3 Lessons Learned from a Semi-Recovering Procrastinator.

Several years ago I was approached by one of Tim Topham's assistants asking me to contribute an article to their newly started Inner Circle.

I immediately agreed to it. I loved the idea and was grateful for the opportunity to contribute.

I had learned so much from Tim through his blog and podcast. I knew I had a lot to share with other teachers & entrepreneurs and thought it would be a great way to give back.

Here's the thing though, I never wrote the article. I kept putting it off saying, "I need to do this for my business first, then I'll get to writing".

At the time, I was in the middle of starting up my brick and mortar music school and I was so bad at time management.

I mean really bad.

And being that bad left me overwhelmed, over-worked, and unproductive. So, no article.

Now I'm kicking myself so hard for not finishing. Tim has grown his small blog into a full-blown music teacher's aid empire and I wasn't able to contribute.



So here are 3 lessons I've learned about procrastination:

Procrastination isn't worth the potential regret

Yup, I seriously regret not getting an article to them.

Who knows who could have been inspired, who's business could've been changed or what doors it could've opened? None of us will ever know.

It's a truly terrible feeling to be selected for something special and to let those people down because you procrastinated. I don't wish it on anyone.



Procrastination is a time sucking monster
"I'll do that after I start/finish this" sounds innocent enough, right? WRONG!

If you're procrastinating on something, you're going to be thinking about it while you're doing absolutely everything else.

That will slow down your progress on your current project and eventually everything will either come to a halt or you'll completely give up on whatever it was you were procrastinating and



Procrastination is an anxiety producer
This is the biggest lesson I learned. When I procrastinate anything, I feel anxious.

That little voice in my head starts whining - yeah, she whines, it's worse than yelling - and she won't stop until I do the thing I've been putting off.

Once I do it she's happy again - like a little kid finally getting that ice cream they so desperately wanted - but I don't feel better. I feel drained and guilty for letting it get that far.



Have I learned my lesson about procrastinating? Sure.

Have I mastered it and completely stopped procrastinating? Nope.

Will I continue to work on it? You bet!