Readit NewsAnd six years later the same client said “I don’t care anymore, say whatever you like, and I will explain how you may be projecting your personal fears on me.”
But as a taxpayer, I’d be very open to those salaries IF government IT was overhauled and run like a competent and agile tech startup, unencumbered by politics and red tape - at least to bootstrap some initital momentum.
Longer term, we need something like a “Tech Corps”, akin to a branch of the military, where new recruits are trained in tech bootcamps, and then deployed to one of the thousands of government departments that require resources for their projects/processes. Ideally, these roles should be viewed as an honorable monastic vocation, not a bureaucratic or political career.
1. Clarity: Knowing steps/milestones/end goal helps scope/know what needs to be done for something to be 'finished'. We tend to think about this when delegating, but the same applies to personal work. If I know details about what I need to do it's more likely that I don't get stuck and look for something else to do/distract myself.
2. Conviction: related to point 1. Most of the time if I'm somewhat excited about what I'm doing, procrastination is a non-issue. When I'm not, I try to write a bit to figure out what's keeping me from going full force. I start with the prompt "What don't I believe about what I'm doing?" and end up thinking bigger picture and finding details I'm not entirely sure about. This gives me stuff to clarify, look for data, etc.
3. Beating myself up: unlike points 1 & 2, this is harder to fix as it's not mechanical in the sense that I can open a new doc and start writing. In my case, a lot of the aversion from tough tasks comes from feeling bad with myself when I could not complete something or failed at it. To solve this, I have worked with my therapist, metta meditation and practicing positive self-talk (or catching myself when I think or say things like 'oh how dumb, it was just...')
4. Self-confidence: this is iffier. Part of not beating myself up involves appreciating myself. Basically, thinking positively about myself like I do of people who I admire or friends I like. Compared to people who love me or respect me, I was very harsh on myself and did not treat myself with the respect others would.
5. Intuition: once the self-confidence thing kicks in, I feel free to do stuff without even thinking about it. This allows me to get into flow. For example, I have started using document templates without giving it much thought (because if I already do it it must be good enough, I guess?). This has helped me speed up how I write and give structure to things. I didn't use to do this but now it's second nature as I'm not questioning anything about what I do. I know this sounds bad in the big scheme of things but when dealing with tasks/small stuff, letting whatever comes out flow speeds up work and makes it more fun vs second-guessing myself. Meditation helps here, as I disengage from ruminating or thinking about random stuff or objections that may not be relevant to what I'm doing.
Anyway, a lot of this stuff is related to the OP in that they reduce anxiety. This issue is close to my heart as I have been battling with it for years now and am now in a spot that makes me proud.
And here’s a good video by Andrew Huberman on dopamine regulation and optimization - he’s big on lifestyle changes before medicating (as am I). But it’s really hard unless you’re committed to doing the work on yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-TW2Chpz4k
The type of anxiety you mention stems from accumulated unprocessed negative emotions or traumas. These intense feelings — such as shame, guilt, dread, remorse, rage, helplessness, neediness, and hopelessness — often paralyze or disorient procrastinators, particularly when they are compelled to confront the present moment. These emotions typically reflect deep-seated issues with self-esteem and self-confidence, and an inability to face negative feelings squarely.
In my view, procrastination is essentially a high time-preference tradeoff, where escapism is favored over confronting immediate challenges and responsibilities. Common forms of escapism include excessive consumption of media, overworking, video gaming, substance abuse, emotional eating, casual sexual encounters, and excessive socializing. These activities provide temporary relief from stress but ultimately lose their effectiveness, causing the anxiety to resurface more intensely when the procrastinator becomes increasingly aware of their predicament.
This recurring cycle of avoidance and stress often leads procrastinators to act out—either by seeking constant validation through drama, shifting contexts frequently to keep their minds engaged with novelty, or by focusing on others instead of introspecting.
Despite knowing various organizational techniques and tools, lifelong procrastinators often struggle internally with facing reality, continuously deferring it to some future date. They appear constantly busy yet achieve little, mainly because they aim to divert attention from the mounting issues that they have sidelined
You have not earned the right to direct the attention of others.
You have violated the sacred trust placed in you by your employer by exploiting your access to a public-facing employer event.
If you cannot control your thymotic impulses where you earn your food and shelter, then you cannot be trusted again.
You must accept the consequences of your moral convictions.
This is dharmic justice.