Your brain is powerful. But you already knew that. You might not know about this powerful brain addiction. It’s a subtle, yet paralyzing addiction: the drug of delay.

Delay is your subconscious way of avoiding failure. Most often it hides under the guise of perfectionism and sometimes under the veil of procrastination.

Maybe it’s a new vision you have for a program at school. Instead of acting on that vision, the drug of delay requires you to:

• Gather committees
• Send emails
• Wait for approvals

Maybe it’s a book or article that you want to write. You begin writing, but then you switch over and look at Facebook, check your Twitter notifications, or strive to clean out your emails.

This is the drug of delay.

This is not a conscious fault. It’s your brain on delay. It’s your amygdala doing exactly what it’s supposed to do. It’s seeking to protect you. 

Yes, protect you from a fear of criticism. What if your work doesn’t live up to others’ expectations? What if your performance doesn’t live up to your own expectations? Your brain is seeking to protect you from failure.

This is your brain on delay.