Do you procrastinate? I’m a pretty organized person but there are things on my “To Do” list that never seem to get done and that I keep transferring from one list to the next. Every time I get to them, I choose to do something that is more appealing, even if it’s just checking my Twitter feed.
According to Nic Voge of Princeton University procrastination is our way of protecting our self-worth. If we measure our self-worth by our performance and we put less effort into something we can blame the less effort, rather than feeling we are not talented or worthy enough. I have definitely seen this amongst Art students, some of whom try to complete their entire year’s portfolio the night before it is due. Art students have lots of angst over whether they are creative enough, and so if they do everything at the last minute, they have an excuse for themselves and for others.
So I need to look at what I am procrastinating about, acknowledge my fear and let go of it. I will think through what success will look like, but also what the worst case could be if I fail. I’m aiming to reframe failure as a chance to learn or get more experience, no matter the outcome. And then “Just do it”.
It will be such a relief to finally delete those items from my lists!