Why You Should Never Procrastinate

Chris Albert 00:00:00 (link to this point)

This is Chris Albert, and I'm here to remind you of one thing. Someday, you're going to die. Now that's not some morbid statement or scary idea. It's solid fact. Your time here on this earth is limited.

And you need to be reminded of this as much as possible for one simple reason, to live your best life while you can. This is the Warrior Soul Podcast.

So one of the worst things that we do to ourselves as human beings is put off important tasks. You know, whenever you have something that that's coming up that you're dreading, that you really don't want to do, You know that feeling. It's that feeling of, oh god, I got this thing. I have to do this. Oh, it's gonna be so bad.

I wish I didn't have to do this. And you keep telling yourself that over and over again in your brain. And normally, when you have something like that, once you get started on it, it's not so bad. But the lead up to doing it is horrible. It's awful.

Right? You get anxiety. You get that little sickness that you get in your stomach. And then when you're trying to go to sleep at night, that's the thing that's gonna keep you up because you're thinking about it. Maybe it's a task.

Maybe it's a workout. Maybe it's a conversation that you really don't want to have with somebody. But whatever it is, you don't want to do it. And so part of your instinct is is to run away from it a little bit or put it off as long as you can and just not do it. So you tell yourself, do it next month, next year, next week, tomorrow.

But when you do that, that doesn't make it go away. It's still there. And it's nagging at you. And you know, when you think about how the human brain works, you're really shooting yourself in the foot by putting it off. That's because everything that we keep in our brains, well, that burns up glucose.

Glucose is is the thing that that fuels us. It fuels our thought processes. It fuels our bodies. Right? And when you are trying to to keep something there in your brain, and you're not getting it out and you're not moving forward with it, it's gotta stay there.

So it's gonna burn up energy. The longer you put it off, the more energy it's gonna burn off. And so what's that going to do? Well, it's going to take your energy away from other important things that you have to do. It's also going to put you in a really bad mood, and you're going be a little bit more short with people.

You're going to have a little bit little bit less time for people. And that's when you're gonna start to make excuses like, well, I don't have time to worry about this, or I don't have time to worry about that. And that's because you're putting all of your attention on that thing that you're trying not to put your attention on because you were putting it off.

So what should you do?

Well, one of the things that I have made a point of doing because I've been a classic procrastinator throughout my life, is that whenever I have something that I really don't want to do, I make that the first thing that I work on in any given day. I always schedule my hardest tasks to be first. And the reason for that is because if I don't, then I'm, like I said, going to be thinking about it for the rest of the day. It's going to put me in a really, really bad mood. And I'm not gonna not gonna put my entire focus on my clients.

I'm not gonna put my focus on, you know, the the other tasks that I have on hand. And so, yeah, I'll schedule that thing to be the first thing that I'm gonna do. The other thing I really try to do is that when I'm trying to do something I I I don't want, I'll try to make it as pleasurable as possible. So I'll set, like, little rituals around it. You know, I hate writing.

So when I'm writing, I'll turn on country music. Right? A little bit a little bit of Waylon Jennings, a little bit of David Allen Coe, and that'll put me in a really good mood. Right? And and a lot of times, some of my best some of my best writing sessions and most productive sessions have been while listening to music.

Right? I'll also, you know, maybe make a really good cup of coffee before I'm gonna sit down. I'll have that awesome cup of coffee, that awesome aroma wafting through the air while I'm trying to work on the unpleasant task that I'm working on. So those little things can really psychologically put you into a place to where you're going to start liking that task. And there's a little bit of a part of me now that actually started enjoying writing.

Here's the other thing about it. There's a book I'd really like you all to check out. It's called The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. It's one of the most important books I've ever read. Steven Pressfield, he was a United States Marine.

And then after he got out of the Marine Corps, he decided he wanted to go and he wanted to be a writer. So, he moved to New York City. And he got a bunch of odd jobs. I mean, he was doing like dishwashing, being a busboy, doing all these different things. And he lived in a little crappy apartment, and sometimes he lived out of his car when he didn't have enough money.

And he worked on his writing. And guess what? That happened all the way up till he was about 50 years old. He was grinding away trying to get these things done, but he didn't have his first bestseller until he was about 50. So he lived this, like, really lonely life up until that point.

And and what the book, The War of Art, is about is, about what he calls resistance, How resistance kicked his ass all those years, and he had always thought that it was like this unseen force, but the reality is it was coming from him. So that book is about defeating your own resistance. And like I said, it's one of the best books that I've ever read. You've got to realize what putting things off is gonna do to you. You got to realize that if you continue to put things off, and you don't just jump on those tasks that are that are, you know, taking that space up in your brain, then they're going to have an effect on you and the rest of your life. And, again, check out that Pressfield book. He's done a bunch of other books. He usually writes about war.

He had I forgot the name of the book, but it was a very famous book that that pretty much everybody in the Marine Corps and and a lot of guys, it's on the reading list, the commandant's reading list, and it's it's always passed around at West Point, but it's a book about the 300 Spartans. And I forgot about I forgot what the title is, but fantastic book. But definitely check out The War of Art in addition to that. And and get those important things done. Do the hardest thing first.

Alright? That's what I got for this week, guys. For those of you who are new to the podcast, this is the Warrior Soul podcast. My name is Chris Albert. The reason why I do this podcast is to help US Military Veterans to live their best lives.

And we try to take a different route here. We're not trying to play up the veteran stereotype or anything like that. What we're trying to do is introduce new ideas that are going to allow you to take charge of this life, and to take charge of your existence, and to push yourself forward. And if you're not a Veteran, you can stick around, because everything covered here will obviously be able to translate to anybody's life. But it's really focused on getting you guys out there to to to take charge, realize that you're still young, and go after those goals.

We don't ask for anything in return, but all we do ask is that if you can, write us a review up on iTunes. It really helps to spread news about the show. And if you pay us the highest compliment by sharing these episodes out with people who can use them, that would be amazing as well. The show is sponsored by the amazing people over at F Bomb Nutrition. They make these delicious packets of macadamia nut butters, and they've been sending boxes of this stuff overseas to the troops on the front lines so they could supplement their MREs.

Great stuff, and they're great people. If you want 20% off of your first order of F Bombs, head over to www.dropanfbomb.com and use the code Warrior Soul at checkout. That's what I got for this week. Ladies and gents, thank you so much for listening, and we'll be back at you next week with some more awesome content. It's Chris Albert out.