You guys know those kids in college who procrastinate until the night before a paper is due and manage to push through, pulling an all-nighter and nailing the assignment.

I was never really that kid.

I was the kid who would get the syllabus, see that we had to write a term paper (due the last week of classes) on a topic from the list attached to the syllabus, and then go claim my topic with the professor before leaving class that day and have the paper written by the end of the first week. Then when we’d go over that chaper in class, I’d go back and look at my paper and add anything pertinent that we learned in class.

And I’d check that sucker right off on my to-do list and move on with life. And laugh at all my freaked out classmates in December.

I try to be a do it NOW person.

Every once in a while I slip up though and I feel the effects of procrastination hit me like a brick wall.

Dishes are a common place I mess up my do it now philosophy – that has never let me down – and each time I spent a half an hour bent over a sink, angrily scrubbing because I should’ve probably washed any cup before I ran out of all the cups, I think about how stupid it is to not just take care of issues as they arise.

Silly things like laying out clothes the night before or putting socks together when you’re folding your laundry or cutting up fruits right when you get home – these tiny things add up.

Sometimes, I find I fail in bigger ways. I spent the last few months thinking I should look into a Health Savings Account. I have a qualifying plan and all it took was like an hour of poking around online to get an idea of what kind had good investment options with pretty low fees. However, I procrastinated so long, I missed out on being able to contribute for 2017.

#firstworldproblem – I totally know, but let’s be real, an awful lot of stuff we talk about on personal finance blogs are 100% #firstworldproblems.

This first world woman is a little heartbroken to miss out on the compounding magic of that $3,400.

If I think, “hmmm, just one episode with the Gallaghers” and then I’ll do all the things, the next thing I know, I’m six episodes deep, nothing has been accomplished and I’m ordering take out. Cause how can I even heat up something from the freezer if all my dishes are still dirty?

When I harness the power of do it NOW, so much can get done. If I know there’s no way I’m settling down to watch an episode of Shameless until the dishes are done, that Mother’s Day card is mailed out, the full change jar finally goes to the Coinstar, the blog post is written and all the other silly little things that need to happen for life to continue smoothly are done – they’re getting done.

Are you a do it NOW person or have you found a way to make procrastination work for you?