Why you NEED to wait until the last minute to get started (and what needs to change)

I think one of your biggest superpowers is being able to avoid a task or a project that you know is due for three whole weeks, and then knock the whole thing out THREE hours before it's due, even if you have to stay up insanely late or wake up ridiculously early. 

That's probably one of the most common tools that procrastinators rely on—the fact that they know that even if they procrastinate, they can still get it done in a little amount of time, and there's no real consequence for it.

But why do you think that is?

Nothing really changed, did it? You didn't get more motivation, you didn't find out more about the task, you didn't suddenly gain more time…

So what exactly happened?

The deadline provided something that wasn't there within those three weeks. Something that was strong enough to get you to act despite your desire to procrastinate acting. 

You've probably been told that this is a time management problem. And I get why, because people who procrastinate often struggle with time management.

But I don't think that's what's happening here. I think you're lacking an entirely different skill, and if you stay till the end of this post, I'm going to show you what's missing.

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Whenever you cycle through this pattern again and again, your knee-jerk reaction is probably to label yourself as lazy or undisciplined. But, the thing is, you actually have quite a skill of being able to produce good quality work at the very last minute. That's not a skill that everyone has. Some people have to put in the work weeks if not months in advance to get an outcome that looks half as good as yours. 

There is more going on here than you just don't want to work or get the task done. There's a specific thing happening when you want to get started but you physically cannot until a deadline is fast approaching and time is almost up.

You first assign yourself the task, and then experience discomfort and an aversion to it—so you avoid to reduce that discomfort. The deadline approaches, anxiety rises, and you finally have the strength to begin.

The problem here is that your productivity is being driven by an emergency,and some people may be fine with that, but I know you're not. because there's always a question in the back of your mind of,

“What could I accomplish if I gave it my all?”

“What would I accomplish if I started weeks or months in advance like other people do, if my work is good enough even at the last minute?”

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There's a distinction to be made between external pressure and internal regulation. The external structure of deadlines, a boss, client expectations, project due dates, or grades. These things were always a part of the equation. There's just something specific happening when they get closer and closer.

They aren't making you more capable… If anything, they're replacing your capacity. 

And if you're outsourcing your capacity to something external, then what happens when the external structures go away?

What happens when you have a task that has no deadline but that you want to finish?

What happens when there's a personal project that you really want to do and means a lot to you, but there's no one checking in to make sure it's getting done?

If you cannot learn to stay engaged during discomfort, then you will always need external pressure to get started, and you will never know what you're capable of if you're not functioning under anxiety and last-minute stress.

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Avoidance is the escape hatch we are using to get away from discomfort. But there's also discomfort that comes from an approaching deadline, and as it gets closer and closer, that pressure becomes greater than the discomfort of acting, and that's the only reason that we can overpower the avoidance.

You’re doing yourself a disservice, because you aren’t learning how to push through discomfort on your own. The very skill that you need to learn, to act no matter how you're feeling and no matter how a task makes you feel, is being executed by an external stressor.

And when you lack the regulation skills that you need to persevere through discomfort, then your nervous system is constantly going to seek relief and avoidance, and until that last moment when the pressure becomes too much to bear, you will never be able to get yourself to act of your own accord.

This is why you tend to thrive in structured work environments. Because there are external structures and expectations placed upon you and you don't have to strengthen the skills to replicate that in your own internal ecosystem.

The structure carries that regulation burden.

But what happens when the structure disappears? If you take it away, your performance will collapse. That's why self-directed goals, which are often the most important ones, are where you are the most inconsistent, and where you’re the most disappointed.

That’s where those feelings of laziness come from.

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So think about the last thing you waited until the final moment to do.  Maybe you didn't clean the house until you knew that your mom was coming over, or you didn't do the laundry until you literally had nothing else to wear, or your coworker expected you to read a report by Friday morning and you started reading it on Thursday at 11:00 p.m.

Ask yourself, what changed when you finally started?

Did the task change?

Did the goal change?

What was the difference between the minute leading up to you finally starting and when you actually started working on it?

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And, by the way, if you're interested in learning more about the psychological reasons behind this type of thing, like how motivation works in the brain, you can join the newsletter HERE so you can see how it applies to your real life. I share new insights every single week.

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Deadlines are replacing the skill of being able to tolerate discomfort long enough to act. It doesn't make it easier, but with a pattern to reflect on, you can start noticing it in real time and start questioning that inner dialogue that says that you can't get started.

So if pressure is what activates action, how are some people able to act before the pressure arrives, like those people I mentioned at the beginning of the post?

What's the difference between them and you?

Are they happier because of it?

Is all it is that they have the skill of tolerating discomfort?

Is that just a skill you weren’t born with and they were?

We're tackling that in the next YouTube video about what it actually means to move toward important goals, even self-directed ones, without urgency or fear. You’ll find the link HERE (to be released on 7/7).

Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an upload featuring the next hidden pattern that’s keeping you from turning your goals into reality. 

And as always, stay in this corner of the internet as long as you need.