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How to Stop ‘Later’ From Meaning ‘Never’
Protect your most important tasks from getting tossed into the perpetual ‘someday’ file
The writer Shane Parrish, perhaps best known as a self-improvement guru for the Wall Street crowd, recently tweeted, “The four most dangerous words to accomplishing your dreams are: ‘I’ll do it later.’”
If you’re someone who hasn’t started that new crocheting hobby you bought supplies for five years ago or made any headway on the proposal for that project you wanted to pitch to your boss, these words may strike a chord. We’re often so busy tackling our daily must-dos that our wish-to-dos, the endeavors that give our life pleasure and meaning, get put off — sometimes forever.
At times, we really are swamped with a full plate of commitments that need to come first. But, too often, there are deeper reasons the tasks we’ve marked “later” get pushed into a “someday” file that never sees the light of day.
Procrastination is a major culprit. Maybe you feel an inner conflict about a task or are scared of trying something new because you’d be embarrassed to fail or don’t want to lose what you’ve already achieved.
We’re also easily distracted. It’s too easy, every day, to get drawn into the cascading layers of new ideas, tasks, and…
