Tomorrowland

In 2015, a movie hit the big screens that beautifully captured the imaginations of millions of people, Tomorrowland. The film, starring George Clooney and Britt Robertson, was about a young girl (Britt) who stumbled upon a device that had the ability to transport her mind to the future. The future portrayed by the devise was magnificent; it was a technocratic utopia where everyone smiled, got along, and seemed to live perfect lives. Practically, it was heaven on earth. Of course, as any good story must have, there was the conflict element: Frank (Clooney) and Casey (Britt) had to grapple with the reality of the world as it was and the world as envisioned through this mysterious device. They had to figure out how to create that world affectionately known as Tomorrowland.

That was a good movie, but in real life, most people already live in Tomorrowland. Where is it? How do you get there? Well, Tomorrowland is not a physical place, but a mental state; it is the state known as procrastination. In this place, we are at rest, at ease; all of our problems just disappear and we bask in sweet blissfulness. Of course, at the gates lie all of the problems and issues we try to escape. They're there like Huns waiting to knock the gates down and storm the city, punishing us for every moment we put off our responsibilities.

Tomorrowland is a hard place to escape - procrastination is a hard habit to break. Then again, no it's not. We just like to claim it is hard. Truthfully, procrastination is easy to break. It can be broken in a split second. Think about that: Procrastination will cost you a lifetime, but you can break it in a split second. How? By bypassing the thoughts that encourage you to stay there and doing what you don't feel like doing.

I was listening to a life coach/therapist the other day. She elegantly explained the key practices of the world's most successful people. One of those keys was successful people do first the very thing they don't want to do. They just do it. First. They do it first because they know their minds are going to eventually talk them out of doing it. So, as a form of rebellion against the tendency of human nature, they defy their minds and do what they don't want to do. It becomes their personal challenge yielding a sense of personal accomplishment. I think about this every time I tell myself I'm too busy to write, too burned out, bogged down; every time I feel like crap and can't seem to pull myself together emotionally and don't feel like being bothered with a keyboard or pen and paper. The funny thing is after I start writing, I begin to remember why I love to write. And once I get started, I don't want to stop.

That goes for pretty much anything in life.

Regardless of how you feel, start writing. I don't care if half of the day is gone and you're still in your pajamas, wondering where the time went. Start writing. Watch and see if you don't redeem the time that was lost.