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One of the worst, deadliest, most destructive bad habits you or I could have is procrastination. You need to put it behind you once and for all, because it is really gumming up the works, not only in your own life, but it affects the lives of many others, too.
For example, when you procrastinate on your job, it has a spill-over effect on coworkers and management—on the organization’s effectiveness. When you procrastinate at home, it affects your family members. And when you procrastinate in your spiritual life, you miss all kinds of blessings God wants to bestow on you. Procrastination is self-inflicted suffering!
What makes us procrastinate? Lots of reasons, but to quote one person, “The trouble is that you think you have time.” I think of a college student I know who gets an assignment due in four weeks, thinks, “Oh, I’ve got plenty of time,” and then puts it off until the last minute, has to do it far too fast, and gets some unsatisfactory grades as a result. She’s not an irresponsible person, but she just doesn’t start a project until she is in crisis mode.
Waiting is a trap. You can always think of reasons to put something off, but usually they are not good reasons. Someone has said, “Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.” Did you realize that one reason you may be tired a lot is that you are hanging on to a lot of uncompleted tasks, and they simply sap your energy? They are hanging on in your mind, clogging up your thinking, causing you to waste energy.
Colossians 3:23 says, “ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” If you pray this into your life each day, it will start to cure you of procrastination. You could pray, “Lord, today help me to work with all my heart, to do what needs to be done, to do it now, to do it right, and to do it for you.” You will see a difference if you become intentional about putting procrastination behind you.