procrastinating about putting off something I should be doing

One thing that many Ministers experience is sermon preparation procrastination. It happens when a sermon needs to be written and suddenly other things seem to grow in importance. It is important to tidy your desk. It is important to answer all your emails. It is important to count all of the 2p and 1p coins you have been saving for years. It is important to check your Facebook status. It is important to make a cup of coffee / tea / crunchie milkshake. It is important to write your blog.

The astute among you will realise that I currently experiencing sermon preparation procrastination. I know I am experiencing it, but I am still procrastinating! It is now self-aware sermon preparation procrastination rather than subconscious sermon preparation procrastination, which I think is the worst form available.

So how do I get out of it? I have found that writing blogs about it doesn’t help. I’m still writing the blog, after all! Once I have finished this blog entry (which will be short, I promise myself) I will resume praying, praising, studying and writing. Those are the ways in which I regain my focus and concentration.

I think that the root cause of sermon preparation procrastination (in whatever form it comes), for me at least. is that I am trying to do things in my own strength and imagination rather than looking for divine inspiration. If I am trying to think about it myself I am more likely to be distracted. Once I am in the ‘zone’ where God’s inspiration is the prime driver for my writing and preparation I find it much more difficult to be distracted by sermon preparation procrastination.

Spending time with God is a brilliant antidote to trivial distractions. Back to the sermon!

Remember, don’t put off until tomorrow those things you can procrastinate about today.