Despite all of the podcasts, videos, books and blogs that I’ve consumed about starting a business, I still don’t have my own business off the ground. What’s up with that?
What’s sad is that I even know where I’m falling short – distraction, inconsistency, non-completion – yet I still remain stuck in my habit of “someday” thinking and behavior.
My algorithm knows this. That’s why it fed me this video by Olga Loiek 😂 It popped up last night in my feed to call me out. It gave me a good little jolt so I thought I’d share these reminders here for anyone else like me:
- Procrastination is actually about your emotions. The dread of doing something is usually much bigger and worse than the feeling of actually doing that thing.
- Procrastination is perfectionism in disguise.
- Productive procrastination is another disguise for procrastination – you feel like you’re doing something, but you’re not actually doing the thing that matters most. It’s nothing more than “short term mood repair.” Instead of doing the important thing, you spend time working on things that are easy and safe – less risky – than working on achieving the real goal and risking failure.
- The secret to overcoming avoidance and procrastination is… to just START! In fact, don’t even worry about finishing. You just need to spend 10 – 20 minutes working on the thing and lo and behold, it will usually get done much more easily than you thought it would. Sometimes a short session of just starting leads to a longer work session – because it’s rarely as bad as you imagined it would be once you’ve gotten started. Besides, you can work in short repeated bursts and get it done that way.
That’s all I wrote down for my own personal notes but give the video a watch and see what resonates with you!
For now, this is me putting this into practice. Just starting, just doing.
A small (10-20 minute) chunk of intentional work is miles better than productive procrastination.
This is actually how I started running this year. I still only go for 10 – 20 minute runs, but that’s sooo much better than what I was doing before! And the few 30+ minute runs I’ve done weren’t nearly as bad as I once thought they would be.
What’s the lesson?
Put yourself on the path of doing the thing and it becomes much easier to see it through.
There are even little tricks that you can do to make it easier to start, like wearing your gym clothes to bed. That cuts out one more step between waking up and going for a run.
Reduce friction by making sure you’re already on the path you want to be on. Then all you have to do is keep going forward, one step at a time. (More on productivity habits in this My First Million podcast episode).
My problem has always been a disconnect between knowing what I should do and actually stepping up to doing it. By keeping things super simple (work in short bursts! reduce friction!) I can make it easy for myself to actually work on my goals.
What helps you get going when you find yourself putting off working on your goals? Drop it in the comments below! I’d love to try your tips.
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- 5 (Stupidly) Simple Time Management Tips
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