Last Saturday I came back from the boxing class, and I told myself before going to boxing class that after coming back, I would write a script for my YouTube video, record, edit and publish it.
But after coming back from boxing class, I started doing other unimportant tasks and procrastinated working on the YouTube video.
Till evening, I was doing everything which was not very important and avoided working on the YouTube video even though I was aware that I needed to work on it.
In the evening, when I started working on the script, I felt overwhelmed because I needed to complete the script, recording & editing, and all these tasks felt too much.
Then something strange happened. I started feeling guilty because I had had time since morning. I could have easily written the script and recorded & edited the video by evening, and I would have been free in the evening. But instead, I started writing the script in the evening.
I tried feeling not guilty by giving all the excuses, like I did other work. I did not waste time, but the feeling was still there, and I realised that this was not bad. Actually it was a good sign.
When you give yourself a task but don’t complete that task, your subconscious mind produces guilt feelings because you did not keep your word. Your subconscious mind knows what you should be doing, and when you don’t do that task, it gives you the feeling of guilt, not as a punishment but as a signal to make you aware.
When you keep your hand on a hot stove, then pain is the signal that you should remove your hand from it. In the same way, feeling guilty is a signal that you are doing something wrong, and it is better to change the direction.
Just imagine what would happen if your body did not give you a signal. When you keep your hand on a hot stove.
The reason why it is good is that if you don’t feel bad, then you will not be aware of what is wrong, and if you are not aware of what is wrong, then you will not improve. Awareness is the first step.
That bad feeling nudges you to go in the right direction, and when you follow the right direction, then what happens afterwards is good for you and your life.
If you don’t feel bad after not doing what you told yourself that you are going to do, then you would assume that everything is alright, and you would continue procrastinating, and after some time, you won’t feel anything. You won’t doubt your decisions. You just keep delaying what is good for you & your life
This feeling made me realise that what I did was wrong, and next time whenever I thought of procrastination, the pain of bad feelings made me complete the task.