It was 25th May 2013. The day even the sun couldn't hide it glee. This was a day Ken anxiously waited for.
It was 6 o'clock at dawn. The sun hid east behind the giant clouds waiting for it "shift" to begin. The gold coloured 2011 model Toyota Sienna stood gracefully at the parking lot with boxes of gifts for Martha, taking their rest in the boot. No one could contain his joy as everyone was proud of the oldest daughter of the family of five who regardless of her health condition, emerged the best graduating student from her department.
Suddenly, Mrs. Tony, Ken's mother forcely opened Ken's door as she had stood for over 2mins knocking without getting a response.
"Ken! Ken! What happened to you, baby? Help!..." she screamed, as her body began trembling with fear. In a space of 20 minutes, ambulance arrived Mr. Tony's residence.
Ken was too occupied wrapping the gifts that he kept procrastinating to take his noon and evening medication until he forgot to take it even before going to bed on the 24th of May, 2013.
"He will be fine." The easing words came through the brown lips of the smiling face of Dr. Kemi. "He just needs to be on bed-rest for few days and avoid skipping his medication because that was what led to this." She added.
Martha's convocation had in attendance her dad and three siblings.
There are moments in life when you discover you are not where you planned to be, yet you can't really figure out why you are not there. At times, you become hard on yourself because you know you've given your best but suddenly, you discover faults, which will require much effort to fix. Hence, you settle for what you never planned for.
The above story spotted one of the enemies of potential which will be discussed below. What happened to Ken reveals how cunny the enemies of ones potentials are. They lurk around in your weaknesses and abruptly show off their fruits, causing you to despise your efforts. Let's briefly look at one.
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PROCRASTINATION
This was what led to Ken's faulty health condition on the day he waited on, to make memories. This is what happen to most individuals who complain about not achieving what they've always desired to achieve. When you keep procrastinating, you don't only keep limiting how far you can go in unleashing your potentials. You also limit opportunities to maximize your potentials. Ken would have been healthy enough to go and celebrate his sister's success but the fruit of procrastination limited him. Hence, the glory of your potentials lie at the mercy of your willingnes to do what needs to be done at the right time.
Causes Of Procrastination
Paul writing to the Galatians encourage them not to be discouraged in doing what needs to be done at the right time because in due season, they will reap it sweet fruit if they don't give up. (see Galatians 6:9) One of the reasons why a lot of people procrastinate is because they are weary of putting efforts without seeing results. When a person becomes discouraged, he finds it hard to keep up with the process even if he has everything all planned out.
A second cause of Procrastination is lack of planning. Solomon, gave a very literal example of the fruit of lack of planning.
"I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment; thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man." Proverbs 24: 30-34
When you don't make plans, you will respond quickly to the plans of others or nature. You won't have control of your time; others will. Hence, you will discover that you aren't making progress in unleashing your potentials and maximizing it. This is why most people often feel they are limited by unknown forces; Procrastination is an evil force that limit people.
How To Overcome Procrastination
Be Resilient.
If you desire to overcome procrastination, then you will need to be resilient in your journey in life. Procrastination uses your weaknesses to get the best of you. If you desire to make the best of your potentials, then you will need to have the mindset that doesn't believe in settling for less regardless of the doses of obstacles you get from your journey; when you transform your mindset to this, you begin to see possibilities of attaining the peak of your potentials without procrastination.
Planning.
Myles Munroe said, "Planning doesn't only tell you what to do. It also tells you what not to do." Planning is a key factor in overcoming procrastination and maximizing ones potential. Planning is one topic that authors like Brian Tracy did justice to it discourse. I won't write much about planning because a book on overcoming procrastination through planning was reviewed on this blog; overcoming procrastination
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Be In The Right Circle.
If you find yourself in the right circle of friends, you will begin to experience transformations in different aspect of your life. Solomon in his wisdom commented on this, where he wrote, "An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up." Proverbs 12:25 This tells a lot about the words of those you choose to hang around. In the journey to unleashing and maximizing your potentials, being in the right circle of virtual and real life friends; settings and source of information helps you stand up against forces such as procrastination even when you are discouraged. The words you get from this circles either help in limiting or enhancing your potentials. Below are few affirmations that can help you overcome Procrastination
Get more understanding about Affirmations in detailed post I made on it, Why You Need And How To Create Morning/Daily Affirmations.
Read also: 3 Epic Hacks To Being Productive In Life
Thanks for the good work. I have so many take away from this piece. Procrastination is indeed the enemy of time.
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