Strava, the number one fitness tracking app in the world, studied 30 million points of data to determine when people quit their fitness goals. You might guess it’s February. Or maybe March or April. But Strava found that the greatest drop-off is the second Friday in January. They call it Quitter’s Day. In fact, Ninety-two percent of all New Year’s Resolutions Fail. No one is finishing their goals.  

But why? Is it because we’re not capable of more? Because we’ve used every talent we have, given everything we’ve got? I wanted to know, so I commissioned a research study with Mike Peasley, Associate Professor of Marketing, at Middle Tennessee State University. We asked 3,000 people if they were living up to their full potential, and the results were surprising.  

Ninety-six percent of people said they were not living up to their full potential. That’s everyone you know. Everyone you work with. Everyone you lead. We are capable of more, and we know it.  

Why does that happen? Why don’t we accomplish our goals? Why don’t we tap into our full potential? The reason is simple.

We’re waiting.  

We’re procrastinating. We’re planning to do it someday. Eventually. When we’re not so busy. When things slow down. When our schedule clears up.  

But we all know that’s never going to happen. There will never be a week where you wake up and it’s completely empty. No meetings. No commitments. Just blank. When we believe that day will come, we talk ourselves into procrastination. But I’ve got great news.  

Procrastination is just a gap between your intentions and actions; It’s a mindset issue.

In fact, most of the things that hold you back are mindset issues. And the reason people procrastinate, the reason they’re not remarkable — even though they know they are capable of it — is that everyone is waiting for permission.

I started an online community with 20,000 people, and I’ve worked with 339 companies and teams from Range Rover to Walmart, Microsoft to FedEx. Do you know what I learned? Do you know what everyone is waiting for? It was just one word: permission.  

In fact, becoming procrastination proof so you never get stuck again is as simple as giving yourself four key permissions:

• Permission to dream, to ask yourself the question “What do I want to do?”  

• Permission to plan, to explore what it will take to do it.

• Permission to do, to jump into action and get your hands dirty.  

• Permission to review, to ask if you got the results you wanted, if you’re headed in the right direction.

Which of the permissions do you need right now to become procrastination proof?

As soon as you go on with your day, you will be tempted to procrastinate on your goals and dreams. Procrastination will try to trip you up. When it does, I want you to ask yourself a simple question to become procrastination proof:  

“Which of the four permissions do I need right now?”

Am I procrastinating because I’ve lost my motivation? Do I no longer feel connected to the work I’m doing? Maybe that’s where you are right now. The question you need to ask is: “Do I need permission to dream?”

Or maybe you’re procrastinating because the task feels overwhelming and you don’t know where to start. There’s too much going on, and it all feels chaotic. Maybe you need to come up with a few simple next steps. Maybe you need to ask: “Do I need permission to plan?”

Maybe you’re procrastinating because you’re afraid it won’t be perfect. You’ve got a big dream and detailed plans, but you just haven’t started yet. You’ve been on the edge of the starting line for a month and it’s time to give yourself the nudge into the action by asking the question: “Do I need permission to do?”

Or maybe, you’re procrastinating because you don’t want to know the results, like a person who refuses to go to the doctor because they don’t want to find out they are sick. Do you know what happens when you do that? You just get sicker! You might need to ask yourself: “Do I need permission to review?”

It’s simple stuff — and you can apply it at any age.

Procrastination is the most expensive fear because the price tag is your life — and life is fast. But permission is free. Don’t wait. Stop spinning your wheels and start living the life you were meant for.