I asked my email newsletter what they wanted to hear about. One of my readers, Joe wrote in with this idea.
I am curious to hear about how you find the time and discipline to keep pushing out emails and videos. (Maybe you’ve already written about this somewhere)
I have a small blog myself and find it hard to find the motivation to keep writing. Even when I do sit down to write, I write very slowly, taking weeks to get out a short article.I guess it could be generalized to procrastinating on big projects in general (like cleaning the house, patching holes in the wall)Physical or mental challenges (like learning chess, go, poker, memory competitions) would be interesting, although I would understand if that’s not the type of content you want your brand to be about. Doesn’t have to be video, written progress report type articles would be interesting.”
While I have filmed videos and made articles about this topic, it’s time to create something fresh to address this topic. This will be day one of a five day challenge where we work together to put out a short article every day.
I think this will be informative for readers since they probably procrastinate on many things, and the ability to delay gratification and do what you need to is a skill that can be developed that has scientifically been shown to correlate with income and career success the most.
So, the truth is that I am not some genius or someone different from the average person. I used to and still procrastinate often. I get addicted to video games, TV, and my phone on occasion. And that’s a good thing because I got to where I am and my level of consistency from where many average people are, which means you can trust and relate to my advice more than some famous influencer entrepreneur who always seems to have operated his life on some godly level.
First, I focus on maybe 5 things max, preferably one or two. Don’t try and juggle a writing habit, nutrition habit, chess practice, and cleaning the house at the same time if you’re struggling with them all. It’s too much.
Second, just do a little. I intentionally kept this article short to show that you don’t have to be a perfectionist about it. Just do something, even if it’s a little bit. That builds a habit and reinforces in your mind that the task isn’t that hard. I also didn’t proofread this post. All those additional things you can start adding later once you’ve developed a recurring habit that’s hard to break. By just starting small and simple, you turn a giant task in your head into something actionable.
It probably took 5 to 10 minutes tops to write this. Plus, I was able to quote a message at the top, which makes it look longer without having to do extra work. While people will read this, probably no one will comment. That also goes to show you that any psychological blocks in your head about it not being perfect enough won’t matter. Your first article is not going to be game changing or that engaging, and that’s okay. People may not care that much.
One you build a good habit, you can add to it with time investment, duration, intensity, and quality. The thing that stops people is they don’t get going. They paralyze themselves. They don’t even start. They build it up too much in their head. I’d have to learn more about your specific psychological or physical habits to figure out what’s blocking you. It could be something else, but it’s probably generally within this realm.
While passion and love of a topic helps, it’s not everything. Of course, if you love to write, then write articles rather than make videos. But if you pick something you like, there still may be days where you don’t want to do it. You have to muscle through that and train your willpower muscle. If it’s hard to start, your muscle is weak and you need to start small with a 2 minute or less simple activity.
Please follow along and write an article or do something you’ve been putting off using this technique. This is day 1 of the challenge, so do something, and leave a comment of what you’ve done. Join my email newsletter so that you’ll be notified when I post my day 2 progress. We will do this for 5 days. You can choose any activity, but I will choose writing for the sake of this demo with Joe.
LOL forgot all about it til just now (5 days later).
But this week FOR SURE!
Maybe =)
Better not procrastinate!
Hi Will,
I missed this challenge by more than a week, but I think I’ll still do it anyway. Since it’s already over and I’m doing it by myself, I don’t know yet if I will start Day 1 today. I might, though. But right now I think I’ll start out by making a list of things I’ve been procrastinating on. And then I’ll pick one of those and use it for the 5-day challenge.
So I guess today is Day 0.
Yes, please do! I’m excited to hear your progress. Don’t let procrastination stop you from starting!