The Hairdryer Story & How I Stopped Procrastinating

This is a weird one, but stick with me here!

Ever since I moved into my house two and a half years ago, there's been a small toy hairdryer stuck behind my bedroom radiator, left behind from the previous tenants.

I noticed it soon after I moved in, and I'd been putting off trying to get it out because it looked totally wedged in; I thought it would take ages to slowly de-wedge it and pull it out.

After all, if it was easy to get out, the previous tenants would have done it, right? They wouldn’t have just left it there! It looked pretty out of reach, and like it would be really awkward and time-consuming to try to retrieve it, so I left it. I didn’t even try.

As the weeks and months went on, I thought about it every so often, thinking I should probably remove it and hoping it wasn’t slowly melting due to the heat coming off the radiator, but I’m a busy woman! I didn't want to spend hours of my life trying to get it out! I’ve got stuff to do, right?!

Then, the other day, I decided to just do it. I was going to get that sucker! I was going to de-wedge it and liberate it from the years it had spent being stuck against the wall. I was going to set it free. No longer would it live a solitary life wedged behind my bedroom radiator. So, I psyched myself up. I did my stretches, I got mentally prepared, and I – of course – had a nice cup of tea to get ready.

And… guess what? Yep. It came right out. I simply reached down, grabbed it, and pulled it straight out. It took me less than a second. I’d been putting this task off for YEARS and it took less than a second to complete.

If that isn’t a metaphor for life (at least my life, prone as I am to procrastination), I don’t know what is.

I put things off and put things off, making mountains out of molehills and building the thing up in my mind to be something far bigger than it actually is (and far more trouble than it's worth). I tell myself stories about the thing I need to do – stories not at all based in reality. It's too difficult. It's going to take ages to complete. I don't know how to do it. I don't know what I'll do if I try something and it doesn't work. It's just too much hassle. And then – voila! You pull the toy hairdryer out from behind the radiator and suddenly you're laughing at how ridiculous you've been for putting it off for so long.

Besides, accomplishing things – even small, stupid things, like liberating hairdryers – feels good! So why don't we do it more often?

That day, I told myself I was going to stop putting things off. If I needed to do something, I was simply going to do it, no excuses. It would probably take less time than I thought, and if I could accomplish one thing so quickly and easily, I could accomplish everything else on my list too.

And, believe me, I have a lot on my list. I have SO many things I want to achieve in life, and they're only going to happen if I put myself out there and get them done. Procrastinating will not help me accomplish my dreams.

If you have dreams you want to accomplish and you're sick and tired of putting them off, why not consider becoming a Write Your Lifer? With books, courses, challenges, and PDF guides (some of them free!), it's incredibly easy to turn things around and start writing your life. I know I'm biased, but it can really help you get clear and focused on your goals and ambitions.

So, what are you putting off today? Let me know in the comments! And don’t be like me and the lonely hairdryer – get the thing done!

I told you it was a weird one…

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