If it takes less than two minutes, do it.

Ever read a quote that you feel is mocking you? Well, the above did exactly that to me. I pride myself in writing. I call myself a writer. I got lots of stories in my computer that are so great to flip through until they give you a surprise by ending minutes later with a conjunction just because I was too lazy to add a verb or a noun at the end. It would have even been nicer if it was only a story. Sadly, it is not one or two. Lots of them they are. I get lost in my thoughts trying to figure out what I wanted to write next. Why I do that? I don’t know. I wouldn’t say it is ‘writers block’ either. Am I alone in this? Absolutely not. Life, as in writing, tends to take on this habit. It is so painfully true that we do things this way.

Everywhere we are, we have a thing or two that have seen us grow old trying to complete them. It could be fixing the gap in the barn. You see it every day and say “I’ll repair it.” It is only until your livestock wander and get eaten in the forest that the urgency to fix it hits you. There was this family living next to us, their wooden gate was broken and the wife would remind the husband daily to repair it. Months later, the husband came home early and found his wife repairing the gate. Out of immense guilt and shame, he snatched the hammer, nails and the wooden pieces and before you know it, the gate was fixed. It took no time at all. Where did we go wrong that we have to be this way?

Take a look at yourself. What you are made of. What you are capable of doing and compare it with what you have done or achieved. The fact that we are baffled by what we can achieve through commitment, is a reason enough to show that we are not giving it our all. We give up as soon as self-doubt creeps in or as soon as our friends do not support our ideas. As such, our aspirations, dreams, work among others become wild goose chases. You know you are good in something but you lack the motivation and drive that will see you through it. You are blessed with a talent, one that could change your life forever, but something, a little stupid nudge shamelessly convinces you that tomorrow is as good enough a day to start. Wrong. If you do not do it now, there will be no tomorrow.

A while back when I was in campus, one Prof. Égara Kabaji told us that a writer doesn’t think about writing, a writer writes. It is a shame that it has taken me all this years to eventually fathom the wisdom behind his words. He simply meant, never procrastinate anything. Lesson learnt the hard way and for that, unto you I verily say, do not think about it, do it. Get it over with and move on to the next task ahead of you.

Great opportunities are lost to procrastination. Deadlines are not met. Employees get fired. You endlessly snooze the alarm and wake up late. As a result, you do fail to achieve the day’s goals as set. Little by little, you are getting lazier and lazier. You lie to yourself that there will be a next time but, have you ever asked yourself when that day’s task will be done? You will not make up for it. The time and the occasion is gone. Ironically, success is what want. Here is free advice, the secret to success is doing it now. Achieve excellence, manage your time and one by one, accomplish all you have to at its time.

Start where you are, with what you have. Don’t wait. It will cost you. Your time is now. Venture forth with your idea. You never know what the future holds for you. Study, do not wait. Write, get published, risk, love again, invest, present your idea, someone out there could be looking just for it and you are at home thinking another time is coming. Eventually when it doesn’t, you start to whine and wallow in self-pity thinking about how life is so unfair and how you have such bad luck. Woe unto you.

That you may fail is so much true. But again, you never know, right? Look at the successful people. One trait is common among them all. They kept doing it again and again. They failed but stood back up. You are not different. You will be though, if you oversee failure before you do anything. Don’t dwell in that. With confidence and boldness, step in there, find the last bit of your strength and energy, and give it your all. Don’t wait for tomorrow. Do it now. That is why if it takes less than two minutes, do it now.