Procrastination
I do quarterly reflections. The first one I did was Q3 2024, and we are just coming up to the end of Q2 2025, so this is going to be the first full year of me doing quarterly reflections. Almost six months ago in my Q4 2024 reflection I wrote that it was a goal for the next quarter to update my LinkedIn profile. I didn’t do it. Then I made it a goal for the following quarter. This one. Have I done it? No. Ok, so the quarter hasn’t quite finished yet, so there is still time.
But why haven’t I done it? The main reason is that, whilst I am generally strong willed when it comes to getting stuff done, for some reason there are particular tasks that fall into my procrastination bucket and I never do them. Why? It’s so dumb. Here are some reasons:
- With the tasks I procrastinate about there is a (often fairly small) feeling related to the task. Whenever I think about the task I get that feeling, so it builds up over time.
- The longer I leave the task, the more important it becomes that I do it. My LinkedIn profile is out of date, and I don’t like it. The longer I leave it, the more I dislike it, and the more I procrastinate about it.
- With procrastination tasks for some reason I think I need to do the whole thing in one go, but of course that’s not the case. I could just do a little bit. In fact it makes much more sense to update a LinkedIn profile regularly, rather than a big update every few years.
- I think with regards to my LinkedIn profile one reason I don’t do it is because it’s public, and not only public but public to people that matter. I guess I’m afraid of getting it wrong, or annoying someone, or something like that. Is that rational? Not really. I can make changes one day to the next. If I make a mistake, I can change it. And I can ask people for feedback and make refinements.
The bottom line is, I should just update my LinkedIn profile, and I should do it today. In fact, why don’t I do it right now?