We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood — it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, ‘Too late.’ – MLK jr.
Brilliant reminders about ‘doing’ rather than ‘thinking of doing’ have been popping up all over for me in the past 48 hours…several over the weekend, the above from Seth’s blog. I’m taking it as a sign to spread the word. If you were thinking of putting off that portrait to tomorrow, rather than today, or thinking of not picking up the phone and calling that client, skipping that research for your next short film, or whatever it might be… perhaps you should re-consider and do it today. I sure am.
Thank you Dr. King. Today in your honor….
True that. Act on your ideas before they wear out. Before you think them to death. Sometimes a concept or an idea that may seem trivial, can lead to the evolution of better ideas if you keep an open mind to what you are doing. Thats why (at least for me) concepts like iphone photography is so interesting, because the result is immediate.
Great, absolutely great. Something that I should really work on… Thank you very much for sharing, this is definitely of importance to me.
I agree with both of you. However, I have another thing looming over me that continues to force me to procrastinate is depression. Since losing my job in September, I’ve decided to freelance, but one of the biggest problems I face is depression, which leads to procrastination, which leads to missed opportunities. It’s a daily struggle, but it’s getting better.
Thanks Chase 🙂
i’m not a therapist, but i know from my own experince that the simple and repeat act of ‘doing’ – if you can muster that in the most basic sense of the word – is enough to break almost any cycle of funk.
What a powerful and poignant message with superb timing! Thanks Chase and Thanks Dr. King!
Hi Violet, I lost my job 2 years ago and I started photography around the same time. Since then, I have been showing agency models and few designers. When i lost my job, my friend encouraged me to walk outside the house (important not to stay in the house too long) to take some photos or perhps make yourself a project to keep it interesting. Someone once told me that the greatest art pieces were created in great depression and I believe we can use our limited resources to create something great. (limited resources force creativity to come out in my case). I guess there is no right or wrong how to take photos as long as we start to learn from the process and improve from it. Just want to encourage you to keep shooting , your creativity is limitless because you have a camera in your hands. Hope you will get a break through from this soon. You are not alone.
I suffer depression too, it needs to be harnessed like a beast.
You need to train yourself. you need tools to cope.
When you’re feeling flat, get out of house with camera, surround yourself with friends and people. Volunteer to take photos for a youth or homeless group. It puts things into perspective.
Do the opposite to how you feel…. Don’t want to finsh off a job or send a quote, just do it. Right in the now.
When you feel you have no energy, get out and run, walk a dog, then return back to the job with a clear mind.
Exercise pumps up the feel good hormones.
Today I have to finish off a couple of client’s work, I don’t have much energy or inspiration.
My tactic, coffee, The National playing and then my reward….work on personal stuff.
Hang in there.
Ditto, Violet.
It’s been about two years, and the fear and stress are still there.
Here’s my advice. Take a step forward. Tell everyone what you did. Repeat. Eventually things will start to come about.
Best of luck!
I suffer from procrastination. It’s getting better though.
Chase, you’re thinking what I’m thinking. I spent the past 3 days reading the Best Practices by John Harrington. I now know what I didn’t know, and I’ve been all over my client base this morning playing catch up. I want to stay in business. I don’t want to wait tables next month because I failed this month.