Another evening at the keyboard sees me writing my daily post right up against the self imposed deadline I have – midnight in my time zone.
The question is, why do I wait until the last few minutes of the day to tackle this important task. Is it because I think I do my best work when under the pressure of the clock ticking its last few seconds until the deadline? Or is it, more likely, on some level I’m not giving this the same since of priority and urgency as so many other things in my life?
When I first started this journey I was writing and posting a lot earlier in the day. It wasn’t quite at the morning pages stage but it was well before the closing moments of the day. What changed?
I can’t seem to put my finger on it but I have to admit that the routine of this may be to blame. As I mentioned above it doesn’t have the priority it should. Or maybe, it’s related to my post a few days ago when I talked about writing when no one is reading the posts. Maybe it’s just that the novelty has worn off?
Our lives are complicated and the decisions we make every day cause us to decided what is and isn’t important, what is and isn’t urgent, what will get done and won’t. I know that I will continue to write and post every day, the goal will be to pull it back from the brink of the end of the day, to stop writing at the last moments and rush to complete and publish before the deadline and the stroke of midnight rings.
It’s not unlike a lot of other things we encounter and plan. How many things do we push off until the deadline is staring us in the face and we have to get it done? The panic of flight or fight sets in, the adrenaline rush, and then the euphoria afterwards when we congratulate ourselves on a job well done – whether it is or isn’t.
It’s something we’re all familiar with, the goal should be to not put ourselves in these positions, we shouldn’t rely on a stressful situation to get us to accomplish what is sometimes a small task.
We all need to make the agreement with ourselves that we will accomplish what needs to be done, even if we’re uncomfortable, even if it’s something we’ve never done before. We need to stop making the rush of the deadline our driving force and flip it on its head so we can enjoy our lives.