This Story About 2 Fishermen Will Eliminate Your Crippling Procrastination

In my early 20s, I suffered from a debilitating addiction (and it took me years to even realize it).

My brain loved the cheap dopamine of:

• Writing lists
• Reading & collecting books
• Searching for productivity hacks

I was hooked on Planning.

This addiction to "preparing" felt good.

But when it came to taking action, the euphoric high faded.

Luckily, this story of two men learning to fish ended my addiction:

The first fisherman heads straight to the marina to buy the best fishing boat money can buy.

He specs out a custom, carbon fiber rod. He spends time reading up on everything there is to know about fishing. A few months later, he finally feels ready to fish. The next day, he heads out on the lake in his new boat with his fancy rod and wealth of fishing "experience" built up over the last few months.

But six hours in, nothing.

Not even a nibble.

What happened?

Turns out, the second fisherman had already sucked the lake dry.

On Day 1, the second fisherman:

• Grabbed a shitty rod
• Sliced up a hot dog
• And went out to the lake

The first day, nothing.

Second day, nothing.

Third day, nothing.

One week.

Nothing.

But on the eighth day? His first nibble.

And every day after, he honed his technique.

He found a baiting technique that worked a bit better. Or a new spot with a few more fish. And after three weeks of iteration, he found the winning combination.

Before long?

He was hauling in hundreds of fish every day.

To keep up with his daily haul, he hired a small team to help him.

And from there, he opened a restaurant with fat margins to sell his fresh fish. And after that, he opened a fishing school to teach others his craft.

He did all of this while the first fisherman sat around gathering gear.

Sure, the first fisherman felt productive.

He was "learning" after all, right?

But there was one difference:

Feedback.

Every day the second fisherman had an idea of something that might work better. And he went right to the market to validate his assumption. If it worked, his strategy improved. And if it failed, he learned something new.

The moral of this story?

Get to action as quickly as possible.

When you find yourself gathering gear, grab a shitty rod and start fishing.

This realization helped me finally overcome what I’d been putting off for years:

Publishing whatever (shitty) 𝕏 post I wrote when my 30-minute timer ended every morning. And trust me when I say none of these posts were even remotely good.

But the fact my content got no views was a blessing in disguise.

The best part about content that goes nowhere is that no one saw it.

This reframe helped me massively as a beginner writer. It felt like I was putting up shots in an empty gym.

No one:

• Watching
• Replying
• Critiquing
• Quote retweeting

So, I wrote a FREE 13,000-word Ultimate Guide + email course with everything you need to overcome the fear of publishing your writing online (so you can finally build a massive audience on 𝕏).

Click here to get my (free) Start Writing Online Ultimate Guide—and start going viral with ease.