It’s easy to plan for “soon”. How many times have we heard:

I’m going to start getting into a weekly routine on Monday.

Particularly noticeable when I feel like I’ve been slipping in multiple ways, and there are many goals at once. It seems much easier to say “I’ll start doing these all at the same time, soon.”

• I want to exercise daily.
• Start going to bed earlier, and getting to work earlier in the morning.
• Stop working earlier, to have more free time in the evening.
• Cook meals more often rather than getting pre-prepared salads all the time from the grocery store.

One of the worst habits is that I decide that I can start a new routine or habit only after I build a whole system to support that habit.

I’ll start tracking my weekly expenses after I configure a set of budgeting software.

After I get new running shoes, it’ll be much easier to run more frequently, so then I can be more active.

But truthfully, there are always things that I could start doing right now to improve those goals.

So why do I have this pattern?

Well really, this is just a form of procrastination. I can’t be sure of the cause, but I do have a guess:

It feels like a ‘fresh start’

By deciding to start on Monday for example, I can imagine being a better version of myself in the future. It makes it easier to frame the future date as not having any of my previous tendencies and behaviors that challenged me in the past.

Like for example, I tend to get caught up and anxious about work. So I dedicate more brainpower than necessary to my job. I should be putting in the minimum amount necessary to still be satisfied with the work that I do, but instead anxiety and doubt can cause me to put in too much effort. And sometimes, that anxiety can cause a lack of focus, which makes me feel like I need to work later into the night to do an ‘acceptable amount’.

Two of the four goals above include working more regular work hours (starting and finishing earlier), so that I have more free time. I can imagine myself being able to do that in the future, because I’m currently not in the stress-black-hole that drags my working hours later into the night. But it’s unwise to imagine that the problem will just go away.

Unfortunately, I’m not always wise. I’m working on this very article coming up on midnight, which will already set me up to fall into the same habit next week. Oof.