OK then.
OK.
One second.
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and this is Ascension Presents.
So back in seminary, there was a guy on my floor.
He was a year behind me and he was a non-procrastinator.
He actually was the opposite of procrastinating.
He would be the kind of guy who would get the syllabus for the whole semester
and he would just start—he would get the syllabus and start working on it.
He would start working on the projects, he would start doing the reading,
he would start the final paper at the end of the semester,
he would have started writing it before the end of the first week of classes.
In fact, a lot of times, he would have all the papers written
within the first three to four weeks of the semester,
which just boggles my mind for many reasons.
That's just not how I think.
I think, "Let me have it sit in the pot for a little bit. Let's have some crock pot writing,
crock pot creativity. Let's simmer a little bit."
He was like, (clap) "No, we're gonna do it!"
But the second thing is kind of interesting, that seems to imply that there was
nothing he could learn throughout the course of the rest of that semester
that would affect the outcome of those papers.
I think actually how he did it was he
wrote the first draft and then he added to it because he was a pretty smart guy
but he didn't procrastinate and that bothered me because I tend to procrastinate.
and my guess is, if you're watching a YouTube video, you tend to procrastinate as well
because that's why YouTube exists for procrastinators, just like you and me.
So what do we do?
Good question, camper!
I know what I should do but I can't bring myself to do it— that's pretty much procrastination, right?
First question, is this what I'm supposed to do?
Second question, is this what I'm supposed to do right now?
Because to everything, there is a season, right?
You can get the assignment and say, "OK, at the end of the semester write a 15 page paper on blank."
Well at the end of the semester, I might have to learn something
between the beginning of the semester and the middle of the semester
so I can actually have that contribute to what I'm writing for the paper for the end of the semester.
So not only is this what I'm supposed to do, is this what I'm supposed to do right now?
Because answering those two questions will give you clarity on the task at hand.
I think a lot of us, we think we're procrastinators, that only is because we have a sense of guilt
like I know I should be doing something
but we haven't asked the question, "Wait, really?"
Are you really supposed to be doing this? and are you really supposed to be doing it right now?
Now, once you answer the question, yep, it is actually something (laughs)
I'm supposed to be doing and I'm supposed to be doing it right now,
OK well, then we can do this thing called strategic procrastination
and strategic procrastination is basically I know I'm supposed to be doing this,
I'm supposed to—for me, how about this I need to be writing a homily right now,
OK, but woah, those dirty dishes in the sink they need some cleaning.
They're not gonna clean themselves, so I'm gonna do that instead.
OK, wait!
I found a task that needs to be done— dishes need to be washed—
but they don't need to be washed right now.
The homily actually has to be done by Sunday morning or else uh—
You know, I or else what? I guess, people would just be bored
Actually, they won't be bored, that'd be a shorter homily and then—
actually, why do we?
Why do I put so much time into that? Never mind.
Never mind. Bad example!
Now, there are benefits to procrastination. There are some things that—
In fact, there's a there's a TED talk about the benefits of procrastination.
There are some people who are reactors (snap, snap)
when they're supposed to do something, they just act on it right away
and they don't give themselves sufficient time to process.
They don't give themselves sufficient time
to let it actually be a little crock-pot creativity and give themselves time to stew and to think
and to kind of process some things.
The best way, I think, when you have to do a task is, if you can do it in the first two minutes,
fine, awesome, fantastic. I don't need a lot of creativity to call up the plumber
and say, "Hey, Mr. Plumber or Ms. Plumber,
can you come over to my house because there's a leak somewhere?"
If I can do that right away, do it right away
but there's some kind of things that just take a little bit more time
and so some procrastination can help that! Some procrastination can help the creativity.
Now, when it comes to strategic procrastination,
there is actually a deeper spiritual danger.
It's not just one of those things that's kind of relatively inconvenient.
The deeper spiritual danger is a thing called slothe or sloth
or what the ancients would maybe refer to as acedia.
Now we sometimes think of sloth or sloth, I like to say sloth because that's the way I
heard at first, but we think of sloth as laziness. Sloth is not laziness. Sloth
could look like activism. Sloth, you know some of the busiest people, some of
the most active people, some of those people
people who are are doing the most stuff they're actually the most slothful.
Here's what I mean. Sloth, what sloth is is not doing what I'm
supposed to be doing right now. Now that doesn't mean I'm just laying there not
doing anything. I can be doing a thousand different things except for the one
thing that I'm supposed to be doing right now, and the deeper thing that
procrastination reveals is it can possibly reveal a certain tendency
towards sloth or sloth or acedia. Procrastination isn't always what we
think. For example, when I'm trying to solve a problem, trying to address an
issue, it might be a good thing to step back from the issue into and to
think about it. It might be a good idea to you know have this problem I'm trying
to work out and you know I'm trying to deal with this relation with people or
man, manage or manager, meet your manager somewhere, or you can say the word
manager like I can't apparently. You're trying to manage
some people but you're just too close to it right now, you need to set it off to
the side. Maybe you're trying to raise your kids, you're like, OK I'm the midst
of this whole thing, and you know we have to deal with this but I just I need to
calm down right now. I need to process it now or I need to just put it off to
the side right now so I can come back to it.
That's not procrastinating, that's doing it we're supposed to be doing right now
if what you're supposed to be doing right now is taking a step back, it's
doing what you need to be doing. The greater spiritual danger is this thing
sloth which I'm doing everything but the one thing I'm supposed to be doing right
now. So how do you how do you break out of sloth? How do you break out a sloth. How do
you break out of procrastination? I say this, it's it's relatively easy because
it has ... it starts small, it starts with moments, and starts ... doesn't start with a big
thing, like, I'm no longer gonna procrastinate. I'm gonna start on the syllabus right
now. I'm gonna write the paper right now. No, the simpler question is, "What am I
supposed to be doing? Not what's self-imposed, not what I ...
books I'm supposed, "supposed" to be reading or or the the people I'm
supposed to be calling. Maybe you're not supposed be calling them, maybe you need
to be narrowing your gaze, maybe I don't need to be reading all these books, maybe
I can read one chapter from some of these books rather than read the whole
thing. It is not meant to be overwhelming, in fact it's meant to be empowering. You
could have a lot of talent, you could have a lot of great ideas, you could have a lot of
like potential, but St. Teresa of Avila said, she said
"Hell is full of the talented. Heaven is full of the energetic." Hell is full of
people with great ideas and great plans, and great projects. Heaven's full of people
who said OK, what do I need to do now? What's the one thing I'm
supposed to do now? And then they did it. I bet you're one of
those people. You get clarity on what you're supposed to do or what you're
supposed to do now and then go ahead and do it. It's not super complicated. It's in your
grasp at this very moment. From all of us here at Ascension Presents, my name's
Father Mike. God bless.
you