Today, on September 19th, 2024, we are launching the first session of the Argusa Data School for Analysts. This course, which I co-developed with a colleague at Argusa, has been our “baby” for the past few years, and it’s finally coming to life today.

Why am I up at this hour? Because I have just finished a final run-through of my slides and technical exercises to make sure everything runs smoothly for tomorrow’s attendees.

Now you are probably wondering why I am still preparing for the Data School the night before the first session. The answer: Procrastination.

Yes, I am afflicted by this phenomenon. The only way I have found to avoid spending endless amounts of time on tasks is to not leave myself too much time in the first place.

This sounds risky but I assure you that I am being smart about it. I only apply this strategy with tasks where I “know” I have the knowledge, the data and other material, or the capability to quickly collect them.

But if I have everything I need, why not just get the task done earlier? Perfectionism — I am often paralyzed by the high standards I set for my work. For instance, I feel like I should create the “perfect” set of slides for the Data School. While setting high expectations can be positive, if they are unrealistic, they make the task seem overwhelming and impossible to finish in a reasonable time. That’s where the paralysis sets in.

If you are wondering how I handle situations where I don’t have all the knowledge, data, or materials readily available, I’ve developed a solution: public commitments. I break projects down into manageable chunks, work backward from the final deadline, and set smaller deadlines for each part. Then, I share these deadlines with colleagues and schedule meetings to review the progress. This approach has allowed me to successfully complete a variety of projects, and I’m quite proud of it.

So, we have established that my procrastination stems from perfectionism. But what causes this perfectionism? I’ve been reflecting on this since the Data School for Managers program that we ran in April 2024. A similar scenario played out with the preparation of that program as well.

After introspection, I have reached the conclusion that I fall into this trap of perfectionism leading to procrastination because of fear — the fear of being found out.

After 10 years delivering data projects, and before that, 8 years spent as a scientist working at one of the biggest laboratories in the world, I still experience imposter syndrome. I doubt my capabilities and fear that during one of the presentations, I will be found out — for not knowing enough, for lacking depth, or for falling short on insights related to data and analytics.

As I look to the next decade, my honest advice to myself is: act in spite of the fear. Be brave enough to be good enough.

I hope some of this resonates with you. See you for lesson 2 of 10.