Two weeks have passed since New Year and it seems like nothing NEW is really surfacing in our day to day life. We feel that we are back in our old self and our resolutions are like written on the sand and washed out by the waves. Traditionally speaking, we always wait for January 1 to start a new beginning only to feel helpless on January 2 when we first break what we have decided to change because we are convinced that we can do it “tomorrow.” Then, we feel anxious and we hate ourselves. I can’t really digest such idea. People are obsessed with “New Year’s Resolution” and how come? Do we really need that? If so, why not make it a “Daily Resolution?”
The root of our dilemma - we are anxious because we are always procrastinating. In short, the “Mañana Habit” is deeply ingrained in our minds. “Mañana” means “tomorrow” or “procrastination” in plain English or “ugma na” in Bisaya. “Habit” is a behavior acquired through frequent repetition. No amount of “New Year’s Resolution” can beat the “Mañana Habit.”
Let me hand-pick how this “Mañana Habit” works. In some point, this is what each of us has experienced. You need to do something now but then you decide to do it later. As a consequence, you end up not doing it. Then, you tell yourself that you will do it tomorrow. Tomorrow comes and, still, you did not do it. The same thing happens the next day and it becomes a habit that is difficult to break. It is a battle that you can’t win because even fighting for it is left for tomorrow. You fail to realize that you only live today. You feel helpless and you get depressed.
But, how do you overcome this self-consuming habit? Very easy - change. DO IT NOW! Don’t wait ‘till tomorrow. I bet we all have heard this before. However, too little of us understands the words “DO IT NOW.”
Now, allow me to enlighten you with these 3 words:
1. DO. To do is to act and only action can beat procrastination. Drag your body if you must. Take a huge leap and don’t hesitate.
2. IT. Face it. The only way to do it is to face it. Don’t give in to a single excuse.
3. NOW. Not later, not tomorrow and not next year. Every second counts. Now is the perfect time.
So, wasn’t that easy? We don’t need therapy for that but the will to do it now. We don’t need a long list of new year’s resolution but only the will to change. One concrete example, of a DO IT NOW, that I can share to you is my own father’s smoking habit. He started this habit in his teenage years. We thought that he will never get rid of it but miraculously he made his way to DO IT NOW. One afternoon, while he was about to light a cigarette, he made an immediate decision to stop smoking. He acted on it by saying, “I will not smoke again” and threw away the stick of death. He did it and he never did smoke again. That is an inspiration for me. If my father has overcome the most difficult habit to break so why can’t I overcome petty habits or why can’t you?
Every habit started when we decided to do it and it should end when we decide to STOP doing it now. Remember your favorite Nike shoes’ slogan? It said, “JUST DO IT.” Take it from there. So just do it now. Think about the worthwhile benefits of doing things now.
Mind you, breaking a harmful habit is just one example. There are still many other things that we need to “do it now.” It may not be a habit to break but a good deed that you keep on postponing to do. Do it now. Every good deed is worth demonstrating. As what the Bible say,
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people…" --Galatians 6:9-10
Did you know that I was also procrastinating to write this article? LOL. Thank God I managed to DO IT NOW.
“I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow human being let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”—Stephen Grellet
by: ivy congson
