There is a saying; “Procrastination is the thief of time” and this is true – at least for me.  Even worse, putting off doing something you KNOW needs to be done – not only steals your time: it also steals your peace.

Have you ever had the experience where – say for example – you know you need to get petrol for your car, but you just keep putting it off for another hour, another day, another…  you get the message. My kryptonite is cleaning my house or doing dishes after dinner.

So this is what happens.

I finish eating and there are these dishes in the sink to be washed or put into the dishwasher. But I don’t FEEL like it because I just don’t like doing dishes. But I know I need to do them because it also bothers me that there are dirty dishes in my sink. So every time I pass these dishes, they aggravate the heck out of me. It’s like I have these dishes following me around everywhere I go. I can have no peace because these dishes are sitting on my brain as “something I need to do” and it won’t go away.

So one day I noticed that if I just “did” the dishes the first time I thought about doing them, I’d have saved myself a lot of annoyance by having not this thing I need to do just following me around everywhere I went.

When I say I just “did” the dishes; let me explain.

One day after I ate I just decided to do the dishes immediately after. I didn’t leave them in the sink, I didn’t think, “I’ll just wash everything at the end of the day” in fact – I DIDN’T THINK!

I discovered that the moment I started, THINKING, that was the moment I got into trouble.

IF YOU GIVE YOUR BRAIN TIME TO THINK, IT’S GOING TO COME UP WITH A MILLION EXCUSES OF WHY YOU CAN DO THE DISHES LATER.

“Oh, it’s just me – so I’m not going to have anyone bothering me about dirty dishes in the sink”

“Oh, it’s so much better to just do everything at the end of the day.”

“I’ll just go do this thing here and later I’ll take care of the dishes.”

And on and on my thoughts chime in, giving every excuse under the sun as to why I cannot do the dishes right after I ate.

So here’s the deal.

The moment I ALLOW MY THOUGHTS to have a say – it’s over!

So what do we do. Well, this is what I did.

As soon as I finish eating, instead of piling the dishes in the sink; I turn on the water, get the sponge and started washing.

The trick is in the momentum after you eat. DON’T THINK, Just DO!

Later I discovered someone else also had this problem and devised a way to manage this.

She wrote a book called the 5-SECOND RULE.

So using my previous example after eating; I go to put the dirty dishes in the sink to be washed, however, as I approach the sink I start counting backwards; 5- I remove what’s left on the plate and place it into the garbage, 4- I turn on the water, 3-I add the soap, 2- I wash the dishes 1- I put away the dishes. BOOM! Dishes done! No dirty dishes on my brain following me around disturbing my peace, even when I try to relax. Just peace and quiet.

So – the next time you find it difficult to do something; DON’T THINK – start counting back from 4 – 1 and just DO!

It works! At least it does for me.

To work with me:

Email: leverage4change@gmail.com

Phone: 954-483-0669 (please leave a message as I might be busy with a client).

Talk soon!