“Let’s do this the next week, or after
Diwali”; said Rohan as Seema had that familiar sinking feeling. She had wanted
to go for a short weekend trip to Matheran since ages. As usual, Rohan had been
dilly-dallying and postponing it ad nauseum. Today was just Seema’s last-ditch
attempt to see if she could get him around to actually giving the go-ahead to
her proposal. Now, after her 25th attempt, she wondered whether the
old saying really worked! “Where there is a will, there is a way!” Maybe it
did, on second thoughts. Only for her hubby who had made up his mind to have
his way. In a huff, she decided immediately that she would go with her sister
and her family for the trip, even if it meant going without her hubby.
When they returned
from the trip and Seema showed off all the magnificent photos of the
breath-taking scenery to Rohan, he genuinely rued the fact that he had missed
out on such a wonderful experience. He apologized to her and said that in
future, he’d be more prompt in considering her proposals. Seema grinned and
said, “I’ll take that with a large pinch of salt”. She knew that her hubby was
a habitual procrastinator.
This case-study
throws light on an interesting phenomenon. Procrastination. The ultimate
experience in waiting indefinitely, for something or some experience which can
be easily enjoyed in the present than in the hitherto unknown future! Yes
folks, procrastinators, the experts in this art are very optimistic individuals
who really believe that the future is not too far off and the present is too
important to be squandered. They can never make up their minds and are
constantly putting off things for the morrow. These ‘things’ may be buying new
furniture, shifting into a new house, marriage, changing jobs, divorce, having
a baby, going in for an important surgery or just completing the job in hand!
Maybe they think
that they are better off in the current scenario even if it is painful,
shameful, agonizing, irritating, disgusting and unbearable. They just lack the
drive to fast-forward things or move on to better circumstances, even at the
cost of their physical, mental and emotional health.
Most of them consider
themselves to be individuals who carefully weigh the pros and cons before
committing themselves to change. They sincerely believe in the dictum that
“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread!” Obviously, their slow approach irks
those who are waiting for them to make things happen or take important
decisions. These dependents know that the procrastinator is just being
difficult and obtuse. He is not oblivious to their suffering, but isn’t too
much in a hurry to alleviate their misery too!
Anyone who has dealt
with a clerk in a Government office knows how wretched it is to make the rounds
of that office daily, for a job that can be done in less than an hour. The
clerk is an ideal procrastinator who refuses to take any extra effort to
mitigate your ordeal for you. Even if you have to commute 25 kms. daily to go
and meet him for that darned work to be done, he doesn’t bat an eyelid while
saying for the nth time, “Come tomorrow!” Of course, you know that ‘tomorrow’
will never come!
Ask Ramesh. He had asked
an explanation about his over-charged electricity bill to a clerk in the
Electricity Board’s office and was made to run from pillar to post for six
months, after which he realized that though he hadn’t still received a
satisfactory response, his wallet was lighter due to the money spent on
traveling to that office for so long! His B.P. was also surging and he had to
visit a physician and pay his bill too! He wondered whether he should have procrastinated in his
decision to follow-up his inflated bills. Probably that could’ve saved him lots
of hard-earned money!
Saguna was a bright
young girl who had just given her S.S.C Board Exams. She hadn’t decided which
stream to opt for even when her results were announced and she had got a
whopping 80%. To the utter frustration of her parents, who wanted her to be a
doctor, she insisted on taking her own sweet time to decide whether she wanted
to become a doctor, an engineer, architect or an artist. She was good at
drawing and good in academics too. Hence she was confused about the field to be
chosen as a career.
She didn’t think it wise to approach a
counselor and relied solely on her closest friends’ advice who were as vague as
her. The result was that she wasted two precious months of the new academic
year of Junior College. Her parents had to literally bully her into opting for
Science after persuading her to think about other options later on! She had not
had the foresight to keep her plans ready so that she could immediately
implement them after her Board Exams. What a pity! Surely career choices
require methodical evaluation and deliberation, much in advance. Only then is
the mind equipped to deal with the studies required for that particular option.
Procrastinators believe
that “Aaj kare so kal kar, kal kare so parson, itni bhi jaldi kya hai yaaron,
hamein jeena hai barson!” (Do the job tomorrow instead of today, do tomorrow’s
job the day after, what’s the hurry buddy? I am going to live for many more
years!”)
Would someone please tell
them to follow the right dictum, “Kal kare so aaj kar, aaj kare so ab, thodi hi
der me pralay hoga to fir karoge kab?” (Do tomorrow’s job today, today’s job,
right now; within a few moments, there’ll be a storm, then when will you do the
job?”)
The bureaucrats and other
personnel who dealt very efficiently with the recent Phailin cyclone in Odisha
and successfully evacuated more than 5 lakh people to safer areas are good
examples of how urgency in dealing with foreseen calamities can be a boon for
many. Had they procrastinated and adopted the usual “wait and watch policy”
there would have been many casualties.
Such go-getters are
highly motivated individuals who don’t unnecessarily postpone important
decisions and thus save everyone’s time, cost and efforts too. In the above
case, they commendably saved lakhs of precious lives. Now you decide whether
you want to be in a win-win situation or a never-ending conundrum; ASAP. If you
procrastinate on this decision, only God Almighty can save you! Amen!
The copyright of this article is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.
