How To Get Things Done By Procrastinating

What do you do when you’re working on an important project and you come to a bump in the road?  Maybe the “bump” is that your numbers don’t add up on your tax form, your sewing machine is having tension issues, or the homemade bread you’ve always dreamt of making and finally got around to weighs five pounds and can only be cut with a hacksaw—after all that work, too!

When this happens to me, I tend to procrastinate…except  sometimes I actually do something I’ve been putting off for months but in comparison is far more attractive than solving the critical issue at hand:  I cleaned my refrigerator!  And I did it well.

Flash back to circa 1990 or so, and you’ll find me doubled over the bathtub of my college apartment at around 11:30 pm, scrubbing the devil out of a hubcap I picked up on the side of the road while walking home from a party one night.  I was gonna make that sucka shine like it came off the showroom floor!  (Yeah,  my found objects obsession was pretty intense back then.)  My roommate, having gotten used to my antics and avoidance behaviors) passes by the bathroom and does a double take. 

“Ummmm…what are you SUPPOSED to be doing right now?”

“Studying for an exam?” I answered sheepishly.

We both burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.

At that point, I did acknowledge that I was just procrastinating because I was anxious about the upcoming exam, and I did buckle down and get to studying.  I don’t remember whether I did well on that exam or not, but it was a helpful habit I learned, this calling myself to the mat, that stops my procrastination in its tracks.   

So, maybe the pride I felt yesterday over my newly gleaming refrigerator had just enough feel-good power to boost my confidence enough for me to go back and tackle the glitch that derailed my abandoned project in the first place.  When it was all said and done, not only had I completed two tough tasks, but I also found my favorite lip balm, which I’d accused my husband of eating because it tasted so convincingly of butter cream frosting.  Where was it, you ask?  Why, rolling around in the side door of my refrigerator, of course!