Procrastination

Yes. Yes. Yes. I am not dependable. Go and call police. Lol. Ok. Sorry na. Stuff was going down that's why I've been incommunicado. If you follow me on twitter and DM me and ask nicely, I MIGHT  tell you what was gwaaning. If you don't follow me on twitter, why on earth are you not following???? Please follow @cherrywine26. God bless you as you comply.

Today's post is quite serious. 

I just read this post by Sisi Yemmie and it would be worth your while to read the post and watch the vlog. Honestly, it is not something you've never heard before but it always helps to reaffirm our faith by the words of people's testimonies. She's got a lot going on for herself and she shares how she's been able to achieve her goals in a 9 minute vlog. You can spare sometime for that. And Madam Sisi Yemmie, congratulations on all your achievements. I was truly inspired to do better by that vlog.

This post is sort of an antithesis to the Sisi Yemmie post. It is sort of my way of encouraging you to go for it as she has said and to stop procrastinating. 

I am by nature, a great, big, procrastinator from the nation of Procrastination (an attempt at humour...never mind me, just skip right along!) . If you know any procrastinator, multiply their procrastinator-ness by 100 and you are barely scratching the surface of my nature.

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 God blessed me with a very vivid imagination and a very active mind. From the time I wake up to the time I go to bed, I've thought of a million and one business ideas. BUT, I will procrastinate and do nothing about the ideas. For example, I've been writing two books for over three years. They are barely past the first couple of chapters. Also, I've been starting a vlog with my mouth since the beginning of this year. The list is endless. 

They say if your dreams are not so big that they scare you, you've barely begun dreaming. My dreams don't scare me, they mummify me! Once I think of something, I think of a million ways why and how the thing would not work, then I convince myself that at least I tried by thinking about it long enough for it to terrify me and it's sayanora! to that one. Another one bites the dust.

 I have actually stopped to think of how unfair I have been to God who has blessed me with so much creativity. I am effortlessly able to do things that people actually have to train for. I've never been to a make-up class but I can fleek out with the best of the amateurs MUA out there. With a little more effort and perhaps, some training I could have been a relatively known MUA (one can dream...but really, for real). I took basic art in JS1 and JS2 yet, I am able sketch pretty decent designs off the top of my head and most importantly tailors are able to get it on sight.  I am an amateur baker. I've tried my hands at business and they've worked, at least for as long as I was focused enough to drive them. I can turn my charm off and on so I'm pretty personable. My mum who is a consummate business woman, has pushed and pushed for me to register a company and start something. In the midst of all these, my younger sister floated a design company and makes amazing slippers from locally sourced fabrics and fashion beads for occasions and day wear (yes, it's a shameless plug but PLEASE follow her label (Neo-Native) on Instagram @neonaei. Thank you.) It's quite unfair to God that less than 10% of what He has blessed me with is what I am presently deploying. Procrastination, borne out of fear is no easy thing to contend with. It makes you unable to realise half of your potential talk-less of reaching your full potential.  

http://www.dennyzen.com/sol/procrastination-can-wait/

I'm happy to announce that I have finally registered a business name this month and will be kicking off my services in the wedding industry in January. I had to put money in it to ensure I don't flake out. Sigh! More details on that later.

The sad thing about my procrastination is the accompanying delusion. Because I am spending precious time procrastinating, I actually think others are doing the same and that my dreams are so valid that I and only I can execute them and I can do that whenever I want or never if I so choose. Clearly this is not the case. This realisation came to bite me in the derrière last Sunday. I had thought up an amazing idea of something fun to do in the arts and entertainment industry for Abuja. I brought a friend along for the ride. We pitched the idea to a couple of people and we were all pretty excited. We started to search for venues, sponsors, etc, but along the line, the idea went cold. I was in and out of Abuja, so was my friend who was to be my partner and we, particularly I, stopped following up. This was earlier in the year. All of a sudden, a similar event was publicised and it was executed beautifully. My partner and I attended and I couldn't help the deep regret I felt at not even trying before failing. 

Then I read Sisi Yemmie's post.

There's soooo much I want for myself. Soooo much. Of the things Sisi Yemmie mentioned in achieving her dreams, I observed that I do one actively: I desire the things I want to make of myself with a passion, so much so that I share some of them with people and may even co-opt some along for the ride, as seen above, then..nothing. It is all very anticlimactic and time wasting. Additionally, being a flake erodes one's credibility.The second thing, I do sometimes. I sometimes write down my dreams and ideas and sometimes I don't. But I noticed that even when I do, I don't take it seriously. The third thing she mentioned, I barely do. I take steps to realise the goals, then I stop.  When I told Atilola about my desire to write books in 2012, she gave me great advise and said I should write a page every night. I did for a while and stopped. Life is overwhelming but I've now realised one must fight for what one desires because life is never going to let up on its demands.

So I will become proactive and the first thing I am addressing is getting married.

It is no secret that I want to be married. Not at any cost or to just anybody, but I want to be happily settled in a loving and fulfilling union. I want that like, yesterday! The thing is, I wouldn't even know how to go about getting myself married. Advice I've received ranges from 'go out more' to 'fast and pray', well...been there, done those. Sisi Yemmie mentioned something poignant. She said "write down the vision" just like the bible says and confess it positively. If you are a fear driven procrastinator like me, you will know that writing something down means you've acknowledged you want the thing. The thought is out of your head,staring at you in black and white and you now have to deal with it not happening. So it is always safer not to acknowledge that you want something so badly so that whether or not it happens, you are not exposed. Well, today, I am giving my fear a gut punch and writing down the vision. If you follow me on twitter or instagram, watch out for a name change. 

The second thing will be starting my vlog. That takes a lot of psyching myself up, I won't even lie! There are numerous great vloggers out there and I am yet to figure out what my angle will be. I can't even gauge the response it'll get. If I am to judge it by the standards of this blog, it will be pretty sparse. (Did anyone bring me presents for my pity party???) Anyway, please pray for me as I find my path.

The third thing will be ensuring that all my business and entertainment dreams start getting prime time in my day to day life. I am going to buy a massive planner and schedule time for everything or just do it on my phone for alarms to go off everyday for me to work on certain things or at least be reminded to do them at a later time if I am not immediately able to do them. 

So yeah, that's me writing down some of the vision and putting it out there so you guys can hold me accountable to my words. 

This is also for the procrastinators. There is no amount of laying of hands and speaking in tongues that can deliver us from mindset demons. These are things we must work on to combat. I've held a mirror to my life today and I truly don't need judgements. We all have stuff we are working on and this is one of mine. I am no longer comfortable with not trying. I am no longer comfortable with being ruled by my fears, doubts and negativity. Most importantly, I am no longer comfortable with disappointing myself and God who is the giver of all good and perfect gifts. I am willing to actually try and say to myself that I actually gave it my best. If you read my blog, you probably know a lot about me already but here's another dimension to my life that I am struggling with. The aim of this blog is to educate and entertain. I do a lot of humour but I always pray that the teachable moments shine through and today is no exception. 

Well, I am CherryWine...and I am a recovering procrastinator. 

If you are dealing with this too and you need some tips on how to start afresh, asides from reading Sisi Yemmie's post and watching her vlog, you can also check out a post by DennyZen Wellness  titled Procrastination...Can Wait. It itemises some steps to take to achieve your goals and has some super funny memes on procrastination. We must be able to laugh at ourselves regardless of our disability/ies, right?

In the wise words of Porky Pig, that's all, folk!