This Wednesday Wisdom post is taking a look at another serious subject. It’s so important, I’m running on longer than usual and quoting myself again—which you know doesn’t happen often!

First, for just a minute, go back a few months in time with me. . .

On Thursday, I discovered the lump on my upper chest. The next day, the trainer at the gym said I could have strained a muscle. This made sense since we’d upped my free-weight maximum only the week before.

Still, the lump was much bigger than the tiny pea found lurking beneath a fairytale princess’s mattress. So although I’m not one to run to doctors, I called to make an appointment—and am very glad I did.

We won’t go into all the details. (You can read more here if you’re interested.) Long story short, the appointment led to a cancer diagnosis that knocked my world so far off its axis, life may never be the same again. . .oddly enough, very often in good ways.

Which leads us back to the present and the point of this post, my single best tip for procrastination:

Just don’t do it.  😉

Of course, there’s more to that advice.

When you’re tempted to let something wait for another time, think about this:

“Don’t put off what’s most important to you.
Tomorrow’s not always another day.”

~ Barbara White Daille

This could mean something as serious as a heart attack. Or cancer. Or as my grandmother always used to say, “We might step outside tomorrow and get hit by a bus.”

If I’d postponed making that doctor’s appointment, who knows what shape I’d be in today.

This tip could just refer to something out of the ordinary throwing off your day-to-day plans.

Today is Wednesday. Maybe you have a report due to your boss on Friday and you’ve “scheduled it” (in other words, put it off) to do tomorrow. Instead, first thing in the morning, a crisis occurs in the office, the boss pulls you in to help, and you’re working all day and part of the evening doing damage control.

Crises happen. Often we can’t anticipate them. And sure, the boss may be grateful for—and impressed by—the great job you did cleaning up the current disaster.

But on Friday morning, he—or she—might also be wondering why you’ve arrived empty-handed, especially when you both realize having your report (you know, the one you didn’t start yet) in his hand is critical to preventing another crisis.

To put it bluntly, why the @#$% did you “schedule” the job for the last minute?!?

Confession time:  I ask myself that question frequently, which is why this post is as much a wake-up call for me as I hope it’s motivation for you.

“Tomorrow’s not always another day” also doesn’t have to mean anything as dire as disaster. . . or doesn’t it?

Even our smallest act can have a huge ripple effect, changing our lives or someone else’s in ways we can’t begin to imagine.

Whether it’s a crisis waiting to happen or a simple gesture of kindness, don’t put it off.

Write the check that will keep bill collectors from calling next week.

Water the plants before they all croak.

Say “I love you” to your adult son before you hang up the phone or end your text.

Take your youngest granddaughter to the park—and when she begs you to follow her down the slide, go for it!

With luck, we’ll all still be around tomorrow. But by then the opportunity we passed up today. . . the chance we neglected to grab. . . the plans we let slip away. . . may be gone forever.

We know what we need to do change that, don’t we?

Good luck to us both.