(Vonda here: As I post this, I’m packing for a week away. A huge thank you to Dr. Joseph Bentz for stepping in to share his technique for fighting procrastination. As most of you know, I’m the one who needs it most!)
On any given day, certain tasks loom before me that I really don’t want to do. I’m not referring to bothersome but routine chores that are merely unpleasant. I’m talking instead about things I dread doing. These are actions that I know I can’t put off forever but that I can delay for a good long while. They linger on my To Do list day after day, sometimes month after month. I can never quite get away from them, as they niggle at my brain and make me feel guilty for neglecting them.
I call these tasks Hard Things. They circle around me like deadly predators, and the more I try to stay away from them, the more of them lurk at the edge of my consciousness. As they accumulate, I feel besieged and defeated.
A few years ago I started a discipline that has helped me get these paralyzing duties under control. Very simply, I do one Hard Thing a day.
I don’t try to do three hard things, or ten. Taking on that many would quickly lead to defeat in the form of procrastination, rationalization, or discouragement. I do ONE Hard Thing. That is plenty. One keeps things moving well enough, and it keeps me from abandoning this approach after only a few tries.
First, I have to identify the Hard Thing. I don’t do this in some vague way, but I say specifically, this is the Hard Thing for today. I will not let this day end without taking care of it. What I define as a Hard Thing may be an easy thing for someone else. For me, it is the thing I least want to do. It may be a phone call I dread making. It may be an email I don’t want to send. It may be a confrontation with someone I’ve been avoiding. For me as a writer, it may be a chapter I’ve been afraid to write, or a scene that feels too tough for me to take on. You’ll know what your own Hard Thing is. It’s the thing that makes you squirm.
Once I have identified the Hard Thing, I try to do it as early in the day as possible. That way I feel a sense of triumph for the rest of the day. Doing a Hard Thing today gives me even more confidence to do another one tomorrow. The number of Hard Things on the list steadily decreases. I no longer feel surrounded and outnumbered. Instead, I know that since I was able to conquer that horrible Hard Thing yesterday, by the grace of God I’ll be able to eliminate another one today.
Bio: Joseph Bentz‘s books span a variety of genres, including a fantasy novel, three contemporary novels, four non-fiction books on Christian living, and one book/DVD package. His most recent release is Pieces of Heaven: Recognizing the Presence of God (Beacon Hill Press, 2012). Bentz is a frequent speaker at writers conferences, churches, and other venues. He is a professor of English at Azusa Pacific University. He earned a Ph.D. and M.A. in American literature from Purdue University and a B.A. in English from Olivet Nazarene University. He lives with his wife and two children in Southern California. More information on his writing and speaking is available at his website, His blog, Life of the Mind and Soul, also appears at that site.
Vonda here: Thanks for joining us today, Joseph. It’s a valuable discipline I need to adopt–when I get home from vacation. But while I’m in the mountains, I can procrastinate all I want to! 
Readers, be sure to check out Joseph’s books. He has something for everyone!
Blessings, friends!
Vonda
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