You are not a procrastinator because there is no such thing. You are a human being who happens to procrastinate. Procrastination isn’t a nationality, like Italian. You weren’t born a procrastinator. It isn’t your identity, even if you claim it as such as a way to absolve yourself of the responsibility to act or assuage the guilt you feel for not doing what you need to do.
But there is a reason that you procrastinate. It’s because you are thinking “to do” when you need to think “why do.”
The reason that the tasks on your “to do” list aren’t inspiring is because they’re only tasks. “To do’s” aren’t inspiring, they aren’t motivating, and they don’t excite your soul. “Why do’s” are everything that “to do’s” are not; they are compelling, inspiring, and motivating. “Why do’s” move you. They very literally motivate you by providing you with your motive, your reason why.
We humans are meaning seeking creatures. We want to make a difference. We want to do something that matters. Look, the only thing you really need to do to survive is eat, sleep, breathe, and stay out of the elements. Once you’ve got these covered and your survival isn’t threatened, you need to move on to doing something bigger and better. You need to thrive. And thriving is different from surviving.
What you do is only important if it’s attached to some greater mission, some greater meaning, some greater why.
Look at some task you’ve been putting off. Why does this task matter? What could it mean if you brought your very best self to it? What difference could you make if you invested that task with real meaning. Who does this task serve and why is it that you are serving them?
What’s your reason why?
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