I tend to procrastinate if I let myself, so I’ve tried my share of techniques to keep it in check. At some point, I read that a fear of failure can cause procrastination, and this really resonated with me. Realizing this has helped me understand where my urge to put things off is coming from.

If I have a large task in front of me, my mind rushes through everything that needs to be done and affirms how difficult it will be. I imagine (mostly subconsciously) all the ways that my output will be less than ideal, and that is what keeps me from taking action.

So as a quick mental technique, I recognize that this fear of failure is acting as a roadblock and tell myself that I’ll just bang out a first effort that will definitely be of poor quality. I know it will be bad, and that will be OK. Polishing that will be a task left for future me.

In reality, it won’t be perfect, but neither will it be terrible. Polishing it into something that I can be proud of will not be as hard as it seems now, especially once I have a first draft to work with.