Procrastination Is Sexy

70 people had breakthroughs this week. Will the next one be you?

Two things for you to think about

Beware: learning more is a smart person’s favorite form of procrastination.

We often avoid facing what’s important by excelling at what’s unimportant.

Three things for you to ask yourself

In what ways do you procrastinate daily? What are you procrastinating from? Why?

One thing for you to try this week

That one thing you’re procrastinating from? Go do it this week and let me know what happens.

Procrastination, Solved

In this second episode of Solved, Drew and I go deep into the psychology, history, and science of procrastination. From Plato and Aristotle to Freud and modern research, we break down why we delay the things that matter most—and how to actually stop.

This isn’t a “just set a timer” productivity talk. We’re diving deep into shame, identity, perfectionism, culture, and why procrastination is ultimately a skill issue, not a moral failure. We cover things like:

• How humans have thought about putting things off for over 2,000 years
• The real reason you avoid the most important tasks in your life
• Why “I work better under pressure” is (usually) BS
• Why self-compassion is actually more motivating than guilt
• Tons of practical, research-backed strategies you can start using today

And much, much, much more.

Listen to: How to Stop Procrastinating, Solved

Last week’s breakthroughs

In last week’s newsletter, I asked you to do one hard, but necessary, thing. The replies I received were humbling, and incredibly inspiring.

Sue has been doing a hard thing every day for years:

Firstly I want to thank you for all that you put out into the world. Some days it’s been the very thing that has helped me get through. The past few years have probably been the hardest of my life in terms of incredible struggles and overcoming them.

COVID, multiple job losses, a stroke, breast cancer, bankruptcy and now a partner who has been in hospital the past seven months after a major injury.

This means that shifting gears has become the norm.

Each event triggered something new and while at times it became very much a case of ‘what’s next’ it has meant that I had the opportunity to climb another hill, do the work and step into the best version of me. So often I find myself saying ‘what would the best version of me do.’ I choose not to struggle through it all, calling on friends if I need their help. Something I would *never* do for the majority of my life.

You can say the struggle is real but our heads so very often step in at those vulnerable moments and try to convince us that struggling is the only way. It’s not. During this chaotic time I’ve had moments of clarity and space to let go of previous beliefs.

The road is rocky, throwing up obstacles along the way. But each time I’ve overcome them, put in the work and come out the other side knowing more about myself and my place on this spinning rock.

Life is good and is filled with so many amazing moments. Gratitude is everything and embracing the struggles to look inside and see what lessons hide within has been one of the most valuable things I continue to do.

Be well and again, thank you.

Lilley has been fighting her entire life:

To answer your question, my struggle is fighting for inclusion and accessibility as a disabled woman, and no, I didn’t choose it. I do choose it now though.

While I didn’t choose to be born blind, I’ve never had trouble accepting the impairment itself. I have had trouble accepting exclusion and discrimination. I have also given a lot of thought to how exhausting advocacy can be, and how it sucks that we as disabled people are often in a position in which we have no other choice than to embody the activist/advocate role.

While I don’t believe the onus for inclusion should be on us, and while advocacy isn’t (and shouldn’t have to be) for everyone, I must personally admit to finding value in the struggle. It allows me to use the agency that I do have to effect change for myself and the disabled community. I don’t really have a choice between struggle or no struggle, but I can choose whether to be passive and struggle anyway, or to be active and struggle in a way that will hopefully have a purpose.

Although I would prefer to live in a world in which I wouldn’t have to be engaged in a constant fight for basic human rights and respect, because the world is the way it is now, I voluntarily embrace the role of activist and advocate. Yes, it’s exhausting, but it also energizes me.

I do not embrace discrimination or exclusion, but I do embrace the person that the struggle has made of me: one who is courageous, outspoken, resilient, a problem-solver, and deeply empathetic towards others who face similar (or even vastly different) struggles.

Finally, struggle looks different for everyone:

My ‘hard but necessary thing’ might sound so weak to others, but here goes:

I’m about to start a training course that I am hoping will reinforce a lot of what I professionally already know. I’ll probably learn a few new things, and will prove on my CV that I know this stuff. Even though I have been doing most of it all my career, I think I am being automatically screened out of job applications because I don’t have the certification.

So, why is this hard? Well, it’s been a long slog, and honestly, my reserve tank emptied a while back and I’m functioning on the fumes right now.

At the tail end of last year my divorce completed, which truly hurt financially with solicitors’ fees that some months meant I was left with barely nothing in my account, and one month having to borrow from my parents just to pay the fee, household bills and buy food. During this time I was having to quietly mute my own feelings and not react when my ex clearly was trying to start an argument, just to keep the peace as we were still living together.

Financially and emotionally it took its toll. Then a few months later as I started to feel like I was getting my finances back on track and my head was properly processing things, the team I worked for was cut and we were made redundant.

It’s fair to say it’s been a rough ride, and now at a time when I just want to crawl into the back of a dark cave and power down, I have to find the energy to job hunt, sharpen and keep relevant my skills, and put a face on to the world like I’ve got this, because nothing is more off-putting to a potential employer than someone whose energy is ‘off.’

I know that doing this certification is going to be for the greater good, and I know it will actually give me some confidence too. But it is just so hard to get started. So I’m going to send this message, open up the training, and get going with it.

As always, send your breakthroughs by simply replying to this email. Let me know if you’d prefer to remain anonymous.

Until next week,

Mark Manson

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author
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