The Mañana Habit

Dear Thirty Year old Me,

In my previous e-mail,  I confessed that I am a Procrastinator.  I have proclaimed to the whole world that I have the mañana habit.  In this entry, I would like to explain to you my reasons for trying to kick the habit.

1. Mañana/Procrastination is an expensive Habit.

I used to be a smoker.  I'm happy to say that it's one bad habit that I successfully got out of my system since the year 2010.  It was an expensive Habit - a pack a day can lead to expenses of up to 1,200 pesos a month.

That is actually nothing to the expense that I incur from the Mañana habit.  Let's start with the late fees that I often pay for my bills.  I have actually paid so many late fees for my credit card, my electricity, mobile phone subscription, and internet fees.

Apart from the late fees - I also incur unnecessary expenses from not terminating services that I no longer use.  For example ( and this one I'm working on ) - I left my previous house in June 2013.  Up to now, I have not disconnected my phone and internet service.   So it's been 7 months that I've been paying for a phone and internet service that I am not using.

2.  Procrastination Leads to Unnecessary Stress That Poses Danger to my Health

I have expressed in my previous post that from the outside looking in - you may actually think that I do not have problems with Procrastination.  I am a successful guy.  Most of the bosses that I worked for love working with me and they love the result of my work.

Unbeknownst to my bosses - most of the time - I actually have to spend sleepless nights two to three days prior to my deadlines when I turn in my work.  This could be the annual budget for next year.  It could be the written appraisal for my team.   The output is typically superior ( although every time I wish and I knew that I could have done better.   Sleepless nights are not good for my health.  Those sleepless nights and the act of cramming also leads to me skipping my lunch and eating snacks that are not good for my health.

3.  Postponing decisions Causes Lost Opportunities

Back in the year 2000 - I was convinced by a very persuasive real estate agent to invest on a condominium unit in Makati.  It had easy monthly payment terms.  The problem is that after 2 years - I will have to pay for the unit.  You can actually get a loan for that if the monthly payments that I paid prior to that was equivalent to at least 20% of the total amount of the loan.  Unfortunately - the easy monthly payment terms were just 15% of the amount that I needed.  So I cannot get a loan from the bank.   I could have addressed this by saving up on my own --- but saving money is another problem that a procrastinator has.  Long story short - I defaulted on the investment - and I forfeited the money that I have already paid for the property.

The same thing happened to some insurance and retirement investment that I ended up defaulting because I let the monthly payments go past due.

4.  I am not Getting Any Younger

People say that age is just a number --- but it is a significant number.   At my current age - I will be at retirement age sooner that we all think.  If I don't get my financials and my life in order --- I may end up without money to spend when I do retire.

Moreover - the fountain of youth has not been discovered.  As one ages - our body could not handle the same amount of stress that we used to be able to handle when we were young.   My biological clock is going TICK-TOCK TICK-TOCK - and it's telling me that I really don't have time to just waste the time that I have.

These are the four main reasons why I want to kick the habit.  I want to get things done timely.  I want to face the Procrastination monster and look into it's eyes and say - "I am going to defeat you."

With much Love,

The forty year old you