Reality Check: Are You A Victim Of 'Monkey' Inside You?

Most people cannot fulfill their potential because of a number of reasons procrastination and lack of self-awareness being the leading ones.

A new game we are engaged in at home nowadays is to catch each other's Instant Gratification Monkey! May sound odd to you, but it is quite the mantra at home ­ and what's more, it is helping us too! 

It all started when my son forwarded an article, Why Procrastinators Procrastinate, and urged the rest of us to read it.

We did, and emerged stricken, as well as amused! The article, which all of us could relate to, talks about procrastinators (people who delay and postpone things) as perfectly rational beings, but saddled with a pet monkey, which demands fun and games all the time. 

This monkey encourages the procrastinator to put off his work till the last possible minute.

Just when you sit down to work, the Instant Gratification Monkey (IGM) reminds you of all kinds of delaying tactics that could be fun -surf the net, watch a movie, listen to music, dust a table, bake a cake! The article writer, Tum Urban, suggests that all this may be very well in the monkey world, but doesn't work in the world of humans. Not getting a task done leaves us feeling guilty, tense and agitated.So we are riddled with guilt all the time.

Procrastination is one of the biggest hurdles in achieving our full potential.Most of us are not able to control the impulses and attractions that distract the mind from a disciplined start-to-finish approach. Deadlines are our biggest disciplinarians and so we work at a trot as the deadline approaches. We console ourselves that perhaps we work best under pressure when the adrenaline flows. However, guiltily, deep within we know we could have done a much better job but for the delay. Not many would admit this even to themselves.

A stumbling block even bigger than procrastination is lack of self-awareness and hence, confidence. A lot of us are guilty of underestimating ourselves and our capabilities and capacities. Lacking that confidence, we move around with a sense of worthlessness, even though something deep within keeps consistently knocking and urging us on, creating a disconnect between possibility and achievement. If we do not believe we are capable of something, how will we even start working towards it? 

Lack of organization is another hurdle along the path of doing justice to our latent potential. Even aware of our capabilities, we may be unable to organize ourselves or the tasks at hand in a disciplined, well-thought-through manner. Disorganisation can be as big an impediment as lack of discipline or procrastination. Suc cessful people are mostly great planners, with well-planned schedules.

What about those who hesitate? Standing undecided or wary at the edge of the pool, hesitating to plumb its depths, is a huge hindrance between you and your prospects. While you dither, those with possibly less potential, will zoom ahead on their sheer dosage of confidence and brazenness! To keep abreast of new learning and brushing up our skills is a good way of honing our capabilities. We may have been the best in our field a decade ago, but as time goes on, younger and better informed people more equipped to deal with changed realities may overtake us unless we ensure that each day we allow ourselves to learn anew.

A great way to ensure we identify the right ambition for ourselves, lay out organized plans and set about the whole task in a disciplined and confident fashion is to break up our task into smaller, more achievable goals. As we achieve each of these goals, we should give ourselves small rewards, while keeping the biggest and best for the last. This will keep the Instant Gratification Monkey happy, with the promise of fun at every milestone achieved, while keeping us going as well.

Remember, the most difficult task is to get started. An airplane uses the maximum fuel and energy at takeoff. Once you do that and get to a space where your work steadies and looks promising, you will start floating, and the rest of the flight will be a dream till you reach your destination!