“Now.” Such a simple, three-letter, one vowel, two consonant word but yet such a word that has a complex and deep meaning concerning the wonderful gift of life.
I believe it is safe to say we all know the definition of “now.” But to reinforce what it truly means, not our misconstrued conception of it, here is a definition from Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Now — “at the present time or moment”
We use this intriguing word throughout our life daily.
- We inform others we are leaving for work “now”.
- We assist our friends with their new ill-advised love interest, who claim they need our help “now”.
- We love to buy that brand new iPhone “now.”
- We promise ourselves that we are going to get to that last item that has been on our endless to-do list “now.” Oh wait, but do we? I know as a fact that we humans LOVE to put off what we can do “now”, and leave it for later.
That is the issue with current-day humans and how our brains are wired. We procrastinate on the simple tasks that weigh us down. There is no sugar-coating it. On a website focused on solving procrastination, there is a helpful quote that I have found that narrows down on the sole reason why we put off what we can do “now”.
“People procrastinate because their drive to delay is irrationally stronger than their drive to act. This happens when their self-control and motivation are weakened by issues like exhaustion, and are opposed by issues like fear.” — Dr. Itamar Shatz
In layman’s terms, we put off because it is easier than to act “now.” Dr. Shatz says this is because our “self-control and motivation are weakened by issues like exhaustion, and are opposed by issues like fear.” This is the sole reason why I have changed my life for the better, in some way or another, by using this mentality of “now” to combat this “exhaustion” and “fear”.
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The Mentality of “Now”
Before I begin my brief analysis of the mentality of “now”, I need to make it very clear that I am not a scholar, I am not smart in any way whatsoever, I am just your average Joe expressing his beliefs and personal experiences on this wonderful platform.
In a sentence, my mentality regarding short-term, mundane life tasks is as follows: If thinking about a mundane task takes longer than it would have had to simply complete the task, actually go do the task “now.”
For example: I am avidly binge-watching my favorite TV show for multiple hours on end, and realize I need to go do my laundry. By the way, laundry for me is the bane of my existence. I for one would brood on it, and subsequently, it would ruin the rest of my watching experience. Instead of taking action “now”, I would rather ruin what I am doing currently by carrying the weight of this simple task on my shoulders. But this is where the “now” mentality comes into play.
If I continue to keep brooding over how much I loathe doing my never-ending laundry, even just for a small time of 10 minutes, I simply should have just got up and done the laundry because I can complete the task quicker than 10 minutes.
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This is the beauty and wonder of the mentality. It forces you to take action “now”, and complete the short and mundane tasks in life that weigh us down. Eventually, if you continue to use this mentality, it will rewire your monkey-brain to focus on completing tasks “now.” So if you ever try to use this mentality, I challenge you to run this for one day, doing every small thing (within reason), “now”. It will change you.
With this new way of thinking, I guarantee that you, like me, can put aside the tiny tasks and concentrate on the bigger and more complex challenges that life graciously provides us.
Thank you for spending the time read this article, I am done writing “now”!
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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