The root cause of procrastination is experiential avoidance, where people avoid short-term discomfort, which leads to long-term harm. This avoidance stems from fear of judgment, anxiety, or other negative emotions associated with the task.
Leila shares her experience of avoiding creating content for three years due to fear of judgment from strangers, employees, and family. She eventually overcame this by recording her first three YouTube videos, despite initial setbacks like recording them incorrectly.
The three heads are anxiety, rebellion, and boredom. Anxiety arises from fear of discomfort, rebellion stems from aversion to authority or external ideas, and boredom occurs when tasks lack immediate reward or excitement.
Leila recommends asking three key questions: 1) Will doing this today make my life better tomorrow? 2) What skill will I gain by doing this? 3) Will avoiding this make my life expand or contract? Action alleviates anxiety, and confronting fears reduces long-term discomfort.
Productive failure involves taking risks and embracing failure as a learning opportunity. Instead of avoiding discomfort, individuals should consistently try, fail, learn, and improve. This approach contrasts with productive procrastination, where people stay busy with low-ROI tasks to avoid failure.
Embracing discomfort leads to short-term pain but results in long-term success. It builds self-respect, confidence, and trust in oneself. Over time, the ability to handle discomfort compounds, making future challenges easier to tackle.
Leila advises aligning actions with long-term goals rather than immediate feelings. She suggests asking whether a task will benefit you in both the short and long term. Discipline and delayed gratification, though boring, are essential for achieving excellence and long-term success.
Failure is a normal part of growth and learning. It is not tied to identity or self-worth. By reframing failure as an opportunity to gain skills and improve, individuals can move from productive procrastination to productive failure, ultimately achieving greater success.
Leila suggests identifying the specific task you're avoiding, pinpointing the feeling you're scared of, and writing down what you would do if you weren't afraid. Then, take action as soon as possible, mimicking the behavior of someone who doesn't have the fear.
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