- Robert Greene

This quote from the Mastery author was front of mind for me this week as I've found myself caught in that lethal loop of procrastination – researching one more thing, asking for one more opinion, waiting for one more piece of data before committing.

Sound familiar? I thought it might.

This got me thinking about procrastination more broadly, as it's one of the most common places I see leaders get stuck. 

But crucially I’m not talking about the ‘can’t decide what to watch on Netflix’ type of procrastination, I mean the high-functioning, ‘still getting things done but not that big thing lurking in the background’ kind, that affects so many leaders.

Let's get one thing straight. When it comes to procrastination at our level, it's rarely about poor time management or productivity. In reality it's almost always about discomfort.

The science backs this up. Research published last month in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology shows procrastination is fundamentally about avoiding negative emotions rather than tasks.

That’s certainly been true for me over the past week. Why? Now our pilot Program is coming to a close, the reality is that I now need to be out there hustling, promoting and selling what we do.

And the truth is that’s thrown up a conflicting batch of emotions - at one end of the spectrum there’s a sense of anticipation, because my purpose is now coupled with the evidence of positive results and proof of concept.

But balanced against that is the concern that I won’t even get given the time to explain why we’re different, the worry that my ‘one shot’ email attempt doesn’t land in the way I hope it will, the anxiety that I won’t be able to even get to the right decision-makers in the first place. And of course underlying all of it is a deep-seated fear of rejection. 

That discomfort also relates to expertise and experience - standing in a boardroom pitching a multi-million dollar creative concept for VICE Media? No problem. That was me on my A-game. Trying to work out how to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator for the first time and messaging people I’ve never met before? Deeply uncomfortable. 

And let’s not pretend that ego isn’t playing its part in all of this as well - when you’re invited to pitch because the CMO of a global brand is interested in working with you, that’s a radically different situation to trying to get the attention of a busy decision-maker who doesn’t know you and hasn’t asked to hear from you. Humbling.  

The result is that my brain keeps on trying to steer me away from that discomfort and serving up excuses for delaying that plunge into unknown waters. 

What's fascinating is what happens physiologically when we procrastinate.

In simple terms, our brains engage in a tug-of-war between the limbic system (emotional) and the prefrontal cortex (rational/planning). The limbic system wants to avoid discomfort now, while the prefrontal cortex understands the long-term benefit.

In reality, the limbic system often wins this battle because it's more powerful and reacts faster than our rational mind.

Neuroscientist Nicole Vignola explains this well, noting that we're wired to value immediate rewards over future ones, even when those future rewards are objectively more valuable.

In my case, that’s meant I’ve been kicking the can down the road when it comes to outreach under the guise of perfectionism - tweaking the website, trying to secure another piece of PR…. you get the drift.   

So what am I trying to do about it (and practice what I preach!):

1. Naming the emotion

When I catch myself putting something important off, I try to name the specific emotion I'm avoiding. Currently it’s fear of rejection and the bruised ego that comes with not even getting a response or acknowledgement.

Just recognizing the actual emotion takes away some of its power and helps me see what's really happening.

2. Reframing the task

I read something a few days ago that has genuinely helped me move forward. It’s by writer and entrepreneur George Mack, who said:

“Remove ‘problem’ from your vocabulary and replace it with ‘puzzle’. It sounds absurd, but ‘problem’ activates my amygdala and ‘puzzle’ activates my prefrontal cortex. Try it. Self-induced placebo that works.”

He’s hit on a human truth, which is how you frame the task dramatically affects how your brain perceives it.

3. Lowering the bar

I've found that when my mind drifts to cold outreach at scale, it feels overwhelming, so I’m committing to doing 5 personalised messages per day to break that spell. This ties in with the concept of progressive overload - working out what that meaningful first step is that feels achievable.

4. Reminding myself growth comes from discomfort

I know the science here so I’ve got no excuses! Doing new things will forge those new neural pathways, so those signs of discomfort as I act are actually proof points that positive change is happening. They aren’t distress signals that mean I should cease and desist. 

An important thing for all of us to remember: the discomfort of procrastination is invariably greater than the discomfort of doing the thing itself.

I know I’m never going to get the certainty Greene references, so I’ve just got to get started, knowing that my actions will become progressively better over time.

The metaphor that springs to mind is swimming - I could stay on the side of the pool practising my breast stroke and reading all the right textbooks. The reality is that I just have to take the plunge, accepting that those first few strokes are going to look ugly and feel uncomfortable.  

My ego will survive the splashing around.

Yours will too.

1. It’s a ‘double bill’ of Robert Greene this week as this 4-minute video from him on how to avoid the pitfalls of your ego was exactly what I needed to watch and reflect on - after reading the above I’m sure you can understand why. I hope you get something from it as well. 

2. Also in keeping with this week’s theme, you shouldn’t leave important things for ‘later’, states leadership expert and author Robert Glazer in this 4-minute read. He also shares a really practical 2-step framework for how you should handle such tasks.

3. One of the biggest issues I encounter is leaders locked to their phones, despite knowing this hampers their presence, attention span and focus. I’m guilty of this myself, which is why I love this digital survival guide - 5 key points that, as author Steve Magness says, will ensure: “You own your phone instead of your phone owning you. It’s pushing back just enough so that you can think deeply and focus intently again.”

4. On a directly related note, here are 5 ways to improve your brain health in 5 slides. All evidence-based, simple and immediately implementable. 

5. And to wrap things up here’s a 60-second clip from my appearance on The Humanware Project, talking about why you should treat your emotions as data points (full 31-minute podcast here if you want to go deeper).