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"Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy."
--Dale Carnegie
Procrastination--also known as, "Oh look there's that new series on Netflix," mindlessly scrolling on Facebook, and browsing page after page of Reddit--is the source of many failed goals and shattered dreams.
How do I know this?
I used to be a big-time procrastinator.
I could procrastinate with the best of them and often used to think to myself (while procrastinating of course) that if there was an award for champion procrastinator that I'd be right up there with a great chance of getting gold.
In fact, I was so adept at procrastinating that I often didn't realize I was doing it. Instead, I would convince myself that I was doing something productive and meaningful when in reality I was doing everything except what I should have been doing.
I'd make another cup of coffee, get sucked into YouTube or get lost in Google (for research of course).
Tasks that should have taken me five minutes to complete took me 50 or more.
Before I knew it, another day, week or month had passed, and I would wonder why I hadn't reached my goals yet. I think deep down I always knew why, but it was infinitely easier to pretend I didn't than it was to fix the issue.
The truth is I was scared. I was scared of failing, of letting myself and other people down, and even scared of succeeding. I know I'm not the only one.
What is procrastination? The fine line between success and failure.
"All procrastination is delay, but not all delay is procrastination." --Timothy Pychyl
Procrastination is usually considered the habit of delaying or postponing something.
However, procrastination is more than just postponing something, it's actually better described as putting off something that needs to be done.
In fact, an article written in Psychology Today by Piers Steel Ph.D., an internationally recognized researcher and speaker on the science of motivation and procrastination, discusses how if procrastination merely meant putting something off we would "be comfortable placing it along[side] similar concepts [like] scheduling or prioritizing."
It's clear this...