Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant. Isaiah 56:12
For some time now, many years in fact—OK, perhaps decades—I have been thinking I would author a dispatch on the subject of procrastination. I have bought books on the subject, and I have scoured management articles searching for ideas and solutions to the problem. As a result, I have come up with many ways to de-procrastinate my life; some work, some don’t, and some I just never got to. My reason for waiting and putting-off this written analysis of the problem is pregnant with a high degree of thoughtful and sophisticated explanations that usually begin with me experiencing an unexpected interruption.
However, at the end of these recurring routes of rationalization, I find that the reason that I procrastinate is because doing it NOW requires certainty, drive, and the self-discipline to prioritize my tasks and ignore the distractions that so readily interrupt my plans. No, that is not quite right. I should say, the distractions that I embrace and often cite as my excuse for being misdirected and lethargic. I think this is the result of not grasping the magnitude of the costs and the losses associated with procrastinating. Organization and conscientious attention to detail do not come naturally—you have to work at it—and that starts with telling yourself the truth about procrastination’s debilitating effects.
Fortunately for me, and probably for most of you, Reverend George H. Hubbard of Enfield Massachusetts (Men’s Fraternity, Class of 1860) understood the importance of redeeming the time. Rev. Hubbard did not procrastinate or wait for tomorrow. In 1898, he wrote an essay entitled “To-morrow.” The following is an abridged version of what Rev. Hubbard wrote. Get ready to be convicted:
It is too true, of all. Not youth alone, but age, even the most protracted, deceives itself with this delusive promise. Present idleness is excused by the promise of future industry. Present sorrow comforts itself with a dream of future joy. Present failure hopes to be more than balanced by future success. To-day is nothing. To-morrow is to be everything. To-day is earth with its weakness, its sin, its misery. To-morrow will be Heaven with its perfect peace and joy…
To-morrow is the most wonderful of days, or, as Isaiah has it, “A day great beyond measure.” Its history outshines the record of centuries. It is the day on which idle men labor and fools reform. It is the day when every man does his duty. It is the harvest time of good intentions. To-morrow the worst of sinners will be a saint. To-morrow the frivolous pleasure seeker will be transformed into a serious-minded devotee, a whole-souled worker for the good of humanity. To-morrow the dishonest man will be honest, the immoral man will be pure, the selfish man will be benevolent. To-morrow bad habits will be resolutely overcome, evil tempers will be conquered, wrong desires will be banished.
To-morrow myriads of men and women will heed the call of Christ. To-morrow they will follow Him, they will give themselves holy to His service, they will put forth unsparing effort, they will make willing and joyful sacrifices, they will stand boldly for the right though the heavens fall, they will ally themselves with the Christian church, they will take their full share of labor and responsibility, they will–. But the vision enlarges itself beyond the power of expression. Were it to be recorded in detail, we may safely say that “the world itself could not contain the books it should be written,” and this will be done to-morrow, to-morrow, TO-MORROW.
But to-day, what of that? Why nothing? It will be just like so many other days. Duty will be put off, responsibility will be shirked, selfishness will be indulged, indifference will be excused, sin will be tolerated and even coddled. To-day the great majority of those who bear the message of God, and with whom the Holy Spirit strives, will remain unmoved. They will go to their homes as they came from them, only one degree more indifferent. Why? Is it because they do not believe the message? Has it no application to their lives and conduct? Or do they mean to defy the Spirit of the living God? Oh, no! Not by any means. They believe, they understand, and they mean to obey — to-morrow. If to-morrow were only here! If the world could but see the bright dawning of its mythical glory! But it never can. To-morrow is like the rainbow’s end which continually moves on and keeps its distance undiminished when foolish children see it golden treasure…
The secret of many a failure in life lies in this phrase — To-morrow. It is the seal and token of procrastination, of unreadiness, of neglect. It has snatched victory from the very grasp of the brave warrior. It has robbed the weary toiler of his reward. It has cast a blight over many a life that else might have been noble, famous, useful, or happy…
Tomorrow is never exchanged for to-day. The good intention never ripens into virtuous action.
At thirty man suspects himself a fool
Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan;
At fifty, chides his infamous delay,
Punishes his prudent purpose to resolve;
In all the magnanimity of thought,
Resolves, and re-resolves; then dies the same.
Would that this truth might be proclaimed with trumpet tones, that every man might hear and believe it. He only is noble, manly, virtuous, who is so to-day. The nobility that withholds its expression till to-morrow is infamy. The righteousness that delays is sin. Procrastinating virtue is vice…
Too often the morrow seems to recede rather than to draw nearer. That is a sadly familiar picture which the old Spanish poet sketches for us in the lines–
Lord, what am I, that with unceasing care,
Thou didst seek after me, that Thou didst wait,
Wet with unhealthy dews, before my gate,
And pass the gloomy nights of winter there?
Oh, strange delusion that I did not greet
Thy blessed approach, an oh, to Heaven how lost,
If my ingratitude’s unkindly frost
Has chilled the bleeding wounds upon Thy feet.
How oft my guardian angel gently cried,
“Soul, from thy casement look, and thou shalt see
How He persists to knock and wait for thee!”
And, O! how often to that voice of sorrow,
“To-morrow we will open,” I replied.
And when the morrow came I answered still,
“To-morrow.”
Here is the point of contrast between God and man. God knows nothing of to-morrow. He lives and works in a perpetual to-day. His life is an eternal now. His revelation is in the present tense. Command and reproof, warning and promise, are all for to-day.
What more can I add? How about this?
I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; 31 And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. 32 Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. 33 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: 34 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.
Proverbs 24:30-34
Stay convicted.
Harper sends