The Wise and the Wary
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Near the End, Procrastination Comes Back to Haunt You
Strive for your ideal self
We all know what procrastination feels like. I know I’m not the only one who has pulled an all-nighter or filed an income tax return on April 15. What causes the most anguish, however, is chronic and pervasive procrastination that diminishes your life.
Unfulfilled intended action shrinks your effectiveness and your joy. One psychologist calls procrastination the space between the present (your less-than-ideal self) and the future (your ideal self). To get from here to there, you need to take action. You might know what action to take, and you might actually intend to do it, but for some reason you don’t.
That’s procrastination. For those near death, they’re out of time. It’s simply too late for any action that will get them to their ideal self. We judge ourselves according to our own values. When our lives fail to reflect those values fully, we feel guilt, sadness, and regret.
Philosophers call this feeling existential anguish. Many of us know on a gut level what this feels like. But I don’t want to feel this kind of anxiety when I’m close to the end. And I don’t want this for you, either. We need to begin now to avoid this kind of regret.
So I challenge you to pick one of your values this week—and act on it. What’s most important to you—social justice, the environment, career achievements? These are good values, but I can tell you that for most people, even these diminish when you’re out of time. What’s most important to those who are dying? That’s for next week’s blog.
By Deborah Hoskins, JD, CFP
The Wise and the Wary Blog
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