Habit is habit, and not to be flung out the window…
but coaxed downstairs one step at a time.
-Mark Twain, humorist, author
I was having lunch with my friend Anita one day. I was complaining to her about my frustration with my procrastination, and the pressure I put myself under by waiting until the last minute to get things done.
“I have hard time getting started… I have million things to do other then the thing I most need to do,” I said.
“Up until now.” Anita interrupted.
“Huh? What?” I asked, surprised.
“Up until now,” she repeated. “Every time you hear yourself making some blanket statement like that, I’d suggest that you add those three words, ‘up until now.’ Every time you do that, you’re making a brake with the past.
You’re giving yourself permission to change. Just because you were a certain way in the past, does not mean that you necessarily have to be that way today…or in the future.
‘Up until now acknowledges what was true in the past, but it also gives you freedom for something different in the future.
“Okay,” I replied. “Up until now I have procrastinated starting projects.”
“How does it make you feel when you say that?” She asked me.
“Different… and awkward.” I said.
“Great!” She said. “Just be with that. Consider the possibility that maybe you’ve changed. Just because you were a curtain way in the past, doesn’t mean that you’re still that way.”
“Okay,” I agreed.
Since then… when I think…”I am impulsive…” I interrupt myself and correct myself: ‘up until now I’ve been disorganized.” In so doing I give myself the freedom to change.
Language is powerful. My friend Anita taught me that three little words can transform my life. I can give myself freedom by keeping the past in the past, and not letting the past dictate my future.
I can give you this assignment to you too. Catch yourself and watch your language. Insert three simple words, “up until now…”
Language is powerful. Use it to your advantage.
B.J. Gallagner
