“The habit of always putting off an experience until you can afford it, or until the time is right, or until you know how to do it is one of the greatest burglars of joy. Be deliberate, but once you’ve made up your mind – jump in!” – Charles R. Swindoll

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Who says age – that number which most women fear (sorry, ladies if most of you are singled out) – matters? Look at Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao who, at 40, still manages to win his boxing match against a younger opponent.

If you’re like the world-renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright, age also doesn’t matter at all. He was already 68 when he created his most famous structure – in about two hours. But hold your breath first. It actually took him long to do it.

Brandon Spector, in an article published in the widely-circulated Reader’s Digest, shares the story: “In 1934, Pittsburgh department store magnate Edgar Kaufmann Sr. hired Wright to design a retreat around the waterfalls of his forested Pennsylvania property. Wright visited the site and assured Kaufmann he had big plans. In truth, he hadn’t drawn a thing.

That’s how trouble started brewing. “Weeks became months, and on a Sunday morning, September 22, 1935, Kaufmann spontaneously decided to visit Wright’s studio and check his progress. He would arrive before lunch, Kaufmann explained over the phone, and was very excited to see the designs.”

If you were in Wright’s shoes, what would be your response. I know what you are thinking. Read the rest of the story: “With nervous apprentices watching and Kaufmann hours from his door, Wright finished breakfast, then drew up the plans for what became Fallingwater – an icon of modern design and a US National Historic Landmark.”

What Wright did – the delaying tactic – is procrastination. Its synonyms include dawdle, dally, defer, drag, linger, loiter, postpone, protract, retard, stall, suspend, tarry, temporize, and wait. Dictionary defines it as “delay or postpone action.” It also means “put off doing something.”

Many famous men have shared their thoughts on the subject. “Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well,” said American humorist and novelist Mark Twain. US President Abraham Lincoln also said, “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”

Two other American presidents did say on the subject. Thomas Jefferson, stated, “Never put off for tomorrow, what you can do today.” Dwight David Eisenhower also said, “Neither a wise nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.”

Wright, however, is not alone. There are so many people – famous at that – who procrastinate for various reasons. Bestselling author Paulo Coelho admitted, “It was my failure that first kept me from attempting the master work. Now, I’m beginning what I could have started ten years ago. But I’m happy at least that I didn’t wait twenty years.”

Miranda July, the woman behind It Chooses You, shared her own experience: “The funny thing about my procrastination was that I was almost done with the screenplay. I was like a person who had fought dragons and most limbs and crawled through swamps and now, finally, the castle was visible. I could see tiny children waving flags on the balcony; all I had to do was walk across a field to get to them.

Then, something unusual happened. The American film director, screenwriter, singer, actress, author and artist went on: “But all of a sudden, I was very, very sleepy. And the children couldn’t believe their eyes as I folded down to my knees and fell to the ground face-first, with my eyes open. Motionless, I watched ants hurry in and out of a hole and I knew that standing up again would be a thousand times harder than the dragon or the swamp and so I did not even try. I just clicked on one thing after another after another.”

More often than not, writers have this habit of doing things “later on.” American playwright and essayist Paul Rudnick wrote: “As a writer, I need an enormous amount of time alone. Writing is 90% procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials. It’s a matter of doing everything you can to avoid writing, until it is about four in the morning and you reach the point where you have to write.”

To procrastinate once is a while is alright. But doing it for several times that it becomes a habit, well, that’s another story. “Habitual procrastination will readily testify to all the lost opportunities, missed deadlines, failed relationships and even monetary losses incurred just because of one nasty habit of putting things off until it is often too late,” wrote Stephen Richards, author of The Secret of Getting Started: Strategies to Triumph over Procrastination.

Do what you do today and don’t wait for tomorrow. Remember, we have given today and that’s why it is called present. Yesterday is gone and you cannot relive the past. Tomorrow is still out there and what if, as the line of a song goes, “tomorrow never comes”?

Now, let me tell you a story shared by William Barclay:

It came to pass that Satan was testing all his little devils on the methods they would use to get people into the burning hell. “What trick or like would you use?” he asked them.

A little devil pupil raised his hand and answered: “I’d tell them there is no heaven. Heaven is just a mere imagination.”

“You’re crazy,” Satan shouted. “Deep down inside everyone believes that they are one day going to be rewarded in heaven for all the good work they do. Saying there is no heaven does not work.”

Another volunteered, “I’d tell them there is no hell.” Satan again fired back: “That’s no good either. Instinctively, everyone knows that someday – in a hell – evil and evildoers are going to get what they deserve. It is going to catch up. Forget about that argument.”

A third pupil stood and said, “I’d tell people: have you fling now and convert later. No hurry. Take your time.”

Satan smiled and declared, “Hurrah! There’s a man who will win. Get up to earth and get to work.”

Now, get to work. Do the things you have to accomplish today. Never wait for tomorrow. For as Scarlett O’Hara (portrayed by Oscar-winning actress Vivien Leigh) in 1939’s Gone With The Wind, “Tomorrow is another day.” – ###

“Every truth has two sides; it is as well to look at both, before
we commit ourselves to either.” – Aesop

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In Charity and Its Fruits: Christian Love as Manifested in the Heart and Life, Jonathan Edwards wrote: “There are always two sides to every story, and it is generally wise, and safe, and charitable, to take the best; and yet there is probably no one way in which persons are so liable to be wrong, as in presuming the worst is true, and in forming and expressing their judgement of others, and of their actions, without waiting till all the truth is known.”

Now, allow me to share two stories. The first one was forwarded to me through e-mail by a friend:

A couple went for a cruise tour to enjoy their private honeymoon while leaving their children at home. Unfortunately, the cruise ship was sinking due to catastrophic weather conditions. The couple finally made their way to the lifeboat area but there was only space for one person left. The man jumped onto the lifeboat, leaving his wife on the sinking ship. The wife stood on the sinking ship and shouted to her husband saying…

The teacher paused the above story and asked her students in the classroom, “Let us guess. What do you think she shouted to her husband?” Most students answered altogether: “I hate you! I was blinded by love!”

The teacher noticed that there was a student who sat quietly and asked him. The student answered, “Teacher, I believe she would have shouted: Take care of our children!”

The teacher was shocked and asked: “Have you heard this story before?” The student shook his head and said, “Nope, but before my mother passed away to disease, she told my father the exact same words!”

The teacher was amazed and praised: “Your answer is excellent!”

The cruise sunk and the man returned home and brought up their children single-handedly.
Many years later after the death of the man, their daughter who had been accusing her father found her father’s diary while tidying his belongings, and she found out the truth.

It turns out that when her parents went onto the cruise ship, the mother was already diagnosed with an incurable disease. During the crucial moment on the sinking ship, her father rushed to the only space left on the lifeboat. He wrote in his diary, “I wanted to sink with you together on the sinking cruise. But for our children, I could only let you sink alone into the deep cold ocean bed.”

The daughter burst into tears after reading this diary.

The teacher finished the story and the whole class went silent.

The teacher knew that her students had understood the moral of the story that she wanted to pass on to them. In this world, there are always two sides of a coin: there is good and there is evil. Sometimes the situation can be very complicated and indistinguishable between good and bad.

Now, the second story was posted by Health Secretary Ted Herbosa in his social media. Allow me to share it to you:

A famous writer sat in his study. He took out his pen and started writing: “Last year, I had surgery to remove gallstones. I was bedridden for a long time. In the same year, I turned 60 and was forced to retire, quitting a company that I loved so much. I had to leave the job I’d been doing for 35 years.

“That same year, I was abandoned by my beloved mother who passed away. Then, in the same year, my son failed his final medical exam because of a car accident. Repair costs from the car damage marked the peak of bad luck last year.”

At the end, he wrote, “What a bad year!”

His wife entered the room and found her husband sad and pensive. From behind, she’d seen what he’d written. Slowly, she backed away and left the room. But 15 minutes later, she came back in and put down a piece of paper with the following:

“Last year, my husband finally managed to get rid of his gallbladder which had been making his stomach hurt for years. That same year, I am grateful that my husband was able to retire in a healthy and happy state of mind and body. I thank God he was given the opportunity to work and earn for 35 years to support our family. Now, my husband can spend more of his time writing, which has always been his hobby.

“In the same year, my 95-year-old mother-in-law returned to God in peace, without any pain. And still in the same year, God protected our son from harm in a terrible car accident. Our car was seriously damaged by the accident, but my son survived without any serious injuries.”

In the last sentence his wife wrote: “Last year was a year full of extraordinary blessings from God and we spent it full of wonder and gratitude.”

The writer smiled with emotion and warm tears flowed down his cheeks. He was grateful for a different point of view for every event he had gone through in the past year. A different perspective of the same events now made him joyful.

The statement of David Lynch comes to mind: “We all have at least two sides. The world we live in is a world of opposites. And the trick is to reconcile those opposing things. I’ve always liked both sides. In order to appreciate one, you have to know the other. The more darkness you can gather up, the more light you can see too.”