To stop procrastinating, ask yourself why you’re doing it
👋 Welcome back to the Medium Newsletter
Issue #160: beating procrastination, becoming more aware of your social fears, and a chart for figuring out whether you’re growing
By Harris Sockel
Here are three pieces of wisdom to take with you this week.
1. If you keep putting something off, Drew Morrison explains, don’t blame yourself — instead, figure out why.
- Do you fear failure?
- Is the task boring or uninteresting for you?
- Are you overwhelmed by it?
- Do you feel like you’re not prepared or qualified to do it?
- Are you distracted by something else you care about more?
Once you know why you’re procrastinating, you can solve the root problem instead of thinking you’re just lazy.
2. A core human behavior is something known as “evaluation apprehension.” It’s that thing you’ve felt when you’re on Zoom and someone’s audio is slightly weird. Everyone looks at each other like: Should we say something? Often, no one does… and the problem gets worse.
Humans are afraid of overreacting to ambiguity, so we freeze. This can be disastrous in some situations — i.e. creating a business strategy, or even figuring out when to get help if someone’s in danger. Catherine Sanderson, Author & Psychology Professor, explains how clocking your social fears (what are you nervous to do or say around others?) can help you overcome them.
3. I loved this essay from HR expert Jessica Zwaan on how to tie compensation to performance, a notoriously intimidating and vague enterprise. If you want to earn more money, take effective, independent, and consistent steps toward growing your skills. The outcome of your efforts will tell you (and your boss) whether you’re progressing, misfiring, stalling, or merely persisting:
🎭 Also today: the definition of comedy
I remember going to friends’ improv shows a decade ago (when we were all a little younger and had more time for extracurriculars), laughing at their jokes a little too hard and then debriefing the whole thing with them over drinks afterward. So I appreciated James Taylor Foreman’s essay about his time grinding it out at The Groundlings, LA’s 50-year-old comedy school whose alumni include Jennifer Coolidge and Kristen Wiig. “It’s an upside-down kingdom,” he writes. “Whoever is willing to artfully debase themselves the most courageously is paradoxically raised to the highest.” There’s wisdom in here about creativity generally: If you want to make great things, you can’t set out to glorify yourself — good art is generous.
Deepen your understanding every day with the Medium Newsletter. Sign up here.
Edited and produced by Scott Lamb & Carly Rose Gillis
Questions, feedback, or story suggestions? Email us: tips@medium.com
