Procrastination has itsbenefits.

So your mother has written you, saying how you are the only kid not coming home for Christmas (or Thanksgiving or someone's birthday or anniversary, whatever), and can you let her know soon if you're going to make it?

Or your boss has said that he/she needs a report that you don't want to submit, for whatever reason, by a certain date.

Or your husband/wife/lover says that it's time to talk, but you don't want to talk.

Or you have until such-and-such date to apply for a job you really don't want.

Or . . .

You get the idea. There are all sorts of deadlines in our lives that we just don't want to meet.
We know we'll have to deal with them, eventually, but we need some breathing space before they're due.

So what do we do in the meantime, with the deadline looming?

Easy: We do all that OTHER stuff we'd been meaning to do!

Remember that closet you meant to clean out? Those relatives and old friends you meant to write? That yard you've been meaning to tend? That exercise plan you've been thinking about starting? That club or political party you always meant to volunteer to?

A deadline for something you don't want to do and are putting off can be a trigger to get done lots of other things you've been putting off but that aren't as serious/ominous. Can't face the boss? Buy a treadmill and start walking! Don't want to have that big conversation with a spouse? Call your long-lost sister or friend and catch up. Tax guy on your case? Donate some stuff and write it off. You know you've been meaning to do it for a long time, right? Now's the time! And when did you last organize the garage?

There are deadlines we impose on ourselves: a sick kid needs to be taken to the doctor or even an emergency room. But most deadlines are imposed on us from outside our control, and they can usually be postponed but not avoided altogether. A report is due. Yes, you have to do it, but maybe not quite yet. A lover says, "If you love me, why won't you marry me -- now?"

Sometimes we just need time to think, and that's where all these other tasks come in handy. Gee, I'd love to marry you, but right now I have to talk to someone about these curtains. I'd love to have you move in, but my cabinets are a mess. Check back with me later, okay?

Eventually we have to deal with whatever caused us to postpone a decision, but there is always time until that decision when we can get a lot done that we thought was too hard until we were faced with something even harder. Use your procrastination to your best advantage. Get all that other stuff done while you're putting off what you don't want to do.

Your big decision time is coming, and you'll have to make it, but if you've used your time wisely in the meantime, you'll be more organized and better prepared to face it. You may still screw up whatever it was you had to decide, but at least your closet or your garage will look a lot better.