Git R Done

Originally released for publication February 9, 2005
(c) 2005 by Steve Martaindale

Let’s get it out in the open; I am a selective procrastinator.

I’ve learned to deal with it, to accept and embrace the fact. Being a procrastinator is part of who I am. Being a procrastinator is OK.

This might be where to state that my wife has not yet come to appreciate the beauty of procrastination. Truth is, she has a “Git R Done” personality.

You may be shaking your head, thinking, “There’s no way that marriage will work out, a procrastinator with a ‘do-it-nower.’” But that’s the beauty of combatable ... I mean, compatible ... personality traits in a relationship. She helps prod me into actually getting something done, sooner or later, and I help her realize that it’s easier to smell the roses when you’re not constantly saying, “Well, what could I be doing now?” We’re in our 28th year of helping each other. So far, neither of us would dare proclaim a victory, but neither has tried to kill the other, as far as I know.

Actually, it seems to be a by-product of my optimistic nature that I tend to put off doing things I don’t really want to do. The logic is that, to an optimist, a distasteful chore will likely be more pleasant at a later time ... or a later date ... or a later year.

My wife says, “Do it now and get it over with. Then you don’t have to worry about it again.” I cannot argue her logic, either. It makes sense. However, the truth is that I’m not worrying about the things I’ve put off.

“How can you just forget about it while it needs to be done?” she asks, emphasizing her question in such a way as to make it sound like I’m the one with the faulty reasoning.

It’s easy, I say. I have a plan and I have total confidence in my plan. Maybe I procrastinated about doing something because I need more information. When I next see Bubba, I’ll ask him what I need to know and will then be ready to act on it. If that’s the case, then I am not neglecting the chore but am inactively pursuing a resolution. Makes sense, right?


DEPENDS ON THE TASK

And it’s not that I put off doing everything. I can make a decision to go out to dinner and a movie and then put the plan into effect almost immediately. If I get a chance to go to a baseball game, color me there. If a desire arises to know the formula for calculating the volume of a sphere, I’ll drop what I’m doing to look it up. (Multiply four-thirds times pi times the radius raised to the third power.)

The real beauty of procrastinating comes out in those special times when you have put off an unpleasant task and somehow – call it luck or providence – it disappears or takes care of itself. Those golden moments are what a true procrastinator lives for. Such a successful resolution gives one the will to withstand untold numbers of barrages from the Git R Done front.

There is a limit to responsible procrastinating. Some things just cannot be put off as easily as others can, such as going to the doctor when an infection is working its way up your leg from the open wound in your foot. Like any good thing, there is a time to give way to opposing opinions.

While I am comfortable with my way of doing things, I am beginning to think that my wife is more bull-headed in her lifestyle and that it may be worth it to me to make a sincere effort to become more proactive in dealing with my responsibilities.

Yeah, the time has come for me to swear off my procrastinating ways, to start taking the bull by its figurative horn as soon as it comes out of the chute.

I’ll start on that tomorrow.
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(c) 2005 by Steve Martaindale