ATG 278 | Permission: The One Word Solution to Procrastination  🔗 **Source:** [ATG 278 | Permission: The One Word Solution to Procrastination](https://share.snipd.com/episode/9e5a6ca8-b869-457d-a55f-b8b0e8a25fff) ## Highlights - **Procrastination Is Costing Your Future** - Procrastination is the most expensive fear and steals from your future life. - Jon Acuff frames procrastination as a costly habit that wastes creativity and delays fulfillment, not just lazy behavior. Transcript: Jon Acuff If you read my new book, you'll never procrastinate again. I should know, I waited 34 years before I finally wrote my first one. When I discovered what's inside these pages, I wrote 11 more. You see, we procrastinators have a storehouse of creativity and energy we haven't tapped into. You're sitting on a gold mine right now, and the system to unlock it doesn't require a crushing amount of willpower. Life is already preset to hard. Why would we use a system that makes it harder? You need something that works on the days you have zero willpower just as well as it does on the days you're at 100%. Because procrastination is the most expensive fear. The price tag is your life. And every day you wait to begin, you're stealing from your future self. ([Time 0:00:00](https://share.snipd.com/snip/cb11e22b-d07f-4ed0-aa32-29546f818828)) - **Choose Systems That Work On Zero Willpower** - Use a system that works when willpower is low, not one that requires massive effort. - Acuff recommends approaches that function on zero-willpower days as well as high-energy days to beat delay. Transcript: Jon Acuff And it gives you four simple permissions to beat procrastination for good. Pick up your copy today at johnacoff.com/proof or wherever you buy books. Hey everyone and welcome to the All It Takes is a Goal podcast. I've spent the last 15 years helping more than a million people achieve everything from their smallest first step to their wildest dreams. Building a remarkable life is simple. Great thoughts turn into great actions. Great actions turn into great results. That's what we explore in this podcast. I'm your host, John Acuff, and today I'm going to give you the one-word solution to procrastination. Ooh, big prom. John Acuff.com/big promise. ([Time 0:00:52](https://share.snipd.com/snip/1e02c13a-11c8-48b9-8645-555e629c58b5)) - **The Napkin That Changed How He Saw Life** - Jon recounts Ted's 2002 napkin drawing that showed a stalled life versus a remarkable life. - That image stuck with him and later influenced his decision to stop delaying major life moves like leaving Bose. Transcript: Jon Acuff In our last episode, I told you about an illustration, a guy named Ted drew on a napkin. If you haven't listened to that episode, definitely go back and check it out. The summary of the story is Ted drew on a napkin a really simple picture of what it looks like to limit the size of your life, to limit what you're capable of and what you're doing and the Size of your dreams. And I worked with him at Bose and it really shocked me. This is 2002. I'm still thinking about this. Now, if you go back in time to that moment, I ended up leaving Bo's about six months after my conversation with Ted, and I lost touch with him. I married a Southern wife, and Bo's is in Massachusetts, and she gave me a three-winter ultimatum in Massachusetts that accelerated when our first daughter arrived. Our oldest daughter, Ellie, was born in Boston. And I think what ultimately killed Jenny from Massachusetts was spring snow. It just devastated her. Snow on Easter tulips that have been tricked into blooming, oh, it's very depressing. ([Time 0:03:12](https://share.snipd.com/snip/672baeb8-8ff2-4aca-bb97-83d2725f7f97)) - **Why He Finally Left Bose** - Jon explains he left Bose six months after talking with Ted and later moved for family reasons. - The story frames his personal shift from delaying to taking action and his frustration seeing others procrastinate. Transcript: Jon Acuff So about 20 years after my conversation with Ted, as I approached the age of 50, I started thinking about that napkin again. It was a perfect picture of a remarkable life versus a stalled life. And I was now deeply committed to never procrastinating, but I couldn't get my friends to join me. For months, I told everyone they were capable of being remarkable. I would say, don't wait. Like over coffee, I'd say, don't wait. Don't wait. Why not try? I would ask them questions. I'd say, hey, don't settle for average. Like, where do you feel like you're settling for average? Don't settle. I'd cheer them from every sideline I was on. Now, I didn't draw Ted's illustration because a guy who carries napkins with him is even, that's even too odd for me. But I did my best to encourage my friends into action. ([Time 0:04:42](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a18e90c5-11d8-4aee-a068-c3e9b56c14a3)) - **Permission Is The One-Word Cure** - Permission is the single-word solution Jon discovered to defeat procrastination. - He argues giving yourself permission unlocks creativity and action, replacing excuses with immediate starts. Transcript: Jon Acuff I'd researched, I'd studied, and I'd honed my own system for beating procrastination into one word, permission. Permission. But no one wanted it. After my failed attempts to spur on people my own age, I shifted gears a little. I decided instead, okay, I'm going to have animated interactions with people in their twenties and see if I can convince them to trade procrastination for permission. You have permission to be remarkable. You have permission to go. You have permission to do the thing you've always wanted to do. Can I get people in their 20s to listen to me and believe me? So that's what I did. I'd say, hey, give it a shot. You can do it. I'd shout when their parents introduced me to them at dinner parties. I would get so excited. I'd say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, oh, you're only 24? You're only 27? Oh, you have the benefit of compound interest on your side. Don't listen to the lies of culture and coast. Don't get wooed into average by getting lumped into a generation with low expectations and high awkwardness. You don't need an emotional support bearded dragon. You need motion. You need action. You need purpose. Just try, try, try. These are the things I would shout. And usually, if I'm being honest, at ([Time 0:05:31](https://share.snipd.com/snip/c5f4fc85-ac13-4732-b814-6fb82478df20)) - **Urge Young People To Act Now** - Tell younger people they have compound-interest advantage and encourage motion over comfort. - Acuff advises urging 20-somethings to act now rather than waiting for milestones like marriage or kids. Transcript: Jon Acuff I decided instead, okay, I'm going to have animated interactions with people in their twenties and see if I can convince them to trade procrastination for permission. You have permission to be remarkable. You have permission to go. You have permission to do the thing you've always wanted to do. Can I get people in their 20s to listen to me and believe me? So that's what I did. I'd say, hey, give it a shot. You can do it. I'd shout when their parents introduced me to them at dinner parties. I would get so excited. I'd say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, oh, you're only 24? You're only 27? Oh, you have the benefit of compound interest on your side. Don't listen to the lies of culture and coast. Don't get wooed into average by getting lumped into a generation with low expectations and high awkwardness. You don't need an emotional support bearded dragon. You need motion. You need action. You need purpose. Just try, try, try. ([Time 0:05:47](https://share.snipd.com/snip/2eb28f15-cf5a-4786-8185-e98a700afc63)) - **Stopping Procrastination Can Be Instant** - Stopping procrastination can be instantaneous once you grant yourself permission. - Acuff likens it to turning off a faucet: the decision to permit action ends delay immediately. Transcript: Jon Acuff Everyone I talked to, everyone who reads my book or listens to my podcast could retire from procrastination right this second. It's one of the few forms of life change that is instantaneous. The minute you give yourself permission to stop procrastinating, you do. It's like turning off a faucet, but no one believed me. They think that they have all the time in the world, and they're not entirely wrong. I mean, young people do have more time than me, but it's less than they think. They believe in later, and I get that. We're getting married later. We're having kids later. We're building our careers later. But I wasn't willing to quit my one-man anti-procrastination campaign, though. Because I know something important about you. If you're listening to this, I know something important to you. It's the reason I wrote this book. It's the reason I do this podcast. It's the reason I'll hype you up if you run into me at the Nashville airport. We've probably never met, but I have a prediction about your life. I've made this prediction for thousands of people, and it's always 100% accurate. Later, when you stop procrastinating and give yourself permission to be remarkable, you will wish you started sooner. ([Time 0:07:47](https://share.snipd.com/snip/aba58229-63ce-4a89-9b29-6bcdfdee8186)) - **Use The Book As An Immediate Trigger** - Read or listen to Procrastination Proof in short moments and before challenging tasks to reinforce permission. - Acuff recommends audiobook at the gym or a quick read in a parking lot to prime action. Transcript: Jon Acuff My new book is a celebration of sooner. My new book is a roadmap to sooner.. Now in some books you imagine the author meeting you at a quiet coffee shop and sharing a few ideas over a blueberry scone. My new book is not that kind of book. You should take the audiobook to the gym. You should read it in the parking lot before you slingshot yourself into a day job that you want to improve. You should keep it on your phone for a quick peek before a challenging meeting. I will sell you on permission. So let's be very clear about that. Let's DTR. Let's define the relationship right now. Where is this book going? What's the point? Why even read it? Those are wonderful questions and you should never read a book that can't answer them. So let me put all my cards on the table with my book, with this series of episodes about procrastination. Here's what I need you to know. Procrastination might have started as a solution, but now it's a problem. It maybe was a solution. It maybe helped you avoid some difficult things in the past. It maybe served you a little well in college because you were able to do some papers last second. It might have helped you at some point, but it's now a problem, and permission is a much better solution. The reward for reducing procrastination and increasing permission is a remarkable life. Simply put, trade procrastination for permission and build a remarkable life. That's where we're going. By the last chapter of this book, if you read it, you will not delay. ([Time 0:09:13](https://share.snipd.com/snip/cc69a32f-89bd-4b33-867d-0fb5cfd3d074)) - **Permission Slip As A Powerful Metaphor** - Childhood permission slips served as passports to adventure and symbolize the simple nudge that starts big things. - Acuff uses the permission slip metaphor to show how small approvals unlock major life experiences. Transcript: Jon Acuff That's a good question. Permission is the pathway out of procrastination and into remarkable, but it's probably a word you haven't thought about in decades. That's surprising because it used to mean everything to you. The most important piece of paper in your entire childhood was the permission slip. I was going to say report card, but those haven't been printed for decades. Everything is online now, which is cool if you're a parent because each school year they change the entire system and you have to hack back into the cloud to figure out if your kid is failing. They'll say to you, well, you know, like I know Skyward says I have a zero mom, but that's just because the teacher hasn't uploaded the new grades yet. That's not a real F. Like your kid promises you that, like a timeshare salesperson, confusing you with smoke mirrors and free tickets to SeaWorld. Paper was better. I will die on that admittedly treeless hill. And the permission slip was the king of it all. That magical note allowed you to go on a field trip to the zoo during the middle of a school day with all your best friends on a rumbling seat beltless bus. One kid inside a car surrounded by dozens of airbags? Give that child a five-point safety harness, you monster. 80 kids loose like marbles in a shoebox ([Time 0:11:10](https://share.snipd.com/snip/51b057f9-6b77-499f-94d0-9893ea6b2ec5)) - **Future You Wants You To Start** - Future versions of yourself are the ones begging you to take action now. - Acuff frames permission as a gift future-you wants to hand to present-you to avoid future regret. Transcript: Jon Acuff You've never crossed paths, but every road you both walk is identical. The person desperately excited to give you permission to stop procrastinating and start living remarkably is future you. Oh, another cliffhanger. Permission is the key to beating procrastination. Future you is trying to give it to us. Like the you in the future would love you to take a shot. The 40, if you're in your 30s, the 40 year old would love you to take a shot. If you're in your 40s, the 50 year old would love you to take a shot. If you're in your 50s, the 70 year old is begging you to take a shot. ([Time 0:13:20](https://share.snipd.com/snip/c1ef97e8-b48a-40dc-a5ef-7dad028e5ac1)) - **Give Yourself Four Core Permissions** - Focus on four core permissions that matter most to overcome procrastination. - Acuff says these four permissions are immediately actionable and detailed in his book Procrastination Proof. Transcript: Jon Acuff There's probably a thousand. There's probably 10,000. There are so many permissions, but there are four that matter more than any other. There are four core permissions you need to give yourself if you want to stop procrastinating and build a remarkable life. And you can find out what they are immediately in my new book, Procrastination Proof. It's available everywhere books are sold and you are going to love it. ([Time 0:14:06](https://share.snipd.com/snip/1d475fcd-abca-4b09-8eee-9f3524c9e778))