The Temptation of Procrastination

People were created in the image of the Creator-God which should mean that people are therefore creative and are creators, but because of sin we have a resistance to creativity that is called the temptation of procrastination. When we fall into it we become consumers rather than creators, and it can become a viscous cycle of time wasting activity.

I read this two years ago and bookmarked it. After preaching on temptation and bringing up how social media can be a pretty big one I thought it might be a good time to share with you guys in case you don’t follow Seth Godin or may have missed his post. Note that the lizard brain refers to the part of us that is reactive and will remain in control unless we engage the other higher orders of thinking.

Seth’s Blog: Modern procrastination

Modern procrastination

The lizard brain adores a deadline that slips, an item that doesn’t ship and most of all, busywork.

These represent safety, because if you don’t challenge the status quo, you can’t be made fun of, can’t fail, can’t be laughed at. And so the resistance looks for ways to appear busy while not actually doing anything.

I’d like to posit that for idea workers, misusing Twitter, Facebook and various forms of digital networking are the ultimate expression of procrastination. You can be busy, very busy, forever. The more you do, the longer the queue gets. The bigger your circle, the more connections are available.

Laziness in a white collar job has nothing to do with avoiding hard physical labor. “Who wants to help me move this box!” Instead, it has to do with avoiding difficult (and apparently risky) intellectual labor.

“Honey, how was your day?”

“Oh, I was busy, incredibly busy.”

“I get that you were busy. But did you do anything important?”

Busy does not equal important. Measured doesn’t mean mattered.

When the resistance pushes you to do the quick reaction, the instant message, the ‘ping-are-you-still-there’, perhaps it pays to push in precisely the opposite direction. Perhaps it’s time for the blank sheet of paper, the cancellation of a long-time money loser, the difficult conversation, the creative breakthrough…

Or you could check your email.

I would encourage you to engage in a social media, texting, cell phone abandoning, fast and then try to create something with your time. What might you make?