When I was a financial adviser, my manager told me something which I found really made sense.
"No one wakes up tomorrow feeling good and wanting to buy insurance"
It's pretty true.
Most people don't buy insurance willingly. Usually, some financial adviser would pester the client until the person signed the policy. There's very little people who would wake up and think, ok let's arrange a discussion with someone and do some planning.
There are some, but there are most people who just think they can do it tomorrow.
The problem with "tomorrow", is that it is not today.
Cos when tomorrow comes, it becomes today and there is always another "tomorrow.
And more often than not, after a few "tomorrows", the person would just conveniently forget about it.
It's not only about insurance. There are so many things people procrastinate about.
Bill payments, doing the laundry, going on holidays with elderly parents, spending time with kids, doing your will, reading that magazine left on the table, etc... So many things.
Personally, I have some ways which I settle these chores.
For instance, for bills, once I receive them, I would just settle them immediately. I just need to log into my bank account and settle the bill. 5 minutes. After that, I don't need to think about it anymore. Why bother spending time and effort trying to remember to pay the bill? I know some people just leave it around until they feel like paying it. But I just find that a waste of energy, cos I believe that having something on one's mind to remember to settle the bill requires energy to keep that thought there.
For other small chores, I tend to set a timing on my phone, either an alarm or a calendar note. So I just schedule a time to do it and when the time comes along, I proceed to do it. I don't go and push it down again. Generally, I find that setting a reminder is very efficient for me, cos I don't have to remember to do it. But this typically works only when followed strictly. As in, once the alarm rings, I'll go and do the task immediately or almost immediately.
I also request my wife to follow this habit. Cos there's many times when she asks me to remind her to do XYZ or ABC... and I just tell her, just set an alarm for it. Then you won't forget and you also won't need to hold that memory.
Another form of procrastination is making loved ones wait or taking them for granted.
For instance wanting to bring your parents overseas, or spending time with your children.
Well... Personally, I find that people shouldn't procrastinate too much on this. Children grow up. Spending time with them when they are 3 yrs old is different from spending time with them at 7 yrs old or 12 yrs old, etc. The experience that the child gets from a parent spending time with them when they are at each age and what they remember is different. Also, as a parent, the experience of spending time with the kids at whatever age is also different. So I do think that spending time with one's kids is very important... cannot always be telling the kid, "mummy/daddy needs to work to put food on the table".
Then there's letting old folks wait. Recently, my sis and I wanted to plan a trip for the whole family. Our parents and her kids. A 3 generation thing. My sis and I agreed that it would be nice for all of us to go on a trip together whilst the older folks are still mobile and they can have some nice memories with their grand children. Unfortunately, after planning everything with my sis, it was our parents that didn't want to go. Cos they thought that the administration of moving a bunch of people around too tedious and felt it was not worth it... quite unfortunate, cos we really wanted it, but if they aren't comfortable with it then no point forcing it through. It would just cause undue stress to everyone.
My wife leaves her monthly magazine subscription on the table every month. She tends to forget to read it. There's always her handphone to entertain her so she doesn't really bother to read the magazine. She usually subscribes to the magazine due to some promotion and she gets some other item out of the subscription, so to her, the subscription is "free". So she just leaves it around. There are times when I don't even ask her and just throw it away and she doesn't even notice it. LOL... anyway I've been nagging at her to either read it or just throw it away and not just leave it lying all over the place. I tend to put it on the chair that she usually sits on so that she can't ignore it (unless she just sits on it). So she needs to pick it up at least, then I'll tell her to open it and read or just dump it. It usually works... and she just dumps it...
There's a lot of stuff people continue to procrastinate.
Exercise... There's a lot of excuses for this one. Tired, no time, no clothes, no right shoes, weather is too hot, it may rain...
Saving... Life is so hard already, I can't find the money to eat let alone save. The iPhone is a necessity. The large TV is a need. etc.
Investing... There are a lot of people who know they have to invest for their own future, BUT they have not opened a trading account. When I offer to introduce my friend who is a remiser, they usually just decline and... well... they just continue to NOT have a trading account. They just feel that they can open it "tomorrow".
Learning a new skill... swimming, cycling, a new language... so many things.
Some things aren't so important, (a new language, cycling, etc)
others I feel are more important, (children grow up, old folks grow old...)
and yet others, I feel we shouldn't even bother to procrastinate, cos it's so easy to settle it, why even waste energy trying to remember to do it. (bills, putting the clothes in the washing machine, etc)
I suppose everyone does procrastinate in their own way. Just hopefully, we know how to prioritize which items to do first and which items we can delay. Cos most of the time, people do what is easy and fun first, instead of what is needed to do. Cos some things, we don't have a second chance to do it again.
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