When you are into success porn, you read these business articles, listen to podcasts with entrepreneurs, and watch YouTube videos of people who made it big. And procrastination is always a topic that is being discussed there heavily. Here is my take on it.
Procrastination is natural
Procrastination is not a problem.
When you have to do your school homework, learn for the next college exam, or work on a project for your employee, you may experience procrastination. Most of the time it happens, when you work on something you don’t really want to work on.
Procrastination is your brain telling you, your time could be spent better elsewhere.
When it arises, you’ll have to make a trade between your time and the result of the work that is necessary. Do you need to get a good grade at school? Do you need to pass the next exam? And do you need the money your employee pays you?
If the answers are yes, you’ll have to make the trade and push through procrastination.
But additionally, you’ll have to do something else…
Procrastination is a useful indicator
When I first started making money online, I worked as a translator and copywriter. I got jobs I wasn’t passionate about. I got jobs I didn’t like. I got jobs I hated. Procrastination set in almost every time.
And this experience opened my eyes about the future of my career: Do I really want to spend the rest of my life trading my time for money, while fighting procrastination? Or do I want to find something that doesn’t even trigger my procrastination while I’m working on that?
So, I tried design, started writing, and lately started my own YouTube channel.
And whenever I work on design, my blog, or on my YouTube channel, I don’t feel procrastination at all – I enjoy doing the work, which is why I want to spend my time on it, instead of trading it for something else.
My advice on procrastination
If you want my advice: Use procrastination as a tool. Try out various things and watch your procrastination setting in or not. Whenever it sets in, you’ve come across something you’re not passionate about. Stop doing it, if you can.
Trade your time for money to pay the bills. But the moment your bills are paid, use your time to find something that doesn’t trigger your procrastination. If you’ve found it, you’ve found your passion. Stick with it, until you can pay your bills with it.
Once you’ve arrived at this point, you will never feel procrastination again.