I gave him paper pad and pen.
When we arrived at feed-the-birds nature center, and went to unfastened him ...
Was I surprised!
I found pages of scribbles.
Yes, they were just scribbles.
And fired off rapidly.
But each one was different.
A squirmy line
Circular funnel
Even himself!
What's impressive about these drawings is his fearlessness.
He didn’t utter:
“I can’t draw.”
“What if it doesn’t look good?”
Instead, Jude just dove in.
No toe-dipping.
No hemming and hawing.
His fearlessness inspired me, reminding me to take that first step.
How about you?
What's holding you back?
Procrastination, hesitation, excuses …
If you do a google search for procrastination, there's 59,900,000 results! Amazon alone has more than 1,600 books for sale on procrastination.
So what is the answer for procrastination?
After a13-year career as a registered nurse, then returning to college as an art major, and becoming a small business retail owner for 25 years, I have two favorite tips to chase away procrastination. Perhaps they'll work for you.
How - to avoid procrastination
My 2 top tips to score success
1. Reward yourself
Sure you've heard about goal setting.
S.M.A.R.T. goals ,in particular, they keep me focused, but to conquer them I need an incentive.
Ben & Jerry's Coffee Heath ice cream is my pick.
Not convinced about the reward method?
Here's an except from N J Life Hacks :
“Behavior that gets rewarded gets repeated.
Tell your dog to “sit” and when he does so, reward him with a goodie. Do this a couple of times and the dog will quickly learn to sit down when you tell him to “sit”.
That’s how behavior works in a very simplistic way; in animals as well as in human beings. When we get rewarded for a behavior, we’ll repeat it.
This is how habits are built as well. They involve a cue, a response, and a reward. It’s only once your brain starts anticipating or rather expecting the reward that the power of a habit fully kicks in.
The point is, our behavior is strongly driven by rewards. Rewarding behaviors get repeated and unrewarding behaviors die out."
So trust me, setting a reward is worth it.
You'll love the results.
2. Eat That Frog
What's the breakfast of champions?
Eating a frog.
In summary, the 'frog' is your most dreaded task on your to-do list.
Conquer it first and you'll feel unstoppable.
In Tracy's book, he relates to Mark Twain's famous phrase: "Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day."
Eat That Frog was originally published in 2001. It's been updated with new chapters added to bring you easier success.
It's my personal favorite book. It's easy-to-read and implement.
by Brian Tracy, Eat That Frog.
So on your journey to beat procrastination, think of Jude.
Just start! Scribble if you have to.
Your attempts don't have to be perfect.
Refinement can come as you move forward, it's action that counts.
Be Jude; be fearless, eat that frog and reward yourself.
For additional reading: Leaving my nursing profession to being a full-time artist is the short story.
For the full scoop, read my memoir: A Lone Birch, My Artistic Journey.
