Dear friend,

Why is procrastination seen as a disease that needs to be “cured” or overcome?

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Growing up in America, I was indoctrinated with the idea that procrastination was bad, evil, and a disease that needed to be “cured”. But this is my theory:

Procrastination is one of our most powerful filtering mechanisms!

This is because we generally procrastinate on things which truly aren’t that important to us. Generally what we procrastinate on isn’t essential. We don’t procrastinate on truly important and meaningful things to us.

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Procrastination vs Fear

Now, I want to differentiate the difference between procrastination and fear.

I think procrastination is a powerful ability we are born with. Otherwise, we would be wasting our valuable time on “busy work” all the time. And in today’s world in which we are drowning in a sea of information, procrastination is our life-preserver (metaphorically and quite literally).

Often we delay pursuing our life passions because of fear. Now — this isn’t procrastination. This is simply “paralysis by fear”. It’s like we stare into the eyes of Medusa and turn into stone from petrifying fear.

But if you don’t fear failure or death — what is holding you back from pursuing and achieving your life goals?

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Trust your gut

There’s too much focus on “logical” thinking. Much of “logical” thinking which is “rational” is flawed. Because when we give too much credence to our rational thinking — we are essentially the slaves of others opinions, and we become slaves to others forcing us to do shit we don’t really want to do.

For example, we tend to procrastinate on stuff which isn’t good for us. For example in the past, I used to procrastinate on calling my dad and checking up on him. Why? Because he was toxic! Of course I procrastinated! However, I would often feel this Christian-Confucian guilt for not reaching out to him. Looking back, I regret calling him so often. I should have followed my own gut and instincts and NOT called him, and to have avoided him as much as possible!

We must avoid toxic people in our lives. Thus, if you ever procrastinate on contacting certain people in your life— there probably is a good motive behind it. Thus, no matter what others say, be stubborn, inflexible, and follow your gut.

Your intuition and gut is smarter than you think it is.

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Let things resolve itself

This is the interesting thing I’ve learned in my personal life:

Often when I procrastinate on stuff, the stuff naturally takes care of itself without my “naive intervention” (Nassim Taleb’s idea).

For example, often delaying medical treatment is good — your body heals itself, instead of getting it “over-diagnosed” by a doctor.

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Purposeful Procrastination

When you find yourself procrastinating or delaying doing something, ask yourself:

Is there some hidden wisdom within myself which is causing me to procrastinate?

Procrastinate purposefully — to give yourself more focus to work on what is truly important to you!

BE STRONG,
ERIC