How to become a successful procrastinator

As a budding procrastinator you are reading all the books, articles and blogs you can get your hands on to keep from doing whatever you are slated to do at the moment. I am offering tips on how to procrastinate successfully. If you follow these 5 simple steps you will become and remain a successful procrastinator. I would offer a money back guarantee but chances are you never got around to making a payment anyway. BTW, I reserve the right to add more tips or less tips depending on whether or not I get distracted and start doing something else or if I want to continue avoiding what I am supposed to do right now.

1.) Always put off today’s tasks until tomorrow or another day.
2.) Don’t write anything down. Rely heavily on your memory.
3.) Spend all of your free time on your blog, Facebook, pintrest or watching television.
4.) Buy lots of home improvement items and leave them propped against a wall.
5.) Read everything except the one thing you are supposed to read.
6.) Text your friends and family telling them all the things you are supposed to accomplish but don’t have time.
7.) Wait until the next holiday or event to start you new project, goal or life change.

If you need support we have a group meeting that occurs every Thursday night at the local library. There are lots of distractions there, it is heaven for a true procrastinator. You always thought all those people were there reading and researching something when in all actuality they are procrastinators successfully avoiding something. Nobody will look for you there, make it your place of refuge from the tasks and duties waiting for you.

Sacrificial Love

I was talking to someone and they were saying they believe love is measured in sacrifice, the more you sacrifice the more you love and the more you love the more you will sacrifice. I am not sure that I completely agree with that thought. Sacrifice alone is not enough. If your words and actions don’t align with your sacrifice then you still end up at zero.

Does love spill over from one day to the other? Is love renewed and proven on a daily basis?

When I was married I honestly thought if I said I love you today then you should just assume I still love you tomorrow unless I said something different. I now realize some people need more. There is nothing wrong with showing, saying and sacrificing on a daily basis to confirm your commitment and love to those in your life.

There really is not a greater love than to lay down you life, agenda, pride, fear, guilt, preferences or plans for another.

A little bit of love goes a long way. I little bit of inconsideration goes further. Forgiveness bridges the gap between the two.

Poem by Random Chic (guest poet)

I guess I am feeling the poetry bug tonight. (snap, snap, snap, and snap)

There is freedom in telling you I love you
I refuse to be a prisoner of fear
Shackled by the chains of insecurity
You can’t protect me
Love will not hurt me
What hurts is regret
And desire unfulfilled
Hope unrealized
Dreams not lived
Holding back does not bring satisfaction
It comes when you let what’s natural occur
Loving you is as natural to me as walking and breathing
I was created to love you
If only for a short while

What is your value?

Tree in a DC park

I’m sure you have heard the quote, “if a tree falls in a forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Wikipedia has lots of information about the saying if you are interested in the original intent but for the rest of you, keep reading.

As I think about this quote, I can’t help but to wonder, if you are skilled, talented, loving, smart, strong, respectable, artistic, etc. and nobody recognizes them, do those qualities still exist in you? Do our gifts and talents require acknowledgement before they are considered authentic?

We all know the tree does make a sound. But if there isn’t somebody there to hear the tree and verify it made a sound then I guess you could argue there isn’t any proof there was a sound.

Along those same lines, it seems we were created with a need to have affirmations and confirmations. It’s all together possible that we could have been created self-reliant. Sometimes we try to pretend we don’t need a touch or kind word but we do need those words and those actions. Some training classes I have attended in the past had the students write down words of affirmation. The instructor would encourage us to write the words on a note card and tape them to our mirror. Saying those phrases out loud each morning was deemed the next step towards success in the workplace or personally.

In the movie The Help, I am touched every time the maid says to the daughter of her employer, “you is kind, you is smart, you is important.” The maid was trying to counteract the actions or rather inactions of the child’s mother. She understood human value and the potential impact on the child if she didn’t tell her those words.

If you haven’t heard it lately, I am declaring with all honesty and sincerity, you are smarter that you give yourself credit. You are creative. You have everything inside of you today to become the person you want to become tomorrow. You are worthy of love, honor and respect.

Wax on…wax off

Wax on, wax off…these four little words have been on my mind daily for over a week. Does that ever happen to you? You get something stuck in your head and you don’t know why. I’m not talking about songs you hear like the Diamonds by Rihanna that my dear friend Fraulein Von Prude and I would torture each other with. I am talking about a word or phrase that drops in your mind for no good reason or so it seems.
I remember watching the original Karate Kid and I watched the newest version with the Fantastic4 last year. I can’t say that I remember a whole lot of detail about either movie but this quote keeps popping up in my mind. I did what I do when this happens to me, I contemplated what it means to me and mine. Then, I top that with some research to determine the true or implied meaning.
See the video here.
I could go into a long monologue about doing the small things consistently and diligently will lead to a greater reward. I could talk about the importance of following directions. I could tie this into being a good mentor or teacher. I could even reference my own life as both the teacher and the student. But I won’t. Instead I will talk more about listening to your inner voice. It’s the one that gives you ideas or inspiration. For me it also provides direction, poetry and blog ideas.
When these words pop into my head and won’t leave, I know I need to stop and take a look at my life. I see this as an opportunity to grow and develop personally. Wax on… wax off, I can’t say that I have a full understanding of how this applies to me right now but I do know I will keep contemplating until I understand how it applies to my life today or in the near future.

Are you stuck?

I saw this video in a class I was attending. I hope you get as much out of it as I did the first time and every time I see the video.

A Box of Chocolates

My momma always said, “Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” – Forrest Gump
I can remember every year around Christmas time my mom would have a box of Sees chocolates sitting around. Back then, they didn’t provide you with an easy to follow illustration that helped you determine the type of filling. I did what some of you did, I bit a tiny piece off of bottom of the candy until I found one I liked. You know the routine, you bite one and if it’s not what you were looking for then you put it back.
Although the original intent of this post was to bring back a fond memory, I feel compelled to ask, is this how we treat relationships today? Take a sample, then put it back when we realize it wasn’t what we wanted. The chocolate that is left in the box is now incomplete and not as desirable to the next person. If you were the next person, how did you get past the incompleteness of the chocolate? Maybe it’s not that big of a deal. Maybe…