A few years ago, my children wrote a skit about our amble family called The Procrastinator Squad.  It was a story about a lazy group of superheroes.  They created characters like Dawdle Dude, Lolligag Lady, Captian Shilly Shally, and Mosey Man.  The Procrastinator Squad’s mission in life was to help make the world a better place;  but not today.  They wanted to help; they had good intentions, they just wanted to do it all tomorrow.  My kids even made up a theme song:

Procrastinator Squad, Procrastinator Squad
We saunter and stroll, we mosey and mull.
We’ll get to it eventually.
Procrastinator Squad, Procrastinator Squad
Why save the world today,
when we can do it tomorrow?

And so the story goes, putting things off until the last minute causes stress to make deadlines, often times doing mediocre work and running out of time for excellence. Postponing daily chores means nothing ever gets done.  Wasting time sitting on our fannies warming the couch, when we could have been doing any number of productive things. Then we become so complacent and comfortable, that when it’s time to get up and actually do something, we are irritated and do the job quickly so we can get back to biding our time.

One day when I was in the middle of some serious dilly dallying, I found myself flipping through channels and I stopped at The Doctor’s Talk Show.  I had never seen this show before and I’ve never seen it since, but I paused as they were revealing quick little tidbits of random information.

One question they asked was this:  Do you want to know how to be more productive?

The answer:  Put your shoes on.  Okay….I was intrigued.

What is one thing you do when you leave your house? You put on your shoes.  Putting on your shoes tells your brain that you will be moving, going; it represents activity.  When you come home, the first thing you do is take your shoes off, giving your brain the okay to relax.

This idea fascinated me, so I decided to test the theory.  Every day for two weeks I put my shoes on in the morning and left them on until the evening. It worked!  I was more productive, and I had more energy when I wore my shoes all day than when I didn’t.

There’s nothing wrong with taking time to rest and restore your soul, but like everything else, moderation is the key.  Practicing daily procrastination isn’t a healthy solution to resting.  Want to know how to stay out of  The Lazy Super Hero Group of Procrastinators?

Take time for yourself to rest; and then, put your shoes on and get to work.

“Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper.” Proverbs 13:4 (NLT)

~Peace be with you.