A while ago I was watching a coaching session as part of a 6-month long men’s retreat I was in, facilitated by Ankush jain, and someone brought the topic of procrastination with a project they were creating.
After a few weeks of starting the project they expected to have 75% done, but in reality they only did 10% and were finding difficult to stay committed to it.
I really relate to this. There are so many projects I’ve started but didn’t follow through at the speed I’ve expected.
In the past I used to spend countless hours on the internet looking for ways to be more disciplined, ways to talk myself into stronger habits, tools and techniques to motivate myself, etc…
…meanwhile the project was still 10% done.
During the coaching session, Ankush uncovered many judgments they had against themselves for not having done the project to the extent they wanted and it was by hanging on to those thoughts that made progress so difficult.
The tipping point of that conversation was when he said something like, “do you know what’s the scientific fact about that project? It’s that you have 10% done. All meaning you have on top of that is unnecessary for your progress.”
BAM
“Why haven’t I done it?”
- It doesn’t matter why.
“How come others are ahead of me?
- It doesn’t matter.
“I should have finished this by now”
- ‘Should’ is a story and stories don’t get things done.
All that is enough to know is the fact of how much I have done. Simple. Measurable. There’s no story around it to waste my attention, which makes it a no-brainer to get back on course of whatever project I am on.
I might need to adjust the systems I have put in place to help me get it done. But without beating myself up for not doing it as expected, the whole game becomes much lighter.
The quicker I am to see any of my results with neutrality, the faster I get back on the horse.
Love,
Felipe
P.S. This is Suzy, the otter. Suzy finds hard to swim because she doesn’t let go of her costume and stories of being a shark.