How much of your stress and anxiety is due to procrastination? Sometimes, the best thing you can do is stop, take 30 minutes, and get a few things done. If you have a long list, then approach the lists of tasks like financial counselors advise you to approach multiple credit cards: eliminate the smallest items first. You gain momentum, experience an immediate reduction in stress and anxiety, and can use the boost to tackle the larger items. Procrastination is a thief.
How can you waste your life? No worries: it is easy! Be undisciplined. That is it. You will dabble here and dabble there, but never have anything significant to show. Most things of value require hard work, patience, and time.
Do you mainly read Christian self-help books? UGH. If so, you probably find yourself thinking much more about your soul, mental and emotional health, and growth and very little about systemic issues, the salvation of souls, etc. I am convinced that it is really easy for Christians to be selfish and not know it because their inordinate focus on themselves can be “sanctified” with religious terms and pursuits. Your soul is important, but there is more to God’s Kingdom. The Lord’s Prayer even begins with, “Our Father.” How strange! Jesus just finished talking about going into a closet and praying, yet even there, one is to start with “Our,” not “My” (although there is a place for this and it isn’t wrong, of course).
BJ Condrey, Ph.D. 