Procrastinators are actually Workaholics

if you're struggling with procrastination I'm going to call you something I'm going to trigger you maybe here with this I'm kidding I won't trigger you but I'm going to call you something that you may not expect and what I'm going to call you is you the procrastinator you are a workaholic you're a workaholic now you may not be doing any work but you are a workaholic that is the problem you face it is it is the flip side of procrastination it's the other side of the same coin and this is the approach to personal productivity that will liberate you and set you free if you can understand what it is I'm talking about what the hell I'm talking about calling you a workaholic when you're a procrastinator right the way this works is procrastination is a boundary problem it's a personal boundary problem boundaries with my own behavior and also workaholism is identically so a boundary problem a personal boundary problem so the way I describe this to people is what do I mean by boundaries with procrastination or work cism well I want you to think of your work life your work life the amount of work you're going to do in a given day we'll say right like could be in your job in your your site projects your creative work anything this area that you have a goal in right so this is the amount of work that you're going to do in that given day beginning to end right this is the the amount of time you're going to spend on it right now the procrastinator lives out here this is where the procrastinator lives outside the work boundary and the procrastinator wants to start but can't get in so it's comes to well I'm going to start soon yeah but I don't really feel ready you know I'm well okay I'm going to start yeah but this thing is coming up here I should start soon but yeah and see what happens is this boundary of work keeps shifting all the time we're kind of chasing it trying to get in okay so that's the procrastinator now the workaholic is very similar the this is our work day here now instead of being outside it like the procrastinator the workaholic is right in the middle of this okay now they're busy they're working a lot coming to the end of the day but you know I'm making progress so I should just stay a little bit longer here with this and yeah okay yeah but my boss said that needs to be done by tomorrow okay so see what happens is the boundary is moving and there is no conscious Choice really about that the boundary which if it was even made in the first place is is not respected okay so I I do notice that I have way more people with the issue of procrastination than workaholism but that's not to say that they're caused by different things it's the same issue it's a lack of establishment and enforcement of personal boundaries so whichever one you identify with most most people who watch my content have the procrastination side of it but the answer is the same it's the same as with the workaholic the workaholic needs to start respecting that end boundary around their work the procrastinator needs to respect the initial boundary with the work okay so what does that look like does it look like when you don't show up to begin and you push it forward that you sit around and be yourself off about it no that's not what it looks like and this is an advanced technique and it's in my my book it's the um the fifth tool in the book but basically what it means is well first of all there so should we need to establish what the boundary can it should be to begin with right now before you do that around work actually how that boundary gets constructed is you first of all you establish well where is the guilt-free non-negotiable play in my day the fun in my day the relaxation in my day and you you write that up you schedule that all in what you're going to be left with is like a boundary of okay this is the opportunity and where I can work and you can then said okay well I'm going to start here now what happens if the procrastinator comes along and thinks well okay this is the time but yeah I'm not going to show up for that I'm not going to I'm not there I'm not I'm not at that point what they don't get to do and this is the this is the key the issue isn't about be there on time and me lecturing you for not being there on time okay we've all had plenty of that already all I'm saying is for for procrastination what we do the compassionate approach for ourselves is to say okay well look there is the block of time it's not moving I'm not allowing myself to shift that boundary there it is and the work can either be done in that time or it won't be okay now that's actually that's an AER tool in this the the the thing about getting to the start time you can add to it if you want to if I'm not there at the beginning of that time I don't do it at all today I've made a few other videos on that right that's about how you overcome in overcome inertia with procrastination but let me just simplify it for this video here you set up the boundary as the procrastinator the work can only be done in this period of time surrounded by guilf free play it is you are not allowed to well I didn't show up for it there and later on I'll do it when you don't do that part moving the boundary your procrastination issue will go away it's the enforcement of the boundary that you set up for yourself establishing is quite straightforward because it you you derive it from scheduling guilt-free non-negotiable play but once it's established how you it's not about being there on time or doing the work the answer this is counterintuitive is not shifting the boundary even if I don't do the work I do not get to do this it's having the insight into the nature of the problem allows us to implement that solution so I hope that's a useful concept guys I'm just going to leave it there food for thought maybe for people who are new to this idea but thanks for being with me as always and I'll see you guys in the next video bye for [Music] now