A Magic Formula to Find the Right Time

This post is about how to deal with a condition I would call Closet Procrastination, in which you tend to put off important actions with innovative justifications without being consciously aware of the habit. I know from painful experience that I have been a victim of this condition at many times, and I will share a formula to deal with it that I tried and found very helpful for myself.
 
How do I know what is the right time to take an action that is very important to me? The answer is not easy. Very often, I find a very important task remains pending for too long. I may start with quick action and run into some hurdle; or I get distracted with different priorities; or I get affected by mood swings; or interrupts like phone, email, etc prevent me from finishing the task.

Over time, I conditioned myself into believing that there is a right time for carrying out any action, and I am most likely to succeed if I time everything right. In my efforts to find the right time, I sometimes resorted to methods like finding the auspicious muhurt, consulting astrologers, check with spiritual gurus, going by my star forecast, use my gut feeling, etc. but it did not always work out.

As examples, I have often seen myself and my friends grappling with situations similar to the following:

• I am planning to start a new business, but it must be started at the right time for it to be successful, so I am keeping it on hold for now till such time.
• I have to buy a house, what is the right time for it so that the house turns out lucky for us?
• I will surely study harder, but next year will be the right time for it.
• I want to start exercising regularly to get the health benefit, but not now. I will take it up when the time is right.
• Can someone tell me what is the right time to make an investment in stock market / gold / properties to get the maximum benefit?
• I know that I have to spend more time with my family. I will take a resolution this year to start it from next year. 
• I desperately want to do something to fix a relationship that went sour last year. Just waiting for the right time.
• I want to do this good deed to help someone, but looks like this is not the right time for it.
• I love to spend time on hobbies like Music / Painting / Sports, but I have to find the right time for it.
• I am convinced that I should quit smoking, but I need more time to implement it.
• Time is just slipping away and I have not been able to do retirement planning and start a habit of saving regularly. Don't know when the right time comes for this.

Sounds familiar?  The above example are all from very vital areas of our life, still these vital actions continue to be on hold, and we get this nagging feeling of being burdened with so many unfinished actions.. all waiting for the right time.. and in many cases, this right time never comes. As a result, some of these neglected tasks resurface as critically urgent forcing us to take immediate action. For example, if we ignore taking care of our health for too long, a medical emergency may force us to take a break and attend to our ailment.

I propose here a formula to find the right time, which is so simple that it sounds like a magic formula. But just because it is simple to understand, it may not be easy to implement. It may still require you to put the necessary focus and effort to take the action to its conclusion.

Here is the two step formula:

STEP 1:

Ask yourself, do I have all the necessary inputs for this action? If yes, proceeds to STEP 2; else this is a "blocked" action. Your immediate task is to list what you need to do to get the missing inputs, and repeat STEP 1 on each of these new actions.

STEP 2: 
You have all the inputs required for this action, so this is an "unblocked" action now, ready to be executed. The right time to complete that action is TODAY and NOW.

Do you see the simplicity and power of this formula? If you give it a try right now, you will uncover many actions that are "unblocked", ready to be executed right now, and you can prioritize these actions based on their importance and go about executing them one at a time. This should minimize confusion in your mind about what to do and when.

You may ask, "Wait! Why TODAY and NOW is the right time for any "unblocked" action?" The answer is very simple. TODAY and NOW is the only time available to you for doing anything. You can not go in the past and do something yesterday, and you can not go in the future and do something next month.

Do it right now and get it over with.

If you follow this approach consciously for a few days, you will find the burden of unfinished tasks will gradually vanish, leaving you a in a much more happier state of mind.This formula really did magic for me. Why not give it a try, and share your experience with your comments?

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Trivia - I was thinking for long about writing this blog post, waiting for the right time; and then it occurred to me that this is a case of "closet procrastination". So, I forced myself to finish it TODAY and NOW :)