jessa

I’ve been working on a series of tasks over time, and some days I really find it hard to work on them, even when I am staring at my list. Accomplishing them sounds easy enough, especially when all that’s left is to actually work on them instead of letting each task suspend like a mere possibility and not reality.

I have to intentionally drag myself to do them, subjecting myself to deadlines that serve as markers I can move when convenient and without repercussions. But really? No repercussions at all?

Well, there sure are, which is keeping my future self to fulfill its potential, its purpose, its topos—its rightful place in the world.

Interestingly enough, Erik Barker’s blog post on how to get things done dropped a rock on my noggin, which made me think about imposing deadlines. Barker puts it plainly: without pressure, without constraint, raw material just stays raw material. ‘Apply the pressure,’ he writes. ‘You can become a diamond

Yes, truth slapped me in the face.

Dilly-dallying not only hurts my future self but also dampens my experience of everyday life; a missed potential is still a missed potential.

And so here I am, dragging myself back to my remaining tasks, especially when the hard deadline looms—meaning that I would suffer real consequences that limit my future self from becoming the person I hoped to become. Not working on the series of tasks over the thinning window of time would be the death of my future self.