Each Sunday, our goal is to share a piece of gold with you. Some small piece of information that helps you to have a better week and achieve a better outcome.  

In a perfect world, every part of our jobs would be fun, would give us energy, and would not cause us to consider procrastinating. However, in the real world we have responsibilities that are not awesome… and sometimes they straight up stink 💩!  

One of the tough challenges leaders must navigate through is to develop the self-discipline to do the stinky work when we have the option to do other work that is fun or exciting.  

While it should never be a situation where all work is “not fun,”, it is a part of the job that we sometimes have to push through unpleasant work.  

We have all told ourselves or heard things like, “I work better under pressure.” Or, “I find that if I wait until the deadline is pending, I do better.”  

However, I would challenge anyone who subscribes to this thought process to consider that the truth is they are leaving massive amounts of productivity on the table. When we get into the mode of procrastinating, we instead spend time finding busy work to take care of, doing things that don’t produce as much value, or even avoiding work all together… which all result in hours of lost productivity.  

When we justify these behaviors or choices to ourselves, we compromise our ability to maximize the impact and value we create.  

The answer to this? “Suck it up and do the work.”  

When we prioritize the stinky work and get it out of the way, we can then shift to the next item(s) on our list—the one(s) that produces the highest amount of value.  

There are those that say, “Procrastination is the seed of self-destruction,” or, “Procrastination is the enemy of success.” I can’t say that I believe that to be 100% accurate, because I know many successful people who wait to the last minute and squeeze out the work. However, I do know that those people are not operating at their best and have a lot more self-induced stress.  

Recently, I had to have a tough conversation with my son to help him realize that the top 1% of producers are willing to do the work that the next 99% are not willing to do. Talent will get you so far, but in the end, doing the work is still a requirement.  

So… the next time you are having a debate with yourself, pause and remember to push through and do the stinky work first.     

The goal of Adapt or Die is to build better leaders who run better companies and change the world. “Better leaders” doesn’t just mean in the office, but at home too. If you’d like a copy of our Perfect Week Template, purchase your copy of Adapt or Die here and then go to adaptordie.com/assets to get started. I hope you enjoy it and figure out your perfect week!