This could be due to the perfectionism that we learned while in school. The idea that everything has to be done perfectly, or else it will be considered garbage.
Just like:
- I will start writing once the world is quiet
- I will start to go out walking once the weather is cool
- I will call my mother once I finish all my chores
- I will propose to her once I finish my masters
- …etc, etc…
The problem is, that perfect timing usually never comes and that instead of having something, we end up with nothing.
During my school days, I will spend days planning the perfect project only to end up hastily finishing such the day before the deadline. I will not study during down days and spend a whole night cramming for exams the night before the day of judgment.
Even up to the present, I still put off a lot of things thinking I have the time only to realize that there is no more time left: paper works, bills to pay, people to meet, a lot of them.
But there is something even worse than putting things off for later, it is that we stubbornly start doing something just because we think the right time has passed.
I have always had the urge to write a book and up to now, I haven’t started anything. I have always planned to be active on social media to share my views about the world and to teach people some worthwhile things that I know, but I have never done so.
Today, I just started a new Instagram account where I will post one Stoic quote every day since I am fascinated with the Stoic way of thinking. I believe the world would be in a way better state than now only if people follow the guidance from the Stoics of the past and present.
And so I started my first post with a quote that I am not really sure falls under the category of Stoicism but which is highly applicable to my own life and my bad habit of procrastination: “The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is NOW.”