The Truth About "I'll Do It Tomorrow"

You know the drill. You've been meaning to work on your passion project for weeks, maybe even months, but somehow you just can't seem to get started. Every day, you tell yourself that you'll sit down and get to work "tomorrow," but tomorrow never comes. Why is that?

The answer is simple: because saying "I'll do it tomorrow" is a form of procrastination. When we say we'll do something tomorrow, we're really just putting off doing it today. And when we put it off until tomorrow, we're more likely to put it off until the next day, and the next day after that. Pretty soon, weeks or even months have gone by, and we still haven't gotten started on our project.

There's a psychological reason for this phenomenon. When we say we'll do something tomorrow, we trick our brain into thinking that we're not actually delaying anything. After all, tomorrow is another day, right? But in reality, by saying "I'll do it tomorrow," we're putting off doing something today, which has real consequences.

Fortunately, there are a few simple strategies that can help us overcome our propensity for procrastination and get ourselves moving in the right direction. One effective technique is to break down a goal into smaller, more manageable pieces. For example, instead of telling yourself that you're going to start moving your project forward five days a week for an hour, commit to doing a 20-minute session three times a week instead.  Not only is this goal more realistic and achievable, but you're also more likely to stick with it because you won't feel like you're making such a big sacrifice.

Another helpful strategy is to establish specific deadlines for completing tasks and then holding yourself accountable by telling someone else about your plans. For example, if you are trying to make progress on your project, tell your partner, friend or roommate that you are going to work on it every night after dinner for an hour. This way, you'll be less likely to make excuses and put it off because someone else will be expecting you to follow through on your commitment.

Finally, try to avoid the word tomorrow and replace it with the next weekday. This reframe your thinking about when this must be done. The next day, Tomorrow is still valid but the weekday mean you are on the weekday and you have to do it today.

By understanding why, we procrastinate and implementing some simple techniques to combat it, we can gradually train ourselves out of this self-defeating behavior and start living up to our full potential.

So if you find yourself constantly saying "I'll do it tomorrow," it's time to stop procrastinating and get to progress today. Trust me, you won't regret it!