You’re a procrasturbator.
I know that’s an immature label, but I’ll come back to it later.
How many emails have you opened, told yourself you would reply to later, and then ACTUALLY REPLIED LATER?
Exactly.
The same goes for text messages, calling to reschedule that check-up with your doctor and pretty much every other seemingly non-urgent to-do.
But to-dos stay to-dos until we do them.
What makes you do them? Urgency.
What makes something urgent? Immediate consequences.
Since you won’t gain 10 lbs from eating one pizza or lose 10 lbs from doing one workout, fitness rarely sits at the “urgent to-dos” table.
It’s the same problem as saving and investing. It won’t make you rich right now. It pays off in dividends over time, and it snowballs until the return is overwhelming and felt.
The problem with investing and fitness is this: “It’s important for the future, but not urgent now.” or to be more bleak, “It’s not a problem until it’s a problem.”
Some people make investing and fitness a priority. They or people they know have put in the work and are now seeing the returns. That’s why we talk so much about both.
So how do you make something that’s important into something urgent?
You make your identity the consequence AND the reward.
If you put off walking more or eating like you matter, you are someone who currently puts shit off. That’s you.
Stay with me.
If you know you need to be more active and you go for a 10-minute walk that you were going to skip, you’re going somewhere. Even if you still plan on eating Cheetos or playing World of Warcraft later. (No one’s perfect).
The reward is the identity you gain at the moment, today, this week. The consequence of not acting is the identity of the procasturbator.
If you asked, “who am I?” Every hour today, how would you answer?
Think of the person you don’t want to be. What’s something that made them that way that you also do? Change it for one day. How would that change your trajectory?
The beautiful part about this is the power is in your hands. You pull the lever.
