I am a procrastinator. Big time.
I have been for as long as I can remember. Growing up, it was my “chore” to unload the dishwasher and/or wash and dry the dishes before my mom came home from work to cook dinner. I would ALWAYS wait until she was like, 30 minutes from home and then rush to finish before she walked through the door. From what I remember, this worked about 75% of the time. But that 25%? Whew, chile. She was not having it.
My older brother never understood why I just didn’t do the dishes right when I came home from school, which was usually HOURS in advance of my mom. To this day, I don’t know why. I just like doing what I want with my time. And then there’s something thrilling about being pressed up against a deadline that kicks my ass into gear and helps me focus.
To this day, I am a last minute typa bitch. Even when I try not to be.
Currently, I’m in the middle of cleaning my apartment — something I meant to do two days ago. It is 9pm. I started at like, 5:30pm. (I’ve been taking breaks. So many breaks.) And I still need to wash dishes, wipe down my kitchen, and clean my shower.
I am cleaning to avoid rewriting my episode. You know what they say about writers…
Sometimes, I wish I could be less of a procrastinator. Sometimes, I am. I’ll turn a script in by 8pm and not at 1am. Or I’ll make it to where I need to be with 10 minutes to spare. Or I’ll send in my rent check before two or three days early, instead of the day before it’s due.
But for the most part, that’s not the case.
I used to believe I couldn’t be successful if I continued to procrastinate. There are very real things in my life that didn’t happen simply because of my habit of waiting until the last minute. But for the most part, I’ve learned to succeed because of my procrastination. I know exactly how much time I need to skate by with a task and still do a praise-worthy job.
Anyways, back to cleaning.
P.S. Yes, I missed two days of One True Thing. And last week’s Poetry Friday. I have no excuse. Just didn’t feel like it. But I’m back.