The Conundrum of Commitment with Self

“A task left undone remains undone in two places- at the actual location of the task and inside your head. Incomplete tasks in your head consume the energy of your attention as they gnaw at your conscience.”

The advent of New Year makes me reminisce the old school and college days when we would have new year resolutions to improve upon a skill or to learn a new thing, developing a new hobby, striving to become the better version of ourselves ( Not in the abstract way😊) and so on. By January end all were back to their previous habits and activities being oblivion of the New Year and those resolutions. Growing with time it made me conclude that we tend to hold ourselves back when it comes to change our habits, as it is rightly said, “Old habits die hard” but if we have procrastination as one of our ‘old habits’ it will take no longer to realize that our dreams, goals and Success are at a high risk no matter how skilled or expertise we are in our personal or professional life. Needless to say that it was only procrastination that led Raavan to his doom not Rama’s resolution to kill him.

 Enriching Read: The-Pursuit-of-Perfection

The surprising fact about getting rid of procrastination is that it doesn’t require scrupulous planning or intense aspiration as proceeding in an organized and systematic way with sustained commitment will be enough to help. We really need strong Will Power to overcome our habit to procrastinate as more often we are in a slumber of hollow, meaningless lethargy and old stubborn habits and squander our precious days, weeks, months and years. The activities that interest us require no will power and we never procrastinate about them. Does a child need willpower to eat ice cream? Do we ever hesitate in planning a hang out? Do we ever resist ourselves for spending most of our quality time on social media? Absolutely no; but we always want to spare a special day to start reading a book or going for morning walk or begin to organize our desks, wardrobes or declutter our surroundings. The reason is only the conflict of interests.

Let’s think it in a different way; we can cultivate willpower to avoid and overcome procrastination and choose wisely what is needed to fulfill our purpose of life. If the heart is not willing to walk on a treadmill for 30 minutes let’s start with 5 minutes a day; when it feels boring to read a complete book it can be a good beginning with an article each day, if it seems impossible to clean the entire wardrobe, arranging a small shelf is always a good inaugural ceremony to instill regularity and time management. Consistency in maintaining good habits will certainly help you strengthen your life skills and life management.

This principle applies in all spheres - career, relationships, fitness regime, self development, spirituality and so on. Having goals in life makes us alive and focused; chasing those goals keeps us energetic and enthusiastic and achieving those goals brings bliss and self worth.

Let’s not forget these words of the famous essayist, Francis Bacon, “Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand- and melting like a snowflake.”

Hope you will create an auspicious beginning to instill a good habit or a positive change in your life style today itself and won’t wait for the New Year  2021 to resolve for something.