When we procrastinate, we’re simply making excuses to ourselves to justify why we’re not going to do what we need to do. CD Baby founder and human encyclopedia of useful life lessons Derek Sivers has a handy hack: just alter the language of your excuses by replacing “and” with “or”.
He provides a simple example, asking when the time is right to go for a run:
“When is the time right?”
“When it’s a nice day, and I’ve finished my work, and I haven’t just eaten, and I’m feeling energetic.”
“Repeat that last sentence, changing ‘and’ to ‘or’.”
“When it’s a nice day, OR I’ve finished my work, OR I haven’t just eaten, OR I’m feeling energetic.”
“That sounds like a better plan.”
It’s definitely easier to meet a single condition than a series of them. Try changing your ands to ors and see if your excuses are easier to overcome.
Procrastination Hack : change and to or [Derek Sivers]
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