5 years ago I set my goal to make more money however I had a problem I was very good at making plans but not so good at putting them into action when it came time to act I felt [Music] stuck when I managed to take the first step I couldn't maintain consistency after many self-help books and internet tips on how to stop procrastinating one thing became clear setting smart goals making a to-do list setting a 25-minute tomato shaped timer and all the other strategies weren't working once I read a quote that said lessons in life
will be repeated until they are learned clearly I was missing something why couldn't I get out of this phase of procrastination after many failed attempts and an intense analysis I realized there were some mistakes that always led me to procrastinate focus on the result I decided to start a YouTube channel and what better way to begin than by talking about procrastination after all it was a topic I was quite familiar with I knew what I needed to do I had to write a script edit the video create a title and make a thumbnail how hard
could it be a spoiler a lot I started writing the script I didn't know how to do it I was lost I decided to start anyway but it wasn't turning out well I decided to rewrite it it still wasn't good after that I decided to watch a series on Netflix a quick break that ended up taking the whole day I wanted to escape the unpleasant feeling of seeing that my skills were nowhere near where I wanted them to be starting something new and focusing on the result is the perfect recipe for procrastination at the beginning
of any project we have a high level of effort for a low level of result it's not something pleasant and if there's one thing I've picked up from all the self-help books I've read it's this when an action makes us feel good we keep doing it but when it makes us feel bad we avoid it in other words we procrastinate when you're stuck in procrastination just focus on getting yourself moving don't worry about how long it takes or what the outcome will be if you've taken a step even a small one you've already overcome procrastination
my measure of success was no longer the result of my actions it was the action itself every day I spent working on my video was a victory even if the results weren't what I wanted I was getting a little closer each day seeing that progress felt great and because of that it became easier to repeat so if you don't want to procrastinate for the rest of your life focus on taking action first and only worry about improving the results later it's that old cliche that's a cliche because it's true you don't have to be good
to start but you have to start to get good skip levels when you start a game you always begin at the first level where the challenges match your initial skill level as you progress through the levels the difficulty increases as does your skill every time I lost to procrastination it was because I tried to skip ahead when I decided to make this video I was committed to giving it my best my goal was to focus on it for 2 hours every day however I was in a phase of my life where procrastination had become a
routine at any sign of discomfort I would escape to social media my ability to focus was minimal you don't need to be a genius to predict what happened I failed my goal on the very first day I felt like a failure I wondered if I really had the capability to do what was needed after a week of feeling sorry for myself I decided to adopt a different strategy I would start the game again but this time from the very beginning I set a new goal to work on my video every day for just 10 minutes
it didn't matter what I would produce in those 10 minutes I just needed to do something that day I achieved my goal and I continued to do so in the days that followed something incredible happened some days I focused for just 10 minutes and that was it however on other days when I was more motivated I worked for two or even 3 hours for the first time I had exceeded my expectations many people talk about the importance of ambitious goals but not much is said about the power of a goal you can actually achieve Tim
Ferris author of the bestselling productivity book talks about the importance of getting early wins in the process it boosts dopamine levels and increases your self-confidence in this way you become more motivated to continue so whenever I'm in a phase of procrastination I set a ridiculously easy goal once I keep up consistently with that goal I move on to the next phase the secret to overcoming procrastination is to start with easy goals and then make them harder as you get better take advice from the internet I wanted to end procrastination in my life after all it
was the reason for my lack of results after feeling like a failure for a long time I realize something that changed everything procrastinating didn't mean I was a procrastinator forever it just meant that something about the task made me uncomfortable and at that moment I didn't know how to handle it differently so I ended up procrastinating the answer was clear I needed to find new ways to deal with discomfort like any normal person I went online to find answers to my problem I tried many strategies that promised to cure procrastination but they weren't working after
banging my head against the wall I realized it wasn't working for a simple reason I didn't know what was causing my discomfort following tips randomly is like starting a treatment without having diagnosed the problem you have the discomfort that a task causes can have various causes and for each cause there's a better way to handle it after understanding this I began a process of introspection when I did this exercise I saw that there were several reasons why I procrastinated and for each reason there was a strategy that worked better so began the process of piecing
together the puzzle every time I procrastinated I would stop and ask myself what was bothering me about this task as I developed my hypothesis I tested different strategies until I found the one that fit my problem best the truth is overcoming procrastination isn't about never procrastinating it's about not giving up until you complete what you set out to do if you want to procrastinate for the rest of your life keep blindly following the tips you find on the internet but if you want to get out of this trap start by looking inside yourself because that's
where you'll find most of the answers I won't say I've cured my procrastination because that wouldn't be true however I'm winning more battles than before this is the big secret to win a game you don't need to score every point you just need to win most of them
