Procrastination. Why We Do It and What To Do About It.

I procrastinate. A lot. I’m like a professional procrastinator. Tony Robbins says we are motivated by pain. We procrastinate because the doing of the task seems too painful.  I’ve spent a lot of years hurting myself. Because the idea of doing the thing that I really wanted to do or working on that goal I really wanted to reach was too painful. It was too stressful, too overwhelming. And what would happen if I actually went for it and then figured out that I wasn’t actually any good at it? What would happen if I put all of my heart in it and I failed?  The idea of coming to terms with that was far too painful so I never did it. I just sat back and thought “When I become (fill in the blank) I’m going to be so happy” but I NEVER ACTUALLY DID ANYTHING. All I did was dream. The truth is, to do something you really want to do takes a lot of courage. Brené Brown talks about this in her incredible book Daring Greatly. She mentions the famous Theodore Roosevelt quote I keep coming back to:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Brené (I’m gonna call her Brené because I feel like we’re friends) says that if we dare greatly and put ourselves in the arena, failure is not a possibility, it’s a guarantee. So do we sit back and never try so that we can’t say we failed? Or do we be brave and put ourselves out there knowing that we will fail, but keep trying in spite of it. I’m choosing to be brave. I want be in the arena. And besides, it’s much less painful to have tried something and failed than have never tried at all and always think of what could have been.   

**Comment below and let me know what you are constantly putting off that would make you a lot happier if you just did it. Also check out my latest instagram post to see WHY I’ve been procrastinating lately.