On procrastinating

I'm guessing I'm not the only one who was horrified this morning to look at the calendar and realize that it's September 1.  Where has the time gone??

Weren't we just saying "Happy New Year!"?  Or, at the very least, "Happy Memorial Day"?

As it happens, my eye fell this morning on a message I really needed to see:

"Procrastination is a thief which robs you of money by stealing your time." 

Those words were spoken by Dr. Nido R. Qubein, President of the university where my youngest son just started college.  They're a bit startling to me--but they're quite true, aren't they?

And as I was reflecting on Dr. Quebein's words, it occurred to me that procrastination steals more than time and money.  Most important for me right now, I realize that procrastination is stealing my peace of mind.

Oh, procrastinating gives me a sense of control, that's for sure.  "I don't feel like doing that right now," I'll tell myself.  "I need to rest."  Or "I'd rather do this instead."  But it's a false sense of control.

Those tasks I put off don't go away, not even in my thoughts.  Instead, they loom large--often much larger in imagination than they ever were in reality.

The steps that need to be taken can look awfully daunting from the bottom--but the climb grows shorter each time I simply put one foot in front of the other.

I don't do very well with New Year's resolutions, but this year I'm hoping to make an Autumn resolution. My goal is to stop putting things off.  I'm hoping to stop allowing the thief of procrastination rob me of my time and my peace of mind.

Are you prone to procrastination?  Or have you found a way to overcome it?  Please share!