Have you ever tried to stop a small leak with bubble gum or some equally ludicrous substance? If not a leak, maybe you’ve tried to repair a piece of furniture with some duct tape, when clearly a more substantial solution was necessary??
We all have THAT story. The one where a half-assed repair job cost us big in the long run. A duct-taped chair leg lands you on the floor. A bubble-gum-repaired pipe ends up as a cupboard full of water….you all have your own story! (We’d love to hear it if you want to send us one of your classics.)
Here’s the thing: We always imagine our future selves as having more time and energy to handle things. Every time we make these kind of half-assed, quick repairs, some part of us is thinking, "Future-me will be able to handle this much better than current-me. I’ll just get us to the next moment and future-me will handle things properly."
Uhhh….future you is created by the person putting gum on leaky pipes, how smart and capable do you actually think you’re going to be?? If we are living in quick-fix, survival mode, we aren’t setting our future selves up for success. Future you is going to be in quick-fix survival mode too, cleaning up the poor workmanship of past you.
Let’s look at how this shows up in the emotional, interpersonal realm:
- We suppress our emotions, "I can’t deal with that now!" and stay stuck rather than move forward.
- We delay (or never have) necessary conversations because "it’s easier not to bring it up" with colleagues, friends, spouses, and eventually the relationship gets filled with resentments and implodes.
It’s not news that when we put off dealing with what needs to be dealt with we end up with a much bigger problem. Now is always the time to do things the right way. (The right way for you.) If you are interested in getting out of survival mode, you need to start acting consistent with your TRUE self in the present. Putting necessary things off for a later date just makes them critical emergencies in the future.
To doing your right thing at your right time!
