Want not need

The best way to overcome procrastination is to understand that we do not have to do anything.

We want to do it.

Words have meanings.

Maybe the only practical value I managed to obtain at my law school is the sensitivity towards words.

In the legal industry, each word has its own specific tonality. And in a situation where a regular person would not see any difference, a lawyer will see a totally other meaning.

Let’s look at a simple example.

“I want to eat something”, so

“I need to order some food” or “I have to go to a grocery store.”

Except that I do not need to and I do not have to.

It is still “I want to order some food” and “I want to go to a grocery store”.

And I want to do all of these things simply because of the fact that I want to eat something.

Words have meanings. And those meanings mean something.

“I want to” vs “I need to”.

As a lawyer, I see “I want to order some food” and “I need to order some food” as two completely different situations with completely different meanings.

When I say “I want to” – it always comes from my free willpower. It is my personal decision whether or not to undertake any action. It is me to create energy and it is me to decide about how to use this energy.

When I say “I have/need to” – it seems like there is some condition, or liability, or obligation, which makes me behave this way. It shows that there is not so much of my choice – I am forced into some particular activity, which I might not want to do in the first place.

So “I have to order some food”, sounds like it is my duty to society. Or to my cat.

While “I want to order some food”, sounds like it is my free will.

Smart way to overcome procrastination.

Making the difference between “I want to” and “I have to” will exert a huge impact on our lives.

With “have/need to”, we put an illusionary burden on ourselves, which stresses us out from a creative activity.

We often procrastinate only because we keep saying:

“I have to” or “I need to”.

We do not like to feel obliged. Particularly obliged to ourselves.

Let’s change the wording and use “I want to” more often. It will be a sort of relief and even a motivation to undertake an action.

With “I want to” it is not an external power to suppress us with obligations, it is our personal desire to have something accomplished.

ByCycle – tool to overcome procrastination.

In ByCycle Working Tool we only create work which we actually want to do.

We add the work we want to do into the Weekly Plan.

And then we make it done.

Simply because we want to do it in the first place.

Try ByCycle and see how it works for you.

NB! Use browser version for registration. Mobile version is under development.