Procrastinators Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from chronic procrastination.

A View from the Bridge

"The Executive Officer had the conn. The submarine was being put through some pretty serous maneuvers and at times, the direction and down angle of the submarine had to be sharply adjusted."

"With all the turning and movement, the captain who had been in his quarters, appeared on the bridge. Looking around to assess the situation he asked, "Is everything okay?" "Everything okay sir!", reported the Executive Officer in a calm and confindent voice. " Everything looks okay to me too." He responded and with that he turned and headed back toward his quarters."

Everyone one of us has some violent twists and turns in our lives. For some, the storms and maneuvering that occur in life, almost topple them. The storms and waves on the outside world make the hull of our lives a pretty scary place to be. But the captain of the sub knew that it did not matter what was going on, on the outside of the submarine, as long as deep at the heart of the sub, at the control center, the conn, everything was "okay" The captain did not need to look at the hull, or worry about the stability or integrity of his ships stucture. He simply knew that by going to the heart of the ship, he could find every answer he needed.
                                              (from the book, "Ordering Your Private World")

We must have a place in our lives where we can go to in times of stress when out outer world is putting pressure on our hulls. It is the quietness and confidence of ur "inner" or private world where the answer can be found as to whether we will weather the storm or not.

What does Your Bridge Look like?We can take a lot of storms if we have a "bridge" like the one in the story above. But in order to have a bridge that is serene and calm even though there are depth charges exploding around us, takes some real in-depth "self questions" we must ask ourselves.

These questions take courage to ask. They make us question the very reason for the "busyness" of life. Questions like:

  1. "What is motivating me to engage in all this activity?"
  2. "Is my flurry of activity due to outside or inside factors?"
  3. "Do I have real focus, or are all of my activities disjointed and without any real results?"
  4. Do I sense my efforts flow toward my life purpose or do I get caught up in the "thick of thin things?"
  5. Do I possess wrong beliefs that compel me to busyness?"

If today you sense a lot of storms tossing around your submarine, don't look to the storm, look at the bridge of your life and if you find that there is serene and calm in the bridge, then the storms outside will never sink you.

Having just awakened,

Douglas