Stop thinking about it. Do it!

How often do we put things off that we just don't want to do?

Too often would be the short answer; well not anymore, not for me anyway.

I always used to be the worse person for stressing out over things that needed to be done before a certain dead line, like my tax return for instance. It used to wind me up from the time I got it in May; to the time I needed to file it in January. It's ridiculous really. In total, it would probably have taken me about half a day to prepare. Then off to the accountant I’d go and that would be it. Job done!

So why did I leave it until the last minute and have it playing on my mind for months? It's probably because it’s stuff I don't like doing. But it doesn't alter the fact that it won’t go away no matter how long I put it off for.

So what happened to change my mind?

Well; I had this wardrobe in one of my spare bedrooms which I'd been meaning to get rid of for years! Yes years! (And yes, a wardrobe) I saw it every time I went into the room and got annoyed that it was still there every time I saw it. But did I ever do anything about it? Of course not. I just kept putting the job off and getting irritated on a regular basis.

Then one day, my brother called round to see me. When he went upstairs and spotted the wardrobe and laughed out loud because it was still there. "Just get rid of it" he said and promptly started pulling it apart. Ripping off the doors, kicking out the back and the next thing I know it's in pieces in the back garden.

It was an easy job that took less than half an hour to do, but had wound me up for about half a decade! And now it’s gone. What was all the fuss about? Why didn’t I just tackle the problem as soon as it presented itself?  I could have saved myself a lot of irritation.

So my advice to anyone interested, is just do whatever it is that needs doing as soon as you can. Especially if it’s not urgent. You’re more likely to forget about something if you put it off until its deadline and you could end up with a fine or worse, end up stressing about it unnecessarily for a very long time.