Why Do We Procrastinate?
Procrastination is not the problem per se. People usually procrastinate on low value activities. The problem is when you procrastinate in something that you must do.
Why do we often procrastinate on something when we’ve spent all the previous evening or week planning for it? It’s usually on the important tasks without deadlines that you’ll probably find yourself procrastinating.
Fortunately, with some self discipline, you’ve been able to reduce this behavior but still, reducing a problem is not solving it, so there has to be a reason why we keep procrastinating on important stuff.
The reason we procrastinate.
I recently found the reason why we procrastinate on important tasks, and the reason is simple: fear. Not only the fear that something could go wrong, but also the fear that something could work as expected. It’s the fear of change that worries us, the famous comfort zone.
Fortunately, it’s very easy to conquer this fear once we define what it is. That’s why I now write now a few notes along with my goals, to describe exactly what the outcomes will be, wherever I’ll succeed or not.
For example. Say that your goal is to earn $1000 per month in passive income. You should then write down:
The worst case scenario. Is there something that could go wrong while I try to achieve this goal? Will people die? Let’s see. The worst scenario I can think of is that I’ll work one year following the wrong method (unlikely) and so I’ll have to start over again. Wow, that’s really bad, I can’t think of having a life anymore after that.
The best case scenario. Everything works well instead, and my business model is scalable, so not only will I achieve my goal, I’m also able to increase my revenue without having to work more hours. I quit my job and I travel the world and follow my lifestyle design dream.
Consider that your fear might not be in the worst case scenario. After all, you know you have to work hard from nothing. Your fear might be in the best case scenario because that would be a dramatic change in your life.
It may sound counter-intuitive, but spend some time thinking about your best case scenario. Write down exactly what you want, where you will be, and what you’ll do. Only when you have defined your best case scenario you’ll finally find all the motivation that you need, and good things will start to happen.