einstetic:

One of the main reasons why you don’t make progress or why you are stuck in the vicious cycle of procrastination is the lack of courage to take that one small imperfect step. The more you are fixated on the end result, the less likely you are actually going to do something to achieve it.

A case in point of this so called ‘phenomenom’ is when you keep putting of you essay for a class you are taking. You keep convincing yourself that you have lots and lots of time to write it and suddenly your deadline is tomorrow. What do you usually do in these kinds of situations? I bet you usually open a new document and just start writing something, a quick draft, because you think you just need to get something done. In other words, you are actually just taking an imperfect step towards your end goal, which in this case is a finished essay. When you’ve taken your imperfect step, you often get this flow and just keep working and working until you are satisfied with your input. It seems surprisingly simple, right?

To summarise everything, you need to stop being so focused on the end result. The process is the most important part of your work and you can always edit and work on it later. An imperfect step is the most important step and more people need to realise this. If you have a long list of things to do or deadlines to meet, then just decide to start somewhere. Make that awful draft, scribble down something, make a mistake, just do something. Sooner or later, you are going to notice that you’ve made a great deal of progress. These imperfect steps are what you need in your life.