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hey guys my name is Ali aluli I'm a
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systems engineer and a post doctor
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fellow at the nas propulsion lab in this
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video I'm going to show you how you can
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figure out why you're procrastinating
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specifically and how to put an end to
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that so this video is going to be
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attacking the root cause of
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procrastination and it's not going to be
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one of these cookie cutter like oh nine
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tips on how you can be more productive
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or like six tips on how you can stop
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like no this is actually going to help
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you figure out what the hell is going on
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inside your brain now to give you some
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insight although I am am currently
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working as a full-time engineer at Nasa
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I did my PhD when I was 26 years old I
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have grown this YouTube channel as well
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as my other engineering YouTube channel
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to almost 40,000 subscribers and uh I've
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always been a chronic procrastinator
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I've struggled with procrastination my
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whole life High School College even
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during my PhD in the beginning of my PhD
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especially I would give my PhD adviser
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heart attacks not literal heart attacks
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but I would make him panic because I
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would have to wait till the very last
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minute to do things and when I when I
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when I came near graduation I started
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realizing like man why am I why do I do
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this why do I do this so I figured I
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would use my skills as a systems
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engineer to actually figure out what's
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going on diagnose the problem and that's
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the system that I'm going to walk you
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through and by the end not only am I
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going to show you how to diagnose the
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right cause of procrastination for you
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but also what to do about it so
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basically before we talk about
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procrastination which is basically like
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the hurdle to execution execution is
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only the last step in a in a in a proper
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productivity system any type of producct
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AC it system especially if you're
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someone who has ADHD or higher up on the
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ADHD Spectrum must give you Clarity you
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need to get crystal clear on what is
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your goal and why if you don't have a
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goal how are you going to have be
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productive or or or not procrastinate
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because your brain is constantly going
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to be like why are we doing this why
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what what is this working towards you
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know so you definitely need to have a
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clear goal you definitely need to learn
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how to prioritize how to pick what the
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right task is I need to understand when
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to do the right task and then finally
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sitting down and doing it is going to be
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the part where is tend to procrastinate
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right that's the execution um so there
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are two things that people struggle with
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continuing and starting procrastination
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is really a problem of starting so
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people who are not who are are
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procrastinating are really struggling
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with starting a task and from my
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experience that comes down to three
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different uh reasons and you can next
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time you procrastinate you can ask
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yourself like which one of these three
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is it most likely one is fear right you
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very often you'll notice that you're
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going to procrastinate on either a big
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project or something that's important or
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something that's very very important for
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example not many people procrastinate on
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like walking to the fridge and picking
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up something to eat or like going to the
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mail and and grabbing something to
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grabbing your mail from the mailbox uh
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these are things we don't really
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procrastinate on because they're not
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like really that important they're
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things that are like automatic we just
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do them there's nothing really at stake
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uh something that you may procrastinate
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out of fear is like a project or like a
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YouTube video they have to make or like
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a presentation for your business or
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something like that something or or like
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a dissertation for a PhD like things
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like that uh there's there's definitely
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a lot of fear of like oh man what if I
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do it and it comes out to be not good
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enough very often that there's there's
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internal selft talk around the fear but
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there's also two other causes why
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procrastination may happen one of them
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is simply the the in congruence of
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interests and values and I'll tell you a
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story when I started my first Consulting
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business I hired a business coach who
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was very very talented very very very
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talented guy I learned a lot from him uh
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but when it came down to sit down and
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write my ads my paid advertisements um
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we had to write them in a style that he
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told me and it just it just I don't know
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it didn't sit it didn't sit right with
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me I didn't enjoy that style I like to
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be more direct more honest more like I
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have this thing do you want it or not
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the style in which the ads were supposed
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to be written as and was kind of more
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like the very typical salesy like
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markety as which I really cannot stand
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and when he would check in with me and
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say hey did you have time to write the
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ads I would always say no no I haven't
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no I did this other think no this other
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thing came up I was procrastinating it
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and it's not necessarily because I was
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fearing that the ads would not come out
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to be good it's just because the the way
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that task was set up uh it did not it
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did not align with my with my values so
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I kept just putting it off very
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similarly if something you're just not
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interested in doing at all for example
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if you're like a product engineer and
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you have to sit down and write copy for
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like an ad you just don't really care
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that much about marketing usually and
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because you don't care about it you just
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keep putting it off because it's not fun
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so this is another reason why you may be
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putting things off but I would say
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especially for for people with ADHD the
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most common one is just overwhelm right
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it's like oh man I have to start this
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big thing I have to like uh sit down and
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do this thing oh my God I have to work
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on this project like it's just whenever
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whenever you think of a task and like
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there's like a mini like oh my God like
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Panic like that accompanies it or like
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something of that nature that's usually
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like your brain signaling that okay I
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have a big thing that I need to tackle
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and I don't know if I'm quite ready to
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tackle it yet um this is where overwhelm
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can be a big problem and this again
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relevant for projects sitting down
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writing at copy doing things that nature
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so these are things that will definitely
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um affect you when it comes to
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procrastinating now very very important
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herisk you can perform is next time you
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find yourself procrastinating again
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right here we're not talking about
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Solutions yet we still we haven't
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addressed how to solve these problems in
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practical ways but next time you you sit
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down and you try to do something and you
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can't do it uh instead of thinking I got
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to do this why am I procrastinating
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shift the selft talk to just asking why
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what out out of the three reasons why am
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I procrastinating am I fearing that the
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that I might fail or the outcome may not
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be good enough um am I just not
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interested or this something that I just
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like really really don't want to do and
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I'm avoiding for some reason or am I
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overwhelmed and by overwhelmed like I
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haven't really fully thought through all
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the steps needed to like um improve um
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upon what I got to do and sit down and
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do it and this is where I introduce you
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to the three different solutions so the
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reason we touch on this again is because
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procrastination is not a one-size fits
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all you have to understand why you're
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procrastinating right whether it's
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overwhelm whether it's fear whether it's
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like conflict of interest values um
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obviously there could be other like
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minute minuscule reasons but I generally
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think from my experience those three um
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are kind of like the main the 99% of
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procrastination that's why I call this
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the procrastination Trident because very
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often in my casee it's one of these
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three things so in the case of overwhelm
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it is very very simple think only of the
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first step right there's a very common
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mistake I see especially with people who
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have ADHD is when they when they think
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about what they got to do they say oh I
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got to write a proposal oh I got to make
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a video oh I got to do all these things
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uh but you don't actually need to do
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that all you need to tell yourself is
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what is the first step I got to take
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like in my case for a YouTube video if I
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tell myself oh my God I sit down and
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record a YouTube video like and they're
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a typical person that that may be fine
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with them but someone higher up on the
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ad Spectrum you'll just keep putting it
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off because especially if your brain has
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not processed like all the steps or
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visualized all the steps necessary you
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you're just going to put it off but if
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instead you replace that selft talk and
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tell yourself oh I just got to sit down
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and uh write an outline for the video I
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don't need to I don't need to record the
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whole video I just need to write an
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outline what is the first step well if I
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don't have outline then I don't have a
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video and then you sit down and you and
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you and you write an outline or you
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write the first part of the video or you
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do or you do something and then that's
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going to give you the momentum to keep
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going and then then before you know it
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you'll turn on the ring light you'll
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you'll start talking you'll set up your
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microphone whatnot so if you're if
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you're overwhelmed think only of the
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first step that you got to take that's
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basically the the the cure to that um if
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you are someone who is like having a
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conflict of interest or values ask
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yourself um once you verified that this
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is something like that is congruent with
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your values if it's something completely
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in congruent with your values then maybe
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you should not do it like sometimes
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procrastination is good sometimes
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procrastination is you like like telling
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yourself oh I really I should not be
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doing this right maybe this will put my
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my uh like like this is just something
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that I don't feel comfortable doing
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right uh but if it's the other case of
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of which is which is fun which is
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boredom like the reason you're putting
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it off is because you get bored and
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you're just not interested in that thing
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find ways to make it fun there are so
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many things in my life that I have to do
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that are just not fun and my my hack for
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that is music I put on music that I
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really really enjoy for example if I
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have to sit down and do paperwork I
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can't stand paperwork but if I put on
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like a really nice song that gets me in
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Flow State and gets me kind of moving
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what on then all of a sudden the
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paperwork is not so bad because I'm at
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least enjoying um the music uh find find
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whatever maybe it's like having someone
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they sit down and do the work with
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whatever it is that can make the task
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more fun will definitely help you solve
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the boredom or interest problem in an
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Ideal World the things you don't want to
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do you just delegate them but if you're
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not at that stage yet then you have to
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find a way to make it fun and if the
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case um is of procrastination is fear
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failure then what you need is something
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called vzer and this is something I have
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uh learned to do which is I tell myself
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okay I'm I'm maybe there's a bit of fear
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maybe this thing needs to be good and
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I'm afraid that it's not going to be
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good enough right maybe there's a fear
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of a failure there or a fear of effort
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wasted oh man what if I sit down and
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like do this and it turns out to be not
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good that tends to be a very very strong
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cause of procrastination something that
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I that I that I that I do is I say well
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before I even sit down and make a V1 or
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the first version of my thing and then
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maybe iterate on it later what would I
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should do a v0o and vzero is like let me
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just do a very quick check of like
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everything I need to do for example if I
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once sit down and record a YouTube video
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V1 would be make the first version of
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the video and if it's crappy that's fine
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V2 can be a better one V3 can be an even
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better one I can iterate that way but
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vzer is like well how about I just clean
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my room turn some lights turn turn the
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lights on make sure my cameras in the
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right place uh do a camera check do a
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mic check do a computer check like I'm
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not gonna I'm not I'm not gonna I'm not
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going to actually record the real video
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which means I'm not going to fail it's
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impossible for me to fail because I'm
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not going to record the real video but
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what I'm going to do is I'm going to sit
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down and do all the like Steps uh
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assuming that I'm going to record and
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and turn it on without actually posting
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it and there's zero fear associated with
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that step and it kind of feeds into this
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idea of first step is you want this
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thing to be like low stake low
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consequence because then once I sit down
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and I clean my desk and then I I I clean
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my environment and I do all these things
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and I have my camera and I test my
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microphone then again from a selft talk
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perspective it's a lot easier for me to
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say oh dude I mean okay now I have the
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setup what
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is it really that screw it let me just
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record the video let's just see what
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happens like if it fails it doesn't fail
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like sometimes the problem is not so
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much in the belief that the thing is
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going to fail and that you're going to
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be bad for having it fail but rather
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that combined with the the the the the
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overwhelm induced in in this case so if
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you're someone who's like really really
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sensing that the reason why you're
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procrastinating is fear of failure and
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you're like afraid to get started on
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this task because it may not be good
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enough to your standard tell yourself
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okay I'm not going to ship this thing
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I'm not going to deliver this thing I'm
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not actually going to I'm just going to
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sit down and do the V zero like the bare
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minimum just to get some type of
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functioning thing working just so I can
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take make make some progress and then if
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I feel like actually shipping it and and
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and continuing and shipping the the
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thing that is done I'll do it if not
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that's that's that's fine too but what
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I've what I'll have at least done is
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I've at least made some progress which
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is going to make me feel good about
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myself is going to boost my selfesteem
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Steam and the moment you you you like
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let go of this need to deliver something
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great on first try you're going to feel
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this like weight lifted from your
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shoulders and then you'll be able to get
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started with a v0 and the v0 will turn
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into a V1 and the V1 is usually very
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often good enough to be shipped if not
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you go ahead and re-record it a second
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time again in the case of a YouTube
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video so again this kind of a very uh um
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simple way way to overcome it now if you
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want to kind of amplify this on steroids
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which is power also for continuing is
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you can go and find some accountability
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if you can find other people that
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basically hey bug you and ask you hey
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did you do the thing did you do the
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thing or maybe they can help you better
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diagnose why why why you're struggling
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with it um or or why why you're not
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doing the task um accountability is very
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very important from a friend from a
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family member from a certified coach
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from a from someone who knows what
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they're doing if you have like some no
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one in your life that you think can hold
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you accountable on a consistent basis
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I'm going to go ahead and put a link
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below to our community where you can
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come hang out with me other like min
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entrepreneurs who can hold you
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accountable where I also go over some of
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this stuff in detail as well but you
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want to make sure that you have some
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type of accountability involved in your
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life because if you don't have extrinsic
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accountability like at all uh even if
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you're addressing the the the the fear
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of failure the fear the like lack of
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having values and interests and the
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overwhelm issues you're still not going
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to have that extrinsic pressure that
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like good weight on your shoulders to
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deliver and that expectation of other
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people especially if you're someone who
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has like people pleasing Tendencies and
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you can use that to your advantage
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because then you don't want to
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disappoint other people well at least
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you don't want to disappoint them in in
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in showing them that you haven't done
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your stuff which can be productive for
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yourself but anyway that's a discussion
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for another video um if you enjoy this
00:13:44
content stick around for my channel for
00:13:45
more videos and I'll see you the next
00:13:46
one Peace Love