Internet experts say that when you want to publish content online or on social media, it´s important to schedule your publications with a certain cadence so that there´s a predictable rythm. Saint Google seems to love that consistency.

When I found this out a few months ago (thanks María!), I applied it to this blog with the most straightforward and achievable cadence I could think of: writing a post per week. Initially, I didn´t have any particular day of the week in mind. Still, by the time I realized, a pattern had emerged: I ended up publishing on Sundays, usually late at night (or in the early hours of Monday, which is technically the following week…)

In view of this, one could say that I have a tendency to leave things until the last minute. And in some cases, it´s true. I could choose to focus on that and beat myself up for spending my time procrastinating (which is a word that I don´t like at all, by the way).

But also, if you look at it this way, it turns out that week after week I´m achieving my goal of publishing a blog post, because even if it´s at the last minute, regardless of whether I feel like it or not, when the time comes I always start writing, with no excuses, because I want to honour my weekly commitment to myself and to my readers.

So most probably, had this auto-imposed deadline not existed, about half of the articles that you can read and enjoy here would not have been written… But here they are, thanks to my finding a productive way to negotiate with my procrastination habit 🙂

By the way, have you ever wondered why we procrastinate? A theory that I´ve heard several times states that leaving things until the last moment is very convenient for our unconscious mind, because that way we avoid responsibility regarding the outcome: if it turns out badly, then we have the excuse of not having had time to do it properly. And if it turns out right? Then great, we take the credit for having achieved it in record time. Either way, our ego avoids suffering.

In contrast, when we complete the task ahead of time, it´s a lot clearer that we´re the ones responsible for the outcome, and that triggers a lot of fear and insecurity within us: what if it turns out wrong? What if they don´t like it? What if they reject me?

Maybe the key to this is to leave all excuses aside once and for all, accept that the result is and will always be our responsibility, and choose the best way to manage our daily life according to what we want to achieve in life.

Because, what would happen if you really dedicated time and effort to that thing you say is important but always gets left behind?