The Revalation of Procrastination 🛑
Hey everyone,
Just now I was having a difficult time sitting down to write the newsletter. That’s typically not the case—I write every week because I enjoy it and it helps me formalize my thoughts. Maybe because it’s my last real task for the week (since I have next week off), but I was feeling a lot of resistance to sit down and start writing.
When I’m procrastinating, I usually beat myself up and tell myself that it’s because of my lack of discipline and willpower. However, I saw a tweet this week that took a different stance and made me reconsider:
I’m not sure I fully agree with Daniel’s take, but there’s something in there that rings true. The things I tend to procrastinate generally fall into one of those three buckets.
The point is, when we’re procrastinating there’s something that the resistance communicates to us aside from the fact that we don’t want to do whatever the thing is. My goal for the week is to pause and attempt to discern what procrastination is revealing to me, with the hope that I can filter tasks that might be boring or unnecessary.
My hope is that I end up putting energy towards what’s essential, and I think essentialism is about all we could ask for.
Pete’s Picks ✅
What I’m Reading: I just got The Path to Power, and am looking forward to getting into the story. The book is the first in Robert Caro’s five volume series about the life of LBJ.
What I’m Watching: We’re picking up Thanksgiving dinner this year, but I was really impressed by this video from Joshua Weissman in which he shows how to cook a whole Thanksgiving dinner for $35.
What I’m Listening To: I thought Tim Ferriss’ podcast episode with Dan Harris from this week was really good. Harris details his search for mental health after having a panic attack on national news.
Tweet of the Week 🐦
Have a good week,
Peter
I found this really thought provoking. I've found that I often procrastinate in creating something if I don't have a clear vision of the end result. In retrospect—even when I have a clear vision—I often produce something quite different. Perhaps my comfort zone is at the root of my procrastination, or at least in part.