Member-only story
Overcoming My Tendency to Postpone
Using delayed satisfaction
I’m a specialist in “back burner projects”. That includes crafts I start to work on and get sidetracked or bored of. As a writer, it means pieces that remain half-written somewhere on my laptop.
All too often, I also postpone cleaning, yard care, and more. A neighbor, commenting on all the leaves accumulated for weeks on my sidewalk, once commented, “You don’t like to sweep, do you?” Um, does anyone like to sweep?
Today I was determined to be a little more productive than usual. When I spotted the Ferrero chocolates I was gifted for my birthday, purposefully “hidden” on a high shelf, I told myself to get the dishes washed before I had a treat. Then I was sorely tempted to get back to the latest book I had started but checked myself. Time to rake and sweep all those leaves in my garden and sidewalk.
Done. Check!
Just as I was about to crack the book open, I remembered I’d been postponing an errand for too long. I hopped in my car, got that done, and felt pleased. After that, I gave myself permission to read a chapter in the book. Yay!
The easy way to label this behavior is “giving yourself a prize” for getting something done. The more technical terms are delayed satisfaction or delayed gratification. In Wikipedia, that’s defined as…
