John Suder

Well, kids, Summer is almost over. Vacations are just about done, kids are going back to school. People are getting back to business. Myself included. So today I performed my seasonal ritual of pulling my office apart and putting it back together. I’m generally an organized person, and a follower of David Allen’s GTD System (If you don’t know what it is, look it up). But even the most organized person can fall off the wagon and accumuate layers of crud and cruft in their system.

So today, I cleared the desk, pulled out the windex and set up the recycling box for a major purge session. When I do this, I see it as a new beginning, a chance to start over, hit the reset button. It felt really good to do this, because as of late, I just haven’t been real motivated.

On my wall I have a large dry erase board and a corkboard. These are used to list projects I’m working on or to post note cards for ongoing checklists or reminders (Sorry, you’ll find no post-its here.) On the board, under random notes and some stuff ripped from magazines, I noticed a page that I printed earlier this year from a website..it was a saying that I really affected me when I first saw it. But, as the clutter built up, the sign was covered over.

The sign read: “Psst – Here’s a secret…”Your last mortal thought will be, “Why did I take so many days – just like today – for granted?”"

I thought about all the days during the Summer that just flew by. (No worries, there’s plenty more!) I thought about all the times I put something off..because “I just didn’t feel like it.” I thought about all the times I “coulda and shoulda..”.

So, the office is clean. A season worth of old paperwork in the recycling. But the little sign..it’s staying. Moral of the story: Get off your asses while you still can – Don’t wait — Procrastinate NOW!