The Subtle Art Of Procrastination

Da Vinci took 16 years to complete the Mona Lisa. He left behind a myriad of unfinished works and idea. The secret to Da Vinci overcoming his procrastination involved some pretty serious threats by his financiers.

Most people would consider me to be a highly effective person when it comes to business or self-discipline. I make resolutions and I see them through to the absolute end.

The problem is - this doesn't extend to every area of my life. I get distracted or even irritable when faced with something I don't want to do. I think life is interesting - I find most elements of it interesting - but when I come across something I really don't want to do - I use all of my mental capacity to try and avoid it.

Sometimes things that I enjoy doing become things I stop enjoying. This is usually a result of something I read, something I saw or something someone said. As a musician I go through this ALL the time. Sometimes I see someone play something that blows my mind. I try to play it and it blows my mind even more. I realise in order to play at full speed I need to practice the piece and possibly my scales. When music feels like work I begin to procrastinate.

Sometimes people need the pressure of a deadline to do their best. They may put an entire project off until the "11th hour". I learned a long time ago that if I don't do something - nobody is going to do it for me. Whether your doing something for school or business - or putting off cleaning the kitchen - the key to overcoming procrastination is accepting the fact that nobody is coming to help - nobody is going to walk through your door and clean your kitchen for you!

Sometimes procrastinating is part of our process. Some decisions we don't want to make quickly and some projects we don't want to begin until everything is "just right". Sometimes this works out - sometimes waiting pays off. Purposely waiting is obviously different than procrastination. Procrastination is by no means a virtue - it is something that holds us back from our true potential at times. While its impossible to eliminate procrastination - you can keep yourself from getting stuck in a rut. Start early and start small. Write broad ideas down and then begin to narrow them down. If you approach a project of any type in bite sized pieces - your body will likely agree with you - and you MAY end up engrossed in the project enough to finish it before the deadline!

Famous Procrastinators

Procrastination is a life long struggle for some. You are not alone - below is a list of some notable people who were notorious procrastinators:

• Dalai Lama.
• Victor Hugo.
• Franz Kafka.
• Saint Augustine..
• Frank Lloyd Wright.
• Leonardo Da Vinci.
• Truman Capote. .
• Margaret Atwood.
• Bill Clinton.