The Struggle Against Procrastination

I was scrolling through my Twitter feed when I stumbled upon this tweet: "Procrastination is the lie you'll be motivated later." It's pretty straightforward. Plus, it packs a punch. 

I have to convince myself first to get up from bed, take a quick shower, and go straight to my study table. I have been wanting to get back on track with my derailed writing routine which I parked when I got married. And now, I have to pick up the routine I have left. Honeymoon's over, welcome to the real world. 

Side note: Just in case you're wondering, what's with taking showers? It's a neat trick I do before writing. I usually get my writing ideas when I take a bath. Also, it energizes me and kickstarts my writing mood.

Good thing that I am already in front of my laptop screen preparing to write when I read the tweet. I can say that at least, I won half of the battle. When you have a lot of things to be done but can't easily muster enough motivation to do it right away, standing up and positioning yourself in front of the job is a feat. 

Your next battle is to get going.

But then I have my phone in front of me. Several times I ended up heeding its tempting call for me to take it, open a social media app, and browse several posts until I have wasted a couple of minutes I should have invested elsewhere. Social media is a trap. A ruthless, mindless trap sucking away our precious time without us realizing not until we glance at the clock and snap because it's already late in the evening. That's how horrible social media is. It got no remorse, and it will wait for your next willful succumbing to its whims.

So for my phone to not get the best of me, I placed it back somewhere I cannot easily reach it. Out of sight, out of mind. At least the little voice of Facebook and its minions - reels and stories, will be minimized. Then I can proceed with what I planned to do a couple of wasted minutes ago. 

Words. Several words. Until I remember that I still have unfinished business in the kitchen. I have a few slices of pork steak I swore to myself that I would eat later in the night. And this writing juncture is that time of the night when I ought to be munching that delicacy. It's a struggle. The desire to finish whatever I'm writing and the desire to surrender to that delayed gratification is waging war within me. My mind is the battlefield. My fingers are the medium. I have to choose. But then again, food is life. And to justify this delaying tactic, I told myself - "I can't think with an empty stomach." True, but my stomach's not empty. 

I'm just procrastinating. 

And when I'm done munching those little pork pieces, I need to get back. This time, with little reasons not to finish what I have started. My wife's busy watching her favorite series. My eyes are a little bit heavy because I realized it's already time for bed. I just have won half the battle against procrastination but the second half overwhelms me a lot. 

I don't want to get beaten. But many assaults are coming towards me:

Phone notifications.

The thought of texting my mother.

Wanting to go to the CR to relieve myself.

The garbage! Oh my, there will be a collection tomorrow morning!

An unanswered email.

An unpaid bill. 

And a lot more.

I realized that I have been dealing with agents of procrastination and I should be working doubly hard to make sure I win through them. I don't want to be a pro at procrastinating. 

Just a few hundred words. A considerable chunk of time. Just because I thought I'll get motivated "later".