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The Friday Frenzy

How the weeks fly by! It's Friday, already, and here we are, dizzied by the sight of our to-do lists...so many boxes, still unchecked! Where do you begin? It seems that your desk needs tidying up, your closet needs cleaning, or perhaps the fridge needs to be cleaned out. Rather than face the mountain of tasks we should be doing, we plunge into a frenzy of something I call "productive procrastination."

If it requires explanation, perhaps it's not one of your unfortunate inclinations, as it is mine. For clarification, however, allow me to define the phrase: exerting your efforts in otherwise non-urgent, comparatively mindless tasks, rather than the more urgent ones requiring your full attention. It's something we all do, once in a awhile--something I've done from an early age. The phenomenon (as I choose to categorize it, since it seems to take on an energy and behavior all its own) presents itself whenever feel unequal to the priority tasks at hand. For whatever reason, we can't seem to wrap our heads around the priority tasks, so we choose to plunge into something that requires little concentration, although it often involves a great deal more labor that we would normally care to exert. 

Why? We have an innate desire to stay in our comfort zones--to pick the low-hanging fruit, to revert to the no-brainers instead of the brain-benders. It's just easier to take that path, instead of rising to the more challenging tasks that would sap our strength, or so it would seem. On the outside, we say, "sure, I can do that!" while on the inside, we scurry like Nemo and Dory with a great white shark snapping at their tails.  If we are ever to make it beyond this plateau to nowhere, we need to take charge of the inclination to put off every challenge. The reason we scurry from the challenge isn't usually because we dislike all the effort involved--it's because we are afraid of failing. 

An occasional break from the task at hand can be refreshing, and even helpful. Sorting and folding laundry can help you organize your thoughts, and provides a small sense of accomplishing something that can be invigorating.  (Feel free to chuckle at the use of the words "laundry" and "invigorating" in the same sentence). Similarly, the activity involved in vacuuming, taking a short walk, or hauling in some more firewood will boost your circulation, and perhaps some of that extra blood make make it all the way to the brain and refresh your thought process.  However, I advise you be brief in your spurts of productive procrastination--don't be tempted to undertaking anything longer than a 15-minute break would consume. Set a timer, and get back on task. We have goals to set, remember?

Refer again to yesterday's post. If you have not yet set your parameters for researching and picking your 2015 goals, make it a priority item today--or at least make it one of your productive procrastination tasks ;)

Have a fabulous weekend!

PS: To keep up with all the new posts, enter your email address in the box to the left to "follow by email."  You can also follow me on Twitter @JanaShell

Psalm 5:8
Lead me in the right path, O Lord, or my enemies will conquer me. Make your way plain for me to follow.

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