Every time I put off a decision, hit the snooze button,
skipped the gym, or didn’t complete my tasks because I
didn’t feel like it, I always had an explanation for my
continual procrastination.
I told myself I was tired. Or that it could wait until tomorrow.
Who cares if you put off something, right?
Well, you should care. Because you’re the one who’s
responsible for your life. Too often, we look at productivity
tips, apps or tools as the magic answer to our problems. But
that also means we allow ourselves to blame external things
for our lack of productivity.
“No, it’s not me, it’s my old laptop. It sucks, and I
can’t work this way.”
“The office is too loud.”
“People keep calling and emailing me.”
“I never have time.”
Battling procrastination is an inner battle. I have many
examples of that in my personal life. In 2013, I felt my
career was stuck. Two years before that, I started a
company with my dad. But after two years, I became
restless because I wanted to do more and learn more.
So I did some freelancing. I built websites, did copywriting,
content marketing, and some design work. But it didn’t take
off. Why? I never did the uncomfortable work. Instead, I
found a job to escape those hard tasks.
We all escape at times.
Building a business or career is hard. It requires you to do
difficult, tedious, and unsatisfying tasks. If you want more
clients or work, no one is going to hand it to you. You have to hustle.
Do content marketing, one-on-one sales, network,
or whatever method you use to grow your business.
And if you want to climb the corporate ladder, you have to
form alliances, be strategic, outperform your targets, and be
great at what you do.
That’s what you SHOULD do, right? Most of us already know
these things. Or, you will find out about it. There’s no such
thing as a secret to succeeding at work. However, we prefer
to escape work. And that’s at the core of procrastination to
me. You know what you have to do, but you don’t do it.
Instead, you open a news site and start reading useless
news items. Or you browse your Instagram feed without
liking one picture because you hate your life. Maybe you
browse Zara, H&M, Net-A-Porter, Mr. Porter, or whatever
online shop you like.
