How I Save Myself From Procrastination

My Problem Procrastination Hack

How I recognised and am solving my problem procrastinations.

I've observed my behaviour for the last four years by doing a daily review.

The purpose of this review is to improve my self-awareness.

It's how I know I procrastinate when solving problems.

So I've started documenting problems that I've faced and how I solved them.

My theory is that when a similar problem pops up in the future, I can refer to this document to jump-start my solution-finding process.

I've split this doc into categories and re-stated my top values, so I don't compromise on these.

​Here's what I've figured out so far.

Over time I plan to create an encyclopaedia of bespoke solutions that serve me for any problem.

Notes: Our path is a reflection of the problems we choose to solve and how we solve them. Anything that helps you go from ideation to action is useful.

Creating Value With Subtraction

How we can add value by getting rid of stuff

"The best thing founders can do is subtraction. It's much, much, much easier to add things than it is to remove things. Adding things is a lot more expensive than removing things. However, it requires some measure of bravery and risk-taking to remove things." - Tobe Lutke (founder of Shopify)

We know why cutting unnecessary costs is a good thing, right - it puts more money in our pockets to reinvest in other profitable business areas.

A not-so-obvious cost that is worth regularly reducing is wasted action.

This can be marketing stuff that doesn't work; it could be the three extra trips you made to Mitre 10 this week or a service your customers would pay you not to do - like the waiter that asks 5 times, "how's your meal going?"

What I've noticed happens is a lot of stuff we add to our businesses turns out to be less valuable than we thought, but because a couple of customers liked it, we keep doing it.

We added lots of new initiatives to our gym this year. One of them was free unlimited nutrition consultations for our premium members.

I thought this was a cool thing to do and our members would love it - a few did, but the far majority couldn't care less. Last month, for example, only three of our members did a nutrition consultation.

So we spent $15,000 this year on something few people cared about. Which is stupid. Yet it's taken me a whole year to come to this realisation.

We and many other businesses have many of these costs hiding in plain sight.

Notes: As Toby said, it's easy to add stuff to your business and even easier to keep doing it for no reason other than, that's what you do without considering if it adds enough value.

ENTREPRENEURS CORNER

Chasing Ghosts - The Perfect Snapshot Illusion

How avoiding what you don’t want might help you get what you want.

Many of us are frustrated with the fallacy of getting what we want.

We don't know what it is, how to articulate it in meaningful detail, and even less so, how to get there.

Yet we believe that when we get there, all our problems will be solved.

Phil Stultz, a well-respected psychologist, calls this the illusion of the perfect snapshot.

Chasing the perfect snapshot can drive the best of us to insanity and send many who reach it into a spiral of self-pity. A la the many stories about people who've made it but feel deeply unfulfilled and depressed.

I chased the perfect snapshot for a long ass time. But after a decade of struggling with depression and a few nudges from a psychologist, I realised all I was doing was digging myself a deeper hole and needed to change tact.

So I switched to focusing on what I didn't want.

And cutting the people, work, vices and so on out of my life that negatively affected me has substantially positively impacted my life.

Notes: Whether it's love, health, business or whatever illusion you've decided to chase - keep in mind, it might be just that, an illusion, not a solution.