What Defeats Procrastination
The secret lies in discovering your true sport
Did cavemen struggle with procrastination?
My bet 👉 they did.
Picture a caveman named Gugu.
He is trying to make new shoes for months.
Every time he starts working, he gets distracted by a cave painting.
Gugu tells himself he is getting inspiration.
But in reality he is procrastinating. (I feel you, brother Gugu. 🥺)
But Gugu and company only had cave paintings.
We have infinite distractions — phones, chats, Youtube, social media, and a noisy world.
Losing focus is easier than ever. But are you alone?
Time reported Bill Clinton as a chronic procrastinator.
Al Gore agreed the president was punctually challenged.
If presidents get punctured on occasion, there’s no harm in being lazy sometimes.
But when it happens ten times a day, shit goes south.
Today, we'll delve into why we procrastinate on important stuff and find a way to reduce its effect on our careers and life.
Before that, check out the All-In newsletter by Sean. He offers detailed analysis and breakdown of the All-in Podcast (if you’re into that stuff).
Let’s begin.
Who is a procrastinator
Oxford defines it as…
My understanding is 👇
You either are a chronic procrastinator or you’re not.
Its super easy to differentiate.
Chronic procrastinators have a habit of ignoring:
Responsibilities
Commitments
Both directly linked to self-esteem.
Irresponsibility and noncommitment cause us to feel depressed.
Shame and guilt take a strong root in our personality.
As a result, we procrastinate not just at work but in most areas of life.
The vicious cycle keeps repeating….
Until you realize 👇
Maybe you’re not a procrastinator…
Think of the things you don’t procrastinate on.
Remind the last time you delayed something you enjoy.
For example, a movie, game, or your favorite subject of study.
Question yourself — Do I ever lack motivation to finish a game I enjoy?
If your answer is no, you’re not a procrastinator.
But why don’t you procrastinate on the tasks you enjoy?
What exactly changed?
I think joy changed.
Finishing a game is no different than getting your work done.
Both are actions that demand energy and motivation.
The only difference is 👇
That tells us…
There is a relationship between joy and procrastination.
For me, it’s inversely proportional.
As joy goes up, procrastination goes down.
But don’t take my word, the below PRG research shows procrastination affects happiness.
The survey revealed procrastinators are less happy.
Does that mean happy people don’t procrastinate?
Yes, mostly.
Procrastination might be a happiness problem for some.
Can we decrease it by increasing joy?
I do exactly that.
If any task doesn’t give me joy after three attempts, I don’t do it.
Because I know it would lead to procrastination.
So I look for ways to outsource or kill it.
But was I always like that? Of course not.
Let me tell you the story of…
What made me procrastinate for years
I never procrastinated on tasks I enjoyed or chose to do myself.
But I did it the most with externally imposed tasks.
Imposed by society, parents, teachers, bosses, or any other authority.
For example, I used to feel the weight of making money early in life.
But was the goal of creating wealth sought by me? Not at all.
It was imposed by the status quo.
I was born in a world obsessed with money.
The foundations of my wealth goal:
Social approval
Others expectations
But the more I forced myself, the more I procrastinated.
In a way, procrastination gave me joy. And why wouldn’t it?
One of my basic human needs was being violated — freedom.
The free will to choose what I want to do with life was robbed.
Add the spicy cultural irony…
Even before I was born, a 6-step plan was ready for me.
But did I want that? 😒
So I resisted.
That resistance made me procrastinate. For years.
May not apply to you, but I get plenty of joy from delaying things that are imposed on me.
Then I realized 👇
Instead of becoming wealthy, I want to waste my time enjoying.
Doing stuff like…
Dissecting a movie / story for hours
Discussing half baked ideas with curious minds
Debating moral choices of my fav LOTR characters with friends
Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.
― Marthe Troly-Curtin
I slowly shifted my focus
From things I was told to do 👉 things I wanted to do.
Procrastination disappeared as I learned to do things for the sheer joy of it.
The only way we can get a person to do anything is by giving them what they want.
― Dale Carnegie
Use Carnegie’s words to understand that you can only make yourself do something if you can convince yourself that you will enjoy it.
Think — If you enjoyed your work like your fav game, would you procrastinate?
Probably not, but you do it at work.
That means, when choosing a career, joy should be the deciding factor.
Not the degree or experience you have.
Not the niche that’s trending on YouTube.
Not what your uncle thinks is lucrative these days.
Set this in stone 👇
Your job / work should give you great joy.
No argument on that.
If anyone tells you otherwise, tell them they can’t change your opinion.
If they argue further, give them a link to this essay.
Because…
Work without joy is a 19th century concept
I call it the factory worker belief system.
It has three pillars:
Life is a painful struggle
You can’t trust anyone in the world
And for money, you have to do boring stuff
This worldview benefited the wealthy capitalists who wanted everyone to work to death in their factories.
But we’re not 19th century factory workers.
We’re 21st century internet kids.
So let's counter those beliefs
I’d like to call Ronaldo to our aid.
Imagine convincing him that work has to be boring.
In Ronaldo’s experience, work is all fun.
He is the world’s highest paid footballer.
His work is the game he enjoys the most.
Can we say ‘he gets paid to enjoy?’ Definitely!
Does Ronaldo procrastinate?
I don’t know.
But I do know work is not an uphill battle for him.
He had discovered his true sport early in life.
If I try to become the world’s best athlete, it will be an uphill battle for me.
I will procrastinate. Every day.
Might need all the motivational speakers to pump me up.
Because there’s no joyful foundation.
Writing is my true sport. Football is not.
Imagine asking Ronaldo to quit football and build a career in banking.
It would be the best recipe to turn him into a procrastinator.
Because financial spreadsheets do not give him joy, football fields do.
For spreadsheets, we have another great gentleman.
Meet Jonathan Rochelle.
The man who gave us Google Sheets. (spy here)
Care to check the extent of his love for spreadsheets?
Head to Spreadsheet Man. It’s his site for fun. All profits go to charity.
Jon is now a VP at LinkedIn but still loves creating sheets.
Spreadsheet is his true sport.
Inventing Google Sheets wasn’t an uphill battle for him.
If we ask Jon how does work feel, would he say boring? I doubt it.
The thing he enjoys like a game is his work.
Like Ronaldo, he gets paid to enjoy too.
Would he ever procrastinate? You tell me.
So I ask you, what is YOUR true sport?
Think of the things that come naturally to you.
Stuff that you enjoy and would do for free.
Activities that make you forget hunger or sleep.
If you can make them your business, would you procrastinate?
I encourage you to tell me in the comments below.
Let’s learn form each other by interacting here.
A small parting gift 🎁
Adding three exciting tracks to put you in action for Monday.
That’s it for today!
Thank you for your time and trust to read this. I hope this letter helps you view procrastination differently.
Final takeaway 👇
Defeat procrastination by optimizing for joy.
In the next issue, I will share how I went from procrastination to productivity after a year of watching Netflix. 🙈 Every. Single. Day.
Until next week,
Hassaan
Hassan, another amazing piece of writing. You have taken a mainstream pain point and explained beautifully how one can overcome it.
As for procrastinating work, I would never do it if only I enjoyed my work. Thank you for highlighting the importance of finding joy in actions and activities. I will surely catch up with you after applying the tips and getting the results out of them.