I’ve been using Evernote since 2015…
And over that period, I’ve journaled, made to-do-lists, wrote sales copy, saved links, and just jotted down random thoughts. 🤔
I’ve also jotted down a TON of ideas in my Evernote over the years…✍️
And as I was scrolling through…
It was fun to revisit my state of mind during different times and places in my past – because doing so helps to provide me with more context about where/who I am today.
Well, one thing I noticed while inside my Evernote…👀
Is how the vast majority of the ideas I’ve written down over the years aren’t outstanding.
I don’t mean all these ideas are horrible…
But when I examine some of my previous “inspired thoughts” around businesses, content, books, philosophy, etc…
I see holes and flaws in them that probably weren’t apparent when I thought of the idea…
And this leads to a pretty significant realization…
Which is that sometimes, procrastination is your absolute best ally.
We all love stories of doers and action-takers, and I’m no different.🤷
But there’s a big difference between taking action on a well-vetted, deeply considered idea…
And spontaneously starting a new business or project on a whim.
The former often leads to success…
While the latter often leads to abandonment.
And so, the moral of today’s post…
Is that procrastination is not always such a bad thing.
In fact, I believe there are times where procrastination is your mind’s way of protecting you.
In other words…
When we find that we are frequently putting off something we ‘don’t want to do’…
We tend to beat ourselves up about it…
But in reality…
What we should really be asking ourselves is why we’re putting off this task/project/venture in the first place?
Sometimes the answer is because it’s pulling us out of our comfort zone, and we’re afraid of failing…
And when that’s the answer – the goal needs to be to push forward and to ascend to new levels of achievement and fulfillment.
But other times, the answer is because the delayed project is something we really have no passion or heart for…
And that’s a reality we should be okay with too.
For me personally, when I realize I’m procrastinating on something…
I immediately ask myself:
- Is this something I really, genuinely want to do?
- Is this something I must do?
- Or is this something that’s completely optional and that I don’t want to do?
If it’s #1 – Then I find a way to get it on my calendar to begin the endeavor…
If it’s #2 – I look for ways to delegate it. Or, if that’s impossible, then I go back to #1 and just force myself to get it done.
And if it’s #3, then I simply don’t do it. I put it off, and I tell myself that if it ever goes from feeling ‘optional’ to ‘essential’, I can always get back to it.
So I just wanted to share this with you…
Because too many times, we beat ourselves up for not getting something done…
When in reality, the task in question is something we shouldn’t be doing anyway.
– SPG
P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link.
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