“My mother told me, “Judy, you’ll never amount to anything because you always procrastinate.” I said, “Oh yeah? Just wait!” — Judy Tenuta

I am amazed at how easy it is to procrastinate. In my line of work I receive letters from the IRS regularly”on behalf of clients. However, this time the IRS notification was for me. why manI opened the letter the day I received it and added it to the “to do” list on my handheld. They had questions about payroll taxes for an employee I had on staff a few years ago and needed a response by the 20th. No problem. It seemed easy enough to solve, just send them the supporting documents. I added the due date to my calendar with an alarm reminder.

I can’t figure out why I procrastinated. Why does it seem as if the steps we go through to procrastinate are easier than just doing the work? Why is it so easy to delay work for ourselves? I noticed I spent a lot of time thinking about having to deal with the letter. While I didn’t loose sleep over it, I did have a nasty gut reaction when I thought about the letter. Yet I chose procrastination.

The 10-day reminder alarm on my handheld sounded. I continued as usual, spending many pleasant days on billable client work. I even spent a few days on unpleasant tasks, like housecleaning and bathing the dogs. The 5-day reminder alarm sounded. Again, I continued as usual. I would check in with my trusty to do list and gloss over the IRS issue. All other tasks seemed take priority.

Yesterday was the day to deal with the IRS letter. I’d blocked out two thirds of the day on my calendar to dedicate to resolving the issue. I read pages upon pages upon pages of information they sent and boiled it down to a simple conclusion. They just need a one page form. I pulled a few folders from my filing cabinet and then a few more from archive files. I started sifting through them. Here comes the part that amazes me. The form they needed was already complete, in my own handwriting, ready to be mailed. I completed the form three years ago but never signed and mailed it.

The cost of procrastination this time was unnecessary worry and mild heartburn. I wish I would have taken thirty minutes to deal with the situation upfront. I guestimate savings of about 8 hours fretting and stressing. Well, at least I beat the deadline with a few days to spare.