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Are you looking for some anti-procrastination quotes? Something to give you some encouragement to finish your unfinished projects. If so, you have found the right place.
This procrastination quotes post gives a lot of wisdom from many experts in the field of time management as well as major historical success stories. In other words, people who found little time for procrastination, since they were out getting things done.
Why do people procrastinate? Surprisingly enough, it is rarely due to being lazy. The reasons people procrastination are usually far more complex than simple laziness.
Before we jump into the procrastination quotes let’s take a look at why people procrastinate.
Why Do People Procrastinate?
These entries come from my causes of procrastination post. To find out more about each reason and how to overcome them check out the full post here:
Here are the reasons people often procrastinate:
As you can see only one out of 8 is due to laziness. And that one is actually deeper. Dealing as much with fear of the enormity of the task as it is about sheer laziness.
So as you go through these wise procrastination quotes try to think of the real causes of procrastination and how this knowledge may help you overcome, or at least reduce the amount of procrastination in your life.
Overcoming Procrastination Quotes
“Even if you’re on the right track – you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” – Arthur Godfrey , American radio broadcaster
- “Even if you’re on the right track – you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” – Arthur Godfrey , American radio broadcaster
- “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”– Abraham Lincoln
- “My advice is to never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time.”– Charles Dickens
- “The greatest amount of wasted time is the time not getting started.”– Dawson Trotman
- “Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand—and melting like a snowflake.”– Francis Bacon
- “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”– Jim Rohn
“It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.” – Leonardo da Vinci , Mathematician
- “It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.” – Leonardo da Vinci , Mathematician
- “Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.”– Michael Landon
- “Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.”– Napoleon Bonaparte
- “To do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.”– Syndey Smith
- “If you put off everything till you’re sure of it, you’ll never get anything done.” – Norman Vincent Peale
- “In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”– Theodore Roosevelt
- “Begin while others are procrastinating. Work while others are wishing.”– William Arthur Ward
Want to learn how to stop procrastination right now? Watch this video and you will learn about 5 simple habits you can build that will help you stop procrastinating:
Procrastination and success are often seen as opposites. And this is rightfully true.
It is impossible to achieve any marked degree of success when you often procrastinate. Success take effort, hard work and a lot of time. You may succeed with a rare procrastination, but you will never succeed over a long period of time when you also procrastinate.
If success is your goal, you need to banish procrastination from your vocabulary and revel in its opposite: success habits.
The following procrastination quotes back up what i just said. Success takes time and effort and can never be achieved with constant procrastination.
Quotes on Procrastination and Success
“Neither a wise nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower , 34th U.S. President
- “Neither a wise nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower , 34th U.S. President
- “Procrastination is the fear of success. People procrastinate because they are afraid of the success that they know will result if they move ahead now. Because success is heavy, carries a responsibility with it, it is much easier to procrastinate and live on the ‘someday I’ll’ philosophy.”– Denis Waitley
- “Getting an idea should be like sitting on a pin; it should make you jump up and do something.”– E. L. Simpson
- “Waiting is a trap. There will always be reasons to wait – The truth is, there are only two things in life, reasons and results, and reasons simply don’t count.”– Robert Anthony
“A year from now you may wish you had started today.” – Karen Lamb , Author
- “A year from now you may wish you had started today.” – Karen Lamb , Author
- “He who every morning plans the transactions of that day and follows that plan carries a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life.”– Victor Hugo
- “Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.”– Peter Drucker
- “Procrastination is opportunity’s natural assassin.”– Victor Kiam
- “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” – Stephen King
- “If you have goals and procrastination you have nothing. If you have goals and you take action, you will have anything you want.”– Thomas J. Vilord
- “The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action.”– Alexandre Graham Bell
- “Following-through is the only thing that separates dreamers from people that accomplish great things.”– Gene Hayden
“You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good.” – Jerry West , American basketball player
- “You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good.” – Jerry West , American basketball player
- “During a very busy life I have often been asked, “How did you manage to do it all?” The answer is very simple. It is because I did everything promptly.”– Richard Tangye
- “The least productive people are usually the ones who are most in favor of holding meetings.”– Thomas Sowell
Quotes about procrastination have been around for thousands of years. They are found in many old teachings and proverbs. These quotes are found in the bible. Heck, some of the ancient cave drawings seem to be condemning some stone age guy for not doing enough in the hunting of elk.
The section below has some great quotes that will help you achieve get things done that go back as far as 4000 years ago. Someone had to be inspired for all that the human race has achieved since the iron age.
Procrastination is nothing new after all. It is part of human nature. The silver lining is that now that we understand procrastination is more than simply sloth, we have many effective methods to combat procrastination.
Rather than letting procrastination get the better of you, try some of these good workplace habits, to get more accomplished with your career.
Procrastination Quotes: Bible and Ancient Teachings
“He who begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin.” – Horace , Roman poet
- “He who begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin.” – Horace , Roman poet
- “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.”– Proverbs 14:23
- “Begin to weave and God will give you the thread.”– German Proverb
- “We all sorely complain of the shortness of time, and yet have much more than we know what to do with. Our lives are either spent in doing nothing at all, or in doing nothing to the purpose, or in doing nothing that we ought to do. We are always complaining that our days are few, and acting as though there would be no end of them.”– Lucius Annaeus Seneca
“A sluggard’s appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.” – Proverbs 13:4
- “A sluggard’s appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.” – Proverbs 13:4
- “We must be diligent today. To wait until tomorrow is too late. Death comes unexpectedly. How can we bargain with it?”– Buddha
- “Time drinketh up the essence of every great and noble action, which ought to be performed, and is delayed in the execution.”– Vishnu Sarma
- “Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.”– Proverbs 12:11
- “Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.”– Proverbs 12:24
- “Anything worth putting off is worth abandoning altogether.”– Epictetus
- “One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys.”– Proverbs 18:9
- “Faith in tomorrow, instead of Christ, is Satan’s nurse for man’s perdition.”– George B. Cheever
“Unhappy he who does this work adjourn, And to tomorrow would the search delay: His lazy morrow will be like today. But is one day of ease too much to borrow ? Yes, sure: for yesterday was once tomorrow.” – Perseus , Greek hero
- “Unhappy he who does this work adjourn, And to tomorrow would the search delay: His lazy morrow will be like today. But is one day of ease too much to borrow ? Yes, sure: for yesterday was once tomorrow.” – Perseus , Greek hero
- “For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”– 2 Thessalonians 3:10
- “Delay not to seize the hour!”– Aeschylus
- “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.”– Seneca
One of the new words to come around in the last few years is the word, “adulting”, meaning the lessons you need to learn sometime to transition from youth to true adulthood. Even if you make that transition in your 50s rather than your 20s.
I think of the procrastination quotes below as a form of adulting. They are clear-eyed views of why it can be so bad to put things off and procrastinate. They clearly show the evils of procrastination.
Within the condemnation of these quotes about procrastination there is also a glimmer of what needs to be done to succeed and stop procrastination.
As the simple Nike slogan says, “Just Do It”.
Anti Procrastination Quotes for Adults
“Procrastination is, hands down, our favorite form of self-sabotage.” – Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby , Author
- “Procrastination is, hands down, our favorite form of self-sabotage.” – Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby , Author
- “Often just by taking action, by doing something about the situation can relieve the stress and help correct the situation.”– Catherine Pulsifer
- “If you believe you can accomplish everything by “cramming” at the eleventh hour, by all means, don’t lift a finger now. But you may think twice about beginning to build your ark once it has already started raining.”– Max Brooks
“Time wasted is existence; used is life.” – Edward Young , English poet
- “Time wasted is existence; used is life.” – Edward Young , English poet
- “The really happy people are those who have broken the chains of procrastination, those who find satisfaction in doing the job at hand. They’re full of eagerness, zest, productivity. You can be, too.”– Norman Vincent Peale
- “A perfect method for adding drama to life is to wait until the deadline looms large.”– Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby
- “How does a project get to be a year behind schedule? One day at a time.”– Fred Brooks
- “Often greater risk is involved in postponement than in making a wrong decision.”– Harry A. Hopf
“Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.” – Sydney Harris , American journalist
- “Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.” – Sydney Harris , American journalist
- “You can’t just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood. What mood is that? Last-minute panic.”– Bill Watterson
- “There is nothing so fatal to character as half finished tasks.”– David Lloyd George
- “One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon – instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.”– Dale Carnegie
- “We are so scared of being judged that we look for every excuse to procrastinate.” – Erica Jong
As adults most of us at least recognize that we are procrastinating. Even if we are unsure of what to do to get on track and working efficiently. After all, you don't want to end up regretting not doing something that could've changed your life for teh better.
Some millennials, students and even younger kids may not fully grasp that they actually are procrastinating. They fall for the procrastination excuses they use hook, line and sinker. They actually believe things like, “I will get this done later”
The procrastination quotes below focus on those younger readers. Giving some wisdom about procrastination and hopefully getting them to at least realize when they are procrastinating.
After all, before you can fix a problem, you need to realize that the problem exists.
Do Not Procrastinate Quotes for Students
“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work in hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” – Alexander Graham Bell , Scientist
- “Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work in hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” – Alexander Graham Bell , Scientist
- “Putting off an easy thing makes it hard, and putting off a hard one makes it impossible.”– George H. Lorimer
- “Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.”– Michael Landon
- “Don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today because if you enjoy it today, you can do it again tomorrow.”– James A. Michener
“If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.” – Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev , Russian novelist
- “If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.” – Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev , Russian novelist
- “A primary reason people don’t do new things is because they want to do them perfectly – first time. It’s completely irrational, impractical, not workable – and yet, it’s how most people run their lives. It’s called The Perfection Syndrome.”– Peter McWlliams and John-Roger
- “If you procrastinate when faced with a big difficult problem… break the problem into parts, and handle one part at a time.”– Robert Collier
- “Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” – David Allen
- “Perhaps the most valuable result of an education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not.”– Thomas Huxley
- “Don’t wait for someone to take you under their wing. Find a good wing and climb up underneath it.”– Frank C. Bucaro
- “You may delay, but time will not.” – Benjamin Franklin
- “Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.” – William James
- “Someday is not a day of the week.” – Janet Dailey
- “Action will destroy your procrastination.” – Og Mandino
- “If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it.” – Olin Miller
- “Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.” – Pablo Picasso
- “To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing.” – Eva Young
- “Success is not obtained overnight. It comes in installments; you get a little bit today, a little bit tomorrow until the whole package is given out. The day you procrastinate, you lose that day’s success.” – Israelmore Ayivor
- “Never put off for tomorrow what you can do today.” – Thomas Jefferson
- “It is only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth – and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up – that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had.” – Elizabeth Kübler-Ross
- “God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.” – St. Augustine of Hippo
- “Procrastination usually results in sorrowful regret. Today’s duties put off until tomorrow give us a double burden to bear; the best way is to do them in their proper time.” – Ida Scott Taylor
- “The man who waits to know everything is the man who never does anything.” – Craig D. Lounsbrough
- “Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.” – Napoleon Hill
- “How soon ‘not now' becomes ‘never’.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“How soon ‘not now' becomes ‘never’.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” – Stephen King
- “A day can really slip by when you're deliberately avoiding what you're supposed to do.” – Billy Watterson
- “Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.” – M. Scott Peck
- “Procrastination is like going to a fancy restaurant and filling up on bread and not leaving enough room for dinner.” – Richie Norton
- “The greatest amount of wasted time is time not getting started.” – Dawson Trotman
- “If you don’t pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, it will take more of your attention than it deserves.” – David Allen
- “Don't let procrastination take over your life. Be brave and take risks. Your life is happening right now.” – Roy T. Bennett
“Don't let procrastination take over your life. Be brave and take risks. Your life is happening right now.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “The habit of always putting off an experience until you can afford it, or until the time is right, or until you know how to do it is one of the greatest burglars of joy. Be deliberate, but once you’ve made up your mind — jump in.” – Charles R. Swindoll
- “Procrastination is the lazy cousin of fear. When we feel anxiety around an activity, we postpone it.” – Noelle Hancock
- “Procrastination may not take up a lot of effort physically but without you knowing it, it takes over the mind.” – Stephen Hall
- “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “Never put off till tomorrow the book you can read today.” – Holbrook Jackson
- “Doing things at the last minute reminds us of the importance of doing things at the first minute.” – Matshona Dhliwayo
- “We shall never have more time. We have, and have always had, all the time there is. No object is served in waiting until next week or even until tomorrow. Keep going day in and day out. Concentrate on something useful. Having decided to achieve a task, achieve it at all costs.” – Arnold Bennett
- “Think of many things; do one.” – Portuguese Proverb
- “We are so scared of being judged that we look for every excuse to procrastinate.” – Erica Jong
- “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” – Napoleon Hill
- “By what right do I, who have wasted this day, make claims on tomorrow?” – Alain-Fournier
- “The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing.” – Proverbs 20:4
- “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank
- “Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.” – Don Marquis
- “Doing just a little bit during the time we have available puts you that much further ahead than if you took no action at all.” – Byron Pulsifer
- “If you want to get ahead in life, I’ve found that perhaps the most useless word in the world is “tomorrow.” – José N. Harris
- “Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.” – Zig Ziglar
- “Much of the stress that people feel doesn't come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they started.” – David Allen
- “‘Procrastination is not laziness,’ I tell him. ‘It is fear. Call it by its right name, and forgive yourself.’” – Julia Cameron
- “Stop talking. Start walking.” – L. M. Heroux
- “In delay there lies no plenty.” – William Shakespeare
- “What may be done at any time will be done at no time.” – Scottish Proverb
- “To do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.” – Sydney Smith
- “If you take too long in deciding what to do with your life, you'll find you've done it.” – George Bernard Shaw
- “So what do we do? Anything. Something. So long as we just don’t sit there. If we screw it up, start over. Try something else. If we wait until we’ve satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late.” – Lee Iacocca
- “Do first what you don’t want to do most.” – Clifford Cohen
- “Procrastination is a way for us to be satisfied with second-rate results; we can always tell ourselves we’d have done a better job if only we’d had more time. If you’re good at rationalizing, you can keep yourself feeling rather satisfied this way, but it’s a cheap happy. You’re whittling your expectations of yourself down lower and lower.” – Richard O’Conner
- “I don’t wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.” – Pearl S. Buck
Hopefully you have enjoyed these procrastination quotes. More importantly I hope you have resolved to take some action to combat procrastination.
One of the important steps to defeating procrastination is letting little things go. But how can you tell when little things matter and when they are just time fillers you do instead of the hard work your should be doing.
With that in mind, read our post about The Eisenhower Matrix, which will help you figure out what's important to focus on and what can be ignored.
Finally, if you want to level up your productivity and time management skills, then watch this free video about the 9 productivity habits you can build at work.
