Today, I am thankful for those who teach me to act in the here and now.
Last year, approximately a year following my advancement to a new role within my Company, I completed a rather intense 360° assessment. As another colleague who had recently undergone the same multi-stakeholder feedback explained this ‘opportunity’ to me, the process was akin to a colonoscopy: As we mature, it’s basically a procedure we all need, but, nevertheless, it’s one we dread immensely. Well, he was right. I waited with much trepidation to receive the final readout – a report encompassing the feedback from 25 interviewed colleagues. Overall, the procedure was helpful in informing me of my strengths, areas for improvements, and opportunities for growth. Thankfully, the procedure is now over, and, like a true colonoscopy, I really have no interest in having another one for another decade (or so).
Of all the comments included in the 22-page report (yes, 22 pages!), the one point that resonated most with me noted the following: “Nick is the only person I have ever met who does not procrastinate.” I found this statement a bit odd, so I asked my wife to share her perspective. She smiled at me like a Cheshire cat, at which point I realized there might be some validity in this statement. Then, I reminded her about the fact that I had turned 50 the year before, and I had waited until the end of my 51st year before I actually garnered the courage to have my first colonoscopy. She shrugged, making some reference that we can’t always pigeonhole a person into one category.
The truth be told, I hate to procrastinate. One of my self-admiring traits is my desire to stay organized in my work. Every Monday, I set rigid deadlines for what I hope to accomplish that week. A post-it note is attached to my laptop, in clear sight of my daily tasks. Then, each morning, I try to set simple, daily goals for that day – ones that are ambitious and yet achievable. I organize my list in order of hardest to easiest, tacking on the more ambitious projects as my top priority. In a recent book I read entitled Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely, a sociologist at Duke University, summarizes experiments wherein he’s demonstrated those college students who accept self-imposed deadlines are more effective and achieve higher scores than those who simply could turn their assignments in at any time during the semester. In fact, the scores they receive were on par, if not slightly less, to mandated timelines coming from one’s professor. In doing so, these students are less apt to delay their work and even perform at a higher level, simply because they have chosen to restrict their own freedom.
I can fully relate.
I relish self-imposed discipline, at the expense of avoiding the angst and dread that comes with procrastinating tendencies. Indeed, procrastination comes at a price; one’s conscious avoidance of a task carries an excruciating mental toll that one must carry around with them as they choose to sit idly. The albatross one carries with each passing minute only grows heavier around his proverbial neck.
Procrastination can also come with a tax on others. A story from the American Civil War helps to illustrate this point. For 16 months between July 1861 and November 1862, General George McClellan led the Army of the Potomac in the fight against General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate brigade. For the first 9 months, McClellan meticulously prepared his Union army in the nation’s capital. However, when the time came to fight what would be known as the Seven Day’s Battle on James Peninsula in Chesapeake Bay in early 1862, he refused to attack Richmond with his full command, even though he had Lee outnumbered. Meanwhile, Lee pressed northward, winning the Second Battle of Bull Run in August 1862. He pushed forward into Maryland, where McClellan and Lee fought to a standstill at the Battle of Antietam. Having lost a significant number of troops and far extended from his southern base, Lee’s army stood vulnerable to further attack. He was outnumbered 2 to 1 by Union troops. However, once again, ‘tardy George’ McClellan refused to attack. In an exchange of increasingly angry letters first issued this week in October 1862, Lincoln chastised his general and urged him into action: “Are you not over-cautious when you assume that you cannot do what the enemy is constantly doing? Should you not claim to be at least his equal in prowess, and act upon the claim?” As another Union general would exclaim to Lincoln on this day: “It requires the lever of Archimedes to move this inert mass.”
For nearly 6 weeks, McClellan refused to move, allowing Lee to escape southward across the Potomac River. Finally, exasperated, Lincoln deposed of General McClellan in early November 1862, naming General Ambrose Burnside to the command of the Army of the Potomac. Sadly, nearly another 300,000 soldiers would die as the war raged on for nearly another 3 years.
Sometimes, it’s hard to act in the here and now. We all have to face our own devils of procrastination. When I’m feeling a bit stagnant and sluggish in my daily pursuits, I turn to music as my source of motivation. I routinely turn to a hit song by Van Halen entitled Right Now. In this 1992 hit, the band reminds us never to wait until tomorrow. On this day (Oct 10) when we acknowledge David Lee Roth’s birthday and sadly lament the recent passing of the legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen, heed the advice of this transformative band: “Catch that magic moment, make future plans, and don’t dream about yesterday. Right now, it’s your tomorrow.”
I’m grateful for the tools in my toolbox to help me get motivated each day. Whether it’s my post-it note or a song from a Pasadena rock band, I’d suggest you make the most of today. As Van Halen notes at the end of that classic hit song from 1992: “Tell me, what are you waiting for. Just turn this thing around.”
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