Instead of writing this article I recently engaged in a few of the following activities:

• Checking Facebook.
• Checking e-mail.
• Texting my wife.
• Updating my calendar.
• Reading an article that suddenly seemed like the most important information I’d ever come across.
• Making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
• Eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
• Updating some software.
• Sending a snarky text to my friend Marisa.
• Drinking water.
• Using the restroom.
• Checking the Yankee score. (We lost. Again.)
• Filing some receipts.
• Checking my e-mail.
• Ooooh, Facebook!
• Posting a photo to Instagram.
• Working on a design project that isn’t due for quite some time.
• Buying some music online.
• Wait. I need more water.
• Designing the featured image for a post that has yet to be written. (Yes. This one.)
• Checking up on Casey Neistat.
• Chatting with my staff to see how things are going.
• Checking my e-mail.

Some of these tasks were important (but not urgent), while others were obvious and desperate attempts to put off the hard work of conjuring something meaningful to share with you, dear reader.

Does any of this sound familiar to you? Many busy professionals have a knack for staving off undesirable projects with a litany of mundane (safe) tasks that afford them the ability to kick the can down the road for another hour, day, or week. The trick is to develop the awareness necessary to sniff out these procrastination routines and circumvent the internal wiring that leads to avoidance.

Perhaps the tension we feel about doing our very best work can be the trigger that reminds us how important it is.

The best work you will do today just might be the most daunting.

It’s okay to use that knowledge to your advantage.