After all, we are human beings. Everyone is trying to achieve success each day. Here the success means whatever one plans for the day and accomplishes it.

We have a tendency to plan for future things and that's a good thing that keeps our life interesting and moving forward. We start working on them for initial 4 to 5 days or maybe a week or two but one moment comes when we return to our comfort zone.

Good evening Toastmasters, fellow toastmasters, and guests! Today I'm going to tell you one of the powerful strategies that many leaders have experimented with to overcome their procrastination.

In 1830, a French author named Victor Hugo promised his publisher a new book but instead of writing, he spent his 6 months pursuing other projects, entertaining guests, and delaying his work. Frustrated, Hugo’s publisher responded by setting a deadline less than 3 months away.

Hugo concocted a strange plan for his procrastination. He collected all of his clothes and asked an assistant to lock them away. He was left with nothing to wear except a large shawl. Lacking any suitable clothing to go outdoor he stayed in his study room and wrote furiously for 2 and half months and his book was published 2 weeks early from the deadline.

As we interpret that even prolific artists like Victor Hugo are not immune to the destruction of daily life. Human beings have been procrastinating for centuries. This type of behavior philosophers calls "Akrasia".

Akrasia is what prevents you from following through with what you set out to do.

We make plans set deadlines and commit to goals but then fail to follow through on them.

James Clear, the author of atomic habits has suggested a few strategies to overcome Akrasia. One strategy that I personally liked and experimented with is “Reduce The Friction Of Starting”.

When we keep procrastinating, the guilt we feel is worse than the pain of doing that work. This means being in the middle of doing the work is less painful than being in the middle of procrastination.

So why do we still procrastinate it's not the thing that losing weight is hard or writing a book is hard or whatever the goal you want to achieve is hard. It's starting the work which is usually hard.

This friction of starting prevents us from taking action. Once you begin it becomes less painful to do work. That’s why it is often more important to build the habit of getting started and reducing every friction of starting.

To summarise my speech, I would like you to try the strategy of "Reducing the friction of starting and getting started right away" whenever you procrastinate things. 

Thank you! Over to Toastmaster of the Day.