Issue #101 • September 28th, 2026

Hi Reader,

There's a kind of tired that comes from carrying a decision you haven't made.

Maybe it's a call you owe someone. A doctor's appointment. A conversation you keep rehearsing in your head. It's not loud. It's a hum. It's there when you open your laptop, and it's there when you go to bed.

I'll go first. My hum right now is a new module for my online energy course. I'm turning 52 this year, and according to Rhythm Health, the #1 at-home blood test for better health, my biological age is 41. I want to share the routines that got me there in a simple course anyone can follow. It's been on my list since June. I know exactly what the first step is. I haven't taken it.

Yes, I'm procrastinating on a course about energy. I know.

The hire I already knew about

The year woom USA went from $12M to $20M, I hired a Marketing Manager who looked perfect on paper. He ran our marketing spend, the website, the branding, the messaging. Within weeks, I knew it wasn't the right fit. So did my team.

I waited months anyway. I finally made the call in spring 2020. Not when I first felt the friction. Not when my team started noticing. Months after I already knew.

It's not a discipline problem

For a long time I thought this was a discipline thing. Get a better system, a better calendar, push harder.

It's not.

Why? Because every task you avoid comes with a feeling. For me, it was dread. Every time I pictured sitting down with him, I found something more urgent to do. For you, it might be uncertainty, or not wanting to let someone down. Putting it off makes that feeling go away, right now. It's not a time problem. It's a feelings problem.

That's why the new planner doesn't fix it. And you next week won't feel braver. You'll just have a bigger mess. Mine was months of spend going through a role that wasn't working, and a team carrying a decision I wouldn't make.

You weren't meant to do this alone

You'd never multiply 245 by 3,678 in your head. You'd grab a calculator. Nobody calls that weak. Willpower works the same way. You don't have to carry all of it yourself. You can borrow some from the people around you.

In the business owner group Birthing of Giants I lead, we sit down every quarter, set our plans, and hold each other to them. Nobody in that room has more willpower than anyone else. They just know someone's going to ask.

One more thing helps: forgive yourself for the last time you waited. One study found that people who forgave themselves for procrastinating did it less the next time. Shame makes you avoid. Forgiveness lets you try again.

Let's borrow each other

Hit reply and tell me the one thing you've been putting off. One sentence is enough. Next week I'll write back and ask how it went.

And I'll hold myself to the same thing. By the end of this week, I'll create the first lesson in the module. I already have the title: "Your Body Isn't a Someday Project."

I read every reply.

Mathias Ihlenfeld | Entrepreneur | Coach | Advisor

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