Shutting the procrastinator in me
For the past 12 months, I’ve been working 15 hours a day, most weeks I work 7 days a week as well. Not here to boast, just stating how my life is right now? Am I enjoying it? Apart from the first 5 mins after waking up, I’M LOVING IT! For the first 5 minutes, I think of how I can get rid of all the work, but once out of bed, I don’t want to go back, looks like all the hard work fighting against the procrastinator in me have paid off. I reduced AQ Procrastinator from 24 hours a day to 5 minutes at the start of the day and maybe a little here and there, apart from that I’ve managed to change my life drastically.
Let me tell you a story about myself, a story about how lazy I was, we need to go back to the year 2016. I used to procrastinate on everything, even little things. Getting things done for me was really hard, I used to plan a lot but never actually do anything on those plans. I have no hesitation in accepting that I was a talker, in fact, I was only a talker. All talk no action. Not that I wasn’t successful, I was moderately successful for my cohort. Still, I could feel it in my bones that I can be much more, I knew I could be in a much better place in all aspects if I could just beat the procrastinator consistently. At that time, I worked as a Digital Marketing and Marketing Technologist for around 13 years. I was working with a leading Digital Agency in Dubai as Head of Operations and Strategy. My work style was like a burst, I would be overwhelmed by the internal procrastinator for months on end and would have a phase of immense guilt which forced me into action. I would crush it for a couple of days before falling back into the same loop. The burst was what kept me employed and moving forward, but that wasn’t a lifestyle I was happy with, I was irritated and lazy.
In 2016 when I moved back to Karachi, Pakistan, I joined Rocket Internet as it’s Global CMO (Asia) for one of its travel ventures Jovago. Battling with procrastination, whatever success I had was due to my immensely talented team, which overshadowed my weaknesses. After my position at Rocket Internet, I joined Cloudways as a VP of Growth by the end of 2017. Again I had an excellent team. With my bursts of creativity and motivation, I managed to get by with the role and delivered excellent results. As time was moving forward, my battle with procrastination and imposter syndrome started affecting my life. My daily routine was really messed up, I had constant feelings of being a failure and a fake. Had so many ideas, so many business plans but 0 results to show for it.
I don’t remember what happened in May 2019. I started feeling a strong urge to start taking control of my life. I knew it was time to take some action. In front of me, I had my record of 100s of failed attempts at beating the procrastinator in me. I knew to be successful this time, I had to do something drastically different as trying to do the same thing would result in the same outcome, another failed attempt. I read many books, watched many talks and motivational videos, and then did many of the suggested things. I tried changing my ‘mindset.’ I tried waking up early. I tried journaling. I tried being positive. I tried making lists. I tried making actionable plans. I tried setting goals. I tried so many tactics, some worked better than others, but none of these were sticky. They didn’t stick for more than a few days.
This time I decided to rip the bandage, instead of trying to remove it slowly. Instead of trying tactics to change my mindset or focus on making lists, I decided to go on a full out war. My idea is simple. The moment I hear the procrastinator in me say let’s do it later, or says anything to move the task at hand or any important item to a later date. I’ll say to myself ‘Fuck you, I’m doing it now!’ and I’ll do it at that very moment, whatever it might be. Saying this to myself has literally changed my life. It might sound how that’s possible? How saying something can change your life? But I’ve experienced it first hand. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t beautiful, it wasn’t quick but it was all worth it.
Not a very scientific approach and not one that I’m recommending anyone else to do, but it worked for me. Since June, 2019 whenever the procrastinator in me says anything on the lines of moving tasks, delaying work or something like that, I’ve immediately put all my energy and focus towards that particular task. How has my life changed since then?
I quit my job at Cloudways in July.
Joined 51Blocks as Head of Product and Marketing
Working at 51Blocks, developed an amazing working relationship with my CEO Michael and we both decided to build BionicWP
Working 13-15 hour days is pretty common now and something I enjoy
Hired over 20 developers
About to Beta launch an awesome Truly Managed WordPress Hosting Platform
Read around 100 books
A task list that shrinks not just grows
Much more satisfaction and internal peace
Being more present and spending quality time with my family
This doesn’t mean I’ve not had difficult days, or times when I was overwhelmed. The key to my process was making sure the moment I saw any signs of the procrastinator I should take action. In the last 12 months this habit has become so ingrained that it now happens automatically (yes the procrastinator still tries after 12 months in prison).
I’ll be talking in another post on how I survive working 15 hours a day for 7 days a week. I’ll also explain how the procrastinator became clever as I moved forward and how I’ve managed to remain consistent for the last 12 months. As I have learnt the hard way, consistency is the KEY.