Rosicrucian Beacon Magazine - 2013-06 - AMORC

At thirty, man suspects himself a fool;Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan;At fifty chides his infamous delay,Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve;In all the magnanimity of thoughtResolves, and re-resolves: then dies the same.Edward Young unmasked the villainous saboteurof the purposeful life and some of its dastardly tactics.Having seen that Procrastination wantonly steals ourminutes and hours, bagging them into precious andirreplaceable days, months and years, we of the 21 stcentury can now use Young’s 20:20 hindsight to identifyand thwart the slow bleed and set ourselves back on ourrightful paths to fulfilment and purpose. Or can we?Procrastination and I are old friends. Note that Isay old friends, not good friends, because this is the kind offriend who satisfies his own need for diversionary activitiesat the expense of his companion’s need to get things done,and creates a richly original agenda of ways and means todistract them even when they are starting to feel desperatefor a positive result. And having been a long term victimof the invisible thief cum bloodsucker, I can tell you thatthe major symptom of its presence is faffing.Faffing is the art of not getting done the things youwant to get done while studiously accomplishing endlessother things that maybe you did want to get done butdidn’t need to, at least not urgently. I have a friend whodescribes it as ‘metaphorical toilet cleaning’, as in cleaningthe toilet when it is gleaming. Examples might be:• Checking that all the bird feeders are full right to thevery top, even though you filled them to the brimyesterday.• Attending to the more whimsical needs of an elderlyrelative like shopping for brain training gadgets,trimming shrubs or emptying sheds.• Catching up with friendship calls and correspondenceto people you haven’t seen in years.• Positively welcoming unexpected requests tochildmind, house sit, give lifts or accept invitationsto lunch.Faffing is a diverse activity which takes manyforms depending on the person doing it. Business typesmay concoct new systems for dealing with email orput networking ahead of product development. Homemakers may embark on ambitious culinary projects ratherthan tackle the decorating. Rosicrucians may find theirThe English poet and dramatist Edward Young.important work demands stop them from attendingconvocations or focusing on their studies.I sometimes faff myself into a state of virtualparalysis. Like the immovable object meeting anirresistible force, my wish to do something meets myreluctance to make the effort and they cancel each otherout so comprehensively that nothing happens, sometimesfor months on end. The key to telling a faff from a fruitfulpursuit lies in recognising that you are choosing an ‘anytime’ task over a priority.Here is an example of how I do it. I assign myselftwo priorities for the month ahead. One is to keep on withmy market research interviewing job, in which I can pickmy working days as long as I complete the requisite 13interviews a week. The other is to write this article for theBeacon. Despite ring fencing ample time for both, I findI have faffed away the time with frequent visits to Mumaround the premium interviewing times, for such urgentpurposes as taking her shopping for orthodontics andcommiserating on the death of Baroness Thatcher. Whenabsolutely forced to confront the mission, instead ofparking up and getting on with it, I have driven around theallocated area several times from each direction, checkedout the irresistible shops in the locality, marvelled at theimmensity of the local wind turbines and the charm ofnew-born lambs and found it necessary to return homefor anything from coffee breaks to cat feeding duties.Tackling the article has seen me needing to loginto my email account and answer every arrival, even aquestionnaire about how I like my new TV package. It is,© Supreme Grand Lodge of AMORC The Rosicrucian Beacon -- June 201335