Procrastination
I’ll be honest—I didn’t want to write this today.
I’m under the weather, probably caught something over the weekend, and my head’s in a fog. But one thing I tell my students about writing blogs, newsletters, or any public-facing work is this: it’s not about waiting for the perfect moment. It’s about building the reps.
Here are three things I’ve learned in my short time writing consistently:
Know who you’re writing for. Broad audiences get watered-down messages. Write for your niche.
Most of what you write will be garbage. That’s fine. You need volume to find the gold. (Still working on that myself.)
Start before you’re ready. Most writers say they wish they had started earlier. Don’t overthink it. Just start.
And one more—be consistent. The second I let myself slip on a self-imposed deadline, the slope gets slippery. That’s how the whole thing dies.
So yeah, I procrastinated a bit today. Dragged my feet. Stared at the blinking cursor. Then I asked myself: why?
Why do we put things off?
Procrastination is Prioritization
Everyone procrastinates. Even the most hardcore productivity machines put things off—they just procrastinate strategically.
Sometimes we avoid what we don’t want to do. Other times, we delay lower-value tasks to focus on what matters more. I see this every semester. Students get their individual assignments on Day 1. And without fail, something comes up the night before the deadline. I did the same thing when I was in school.
Now that I write almost daily to organize my thinking, cranking out a two-page paper sounds like a joke. But back then? A crisis.
At West Point, there’s a legendary assignment for juniors: the SOSH paper. It’s a beast. Students turn it in by hand—sometimes dressed in costumes, sometimes frantically sprinting across the parade field half-dressed in their uniform to try to meet the deadline in a last-minute panic. That’s the infamous SOSH Run.
I ran it.
Being an engineering major, social sciences weren’t exactly my strong suit. I stayed up all night on a case study for my Electronics class and left the SOSH paper until the last minute. I technically completed it, but I failed the assignment for mis-citing sources—even though I used the right number. Not my best moment. I still passed the class somehow, but I stand by the decision. I prioritized my major over a gen-ed requirement.
It was a choice.
The real productivity hack isn’t some app or hackathon playlist. It’s knowing what matters most—and being okay with delaying the rest. We’re all procrastinating on something. Just make sure it’s the right thing.
Procrastination is a Clarity Problem
Another reason we procrastinate? We don’t know where to start.
The human brain loves to check boxes. So we tackle the easy stuff: respond to a few emails, send a Slack message, check off a “done” item. It feels productive.
Meanwhile, the bigger, messier tasks sit untouched. Why? Because they require real thinking. And we don’t yet have the clarity to act.
Here’s what helps me:
Break it into smaller pieces. Don’t “finish the deck.” Open Keynote. Add a title. That’s step one.
Use the 10-minute rule. “I’ll do just 10 minutes.” It lowers the friction. Nine times out of ten, you’ll keep going. This helps if you are delaying going to the gym as well.
Ask a question. If you’re stuck, reframe the task as a question: If I was to delegate this task to someone else, what would I tell them to do?
Clarity isn’t a prerequisite for action. It’s a product of action.
The Productivity Rain Dance
Then there’s the third type of procrastination—the sneakiest kind.
It’s when you convince yourself you’re getting ready to work: setting the mood, tidying the desk, cueing the playlist, grabbing a coffee. The proverbial productivity rain dance.
We tell ourselves, Once the conditions are perfect, I’ll be ready. But the Muse isn’t coming. She’s waiting on you.
The problem is, once we start relying on conditions—specific music, the perfect amount of caffeine, a cold plunge, the right vibes—we give ourselves permission to opt out when those conditions aren’t met.
Here’s what works better:
Start rituals, not prep rituals. Instead of setting the scene, create a trigger that kicks off the work: open a doc, write one sentence, close Slack.
Embrace constraints. Perfectionism loves unlimited time and open-ended scope. Creativity doesn’t need either. Boundaries spark focus.
Ditch the myth of readiness. You won’t feel ready. You don’t need to. Just start anyway.
I don’t know who said it first, but I’ve seen it play out everywhere—from startups to classrooms to combat zones:
Action creates clarity. Clarity creates confidence. Confidence creates momentum.
So if you’re going to procrastinate today, make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons.
And even if you’re feeling sick—show up anyway.
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