“I want to begin, but first I need to do one more course, some more research.” “I can start, but I should get this certificate before that.” Does that sound familiar to you? Procrastination by using learning as an excuse, that’s Procrasta-learning (also known as Procrastilearning).

I’m all for regularly updating knowledge! But we need to watch out if we’re using learning as reason to delay taking action on a project, habit, business, art…anything.

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A few weeks ago, I was watching this workshop by Susie Moore. Susie has this really great, fun, vibrant energy, and I like listening to what she has to say.

A lot of times when I do workshops or courses online, I tend to take notes and listen. But this time, I was casually listening. I just wanted to watch the video of the workshop without really putting in the effort to write or anything like that. Just absorb the information and chill.

I was doing it more like an entertainment, a high-quality leisure activity

Being very relaxed, no pressure on myself. Whatever I learn, I learn. No problem. When something like that happens, usually the mind wanders.

This is why normally if I’m serious about doing a workshop, I take down notes. Then the focus is completely on what the teacher’s saying. Otherwise, when I’m just listening, the mind tends to wander.

I’m sure you’ve felt this too whenever you’ve listened to a podcast, or just casually watching a learning video or documentary, audio book…the mind tends to wander here and there.

So it was wandering, but it was okay because I didn’t really have any stakes in learning things from this workshop.

Then, Susie said this one word, and I became fully alert…Procrasta-learning

If you’re someone who does this, you probably understand what that means, or relate to it, even though you may not have heard the phrase before. Procrasta-learning.

I immediately sat up straight. “Oh my God, that’s me!”

I do that quite a bit. And not just me, a lot of my friends and coaching clients tend to do this too.

So what is Procrasta-learning? Using the excuse or reason of learning something new to avoid taking action

You’re basically procrastinating on starting something or working on something by taking a course, a workshop, a program.

It feels like you’re being productive. It feels like you’re doing it with an end goal in mind. So it’s useful. Except…you’re only learning, you’re only absorbing, and not actually deploying that learning and that information by taking action and doing something.

Now, if you know me, you know I’m big on courses, workshops, all of a them. Big on learning them and teaching them. I purchase and learn things from other teachers as well as have my own academy where I’ve built workshops and courses.

If you ever want to get to know about my new workshops or even more information about my existing workshops and courses and stuff, then sign up for my newsletter, The Feel Good Tribe.

It’s a free newsletter. Once you sign up, you’ll get a confirmation email. You have to hit confirm. Only then will you be signed up. And then you’ll get a welcome email in which I’ve already shared quite a few details about the different kinds of things that I teach and do. I’d love to hear back from you. Reply to that mail and let me know about yourself too.

Anyway, back to Procrasta-learning…

So, as I said, I’m a big believer of learning and educating ourselves, self-improvement. Gaining knowledge about things related to our field and also totally unrelated to our fields. Learning for the sake of learning. I’m big on all of that. I do encourage and follow that.

However, learning shouldn’t come at the cost of taking action and doing real work!

Both, learning and creating, are equally important. So there has to be input and an output.

The risk of Procrasta-learning, the biggest risk is when somebody wants to start a project.

Say you want to start a consulting program of some sort. You’re experienced in something, so you want to teach people how to run things in that particular field. Or you want to teach art, cooking…anything. You’re good at it, you’ve had an interest in it, you have experience in it, so you are like, “okay, I am going to teach people how to do it.”

But then, if you think, “oh, if I have to teach, then first I need to learn more. I need to get this certificate, that certificate.” If you start thinking on those lines, and all you do is learn, learn, learn, and collect, collect, collect certifications, you’re stopping yourself from moving forward, from actually doing something, taking action.

And the most important thing to remember about certificates, you know, collecting, building, a lot of formal education…Most of the time, they’re not even required for a lot of the things we want to do.

If you want to start a business, build something, create something, a lot of the time, minimal formal learning is enough

A lot of things can be done just out of experience.

So today, I want you to think of what courses you’re taking, what workshops, what programs you’re signing up for, and then ask yourself…

• Are you doing it as an excuse to delay taking action?
• Do you believe you’re not qualified enough, when actually you do have a lot of experience?
• Are you stopping yourself from simply starting something and trying it out first? And then, maybe if needed, add those certificates and educational things into your life later.

One good way to avoid Procrasta-learning is to first of all ensure we limit the number of courses and workshops we sign up for

And when we do sign up, we must ensure that a certain portion is completed and implemented before exploring anything new. Make a decision beforehand, like, “out of these three workshops, at least two have to be fully finished before I sign up for the next one”, or, “I need to complete and use at least 75% of this course before buying the next.”

Like using a library card. You can borrow three books at a time, and you cannot accumulate more books until you’ve returned one. Only then, the next one can come in. That’s the way you need to be treating any workshops, courses, and programs.

People care about YOU – your knowledge, your teaching style, your creating style, your writing style – more than what certificates you’ve accumulated

Unless it’s something serious, like a medical thing, right? There are areas where of course you need to be a certified instructor because a person’s well-being, a person’s safety comes into question there. Then, yes, you need certification.

But in many cases, you absolutely do not need certification. So honestly ask yourself, whatever project you want to work on next, does it really need a certification or can you just do it?

Do a little bit of research and see. The other teachers in that same field, do they have certificates? And even if they do have certifications, is it something they’ve accumulated before starting their project or their courses or their teaching, whatever it is that they’re doing, did they accumulate those certificates beforehand?

Or did they discerningly pick up one additional certificate or one additional course or program slowly after beginning whatever they’re doing?

So the point of this whole thing is, stop using learning to procrastinate, and start taking action!

If there’s something you want to do, a new project that you want to start, a new blog, a podcast, a business, a consultation or coaching program, whatever you want to start, start it. See what best you can do with the knowledge you already have, the experience you already have, and then build on it only if needed. Don’t delay. That’s it.

Alright, that’s it for today! If you’re not on my newsletter yet, sign up to The Feel Good Tribe.

I’ll talk to you again next week. Take care.

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Susmitha Veganosaurus

“I read voraciously, find humour in most things, and I’m most in my element when I’m teaching, writing, and playing with clay. I believe authenticity and kindness are the key to a joyful world. Sign up for my free newsletterwhere I share Life and Business Tips, Vegan Hacks, Holistic Guidance, and more.

Vegan cuisine and holistic business building are my two biggest passions. If you’re looking for guidance with vegan cooking, or want to grow your conscious business with joy and fulfilment, explore ways we can work together here.”

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