Procrastination

8:23. I'll start at 8:30. First-break. I'll do it second break. Three weeks until exams. I'll study hard next week. We all know that procrastination sucks you in and it’s a hard cycle to break.  So, how exactly can we break down this destructive and unproductive cycle and be productive? 

Well,  after years of wrestling with procrastination, I’ve come up with a solution. Don’t target procratination in the moment and if it comes down to it, use the 1, 2, 3 strategy.

Procrastination is like a dance between you and your mind. The limbic system vs the prefrontal cortex. When you put something off, your limbic system, aka your subconscious pleasure center, wins the battle. When you just do it, the prefrontal cortex wins. Unfortunately is it much easier for the limbic system to take the win so the idea is to break the leg of your Limbic system before the fight (pun unintended).

Here is the strategy I have been using for years:

Every time you receive a piece of work, assignment or worksheet. Start. The second you get a maths problem set, do the first question then you can put it away to be continued at a later time. But this way the friction of starting, that often leads to procrastination, has been dealt with before hand. Easy as pie!

Now there are certain situations where you cannot take this approach. For example, you see a pretty girl/good looking guy that you want to introduce yourself to and you can’t exactly say hi and then put the conversation on pause until a later date. Or when you need to force yourself to take a cold shower, there’s no way to lightly splash yourself with the ice water and still get the full benefits of a proper cold shower. You can’t really “do the first question immediately” so this requires a different approach. This different approach goes like this: Promise to yourself right now that if you count 1, 2, 3 you have to do the thing right after you say 3. I used this approach when we were on holiday and I saw a girl that I wanted to talk to. I was very nervous and making stupid excuses as to why it would be weird for me to introduce myself. 3 seconds later and I was walking up to her and saying hi. If you train the 1, 2, 3 muscle and strengthen the promise, you essentially have a secret weapon that you can use to do anything and it only takes 3 seconds. I have never broken a 3 second rule in my life and I have been using it since I was 14. I’m 18 now.

Note: If I know that there is something that there is no chance that I will follow through with I won’t count it because the strength of the technique is more important than that singular thing I was about to count.

“The best way out, is always through”

-Robert Frost