We humans are infinitely fascinating and diverse creatures. Consider how different we are in appearance, size, language, values, beliefs, passions, culture, religion, eating habits, the capacity to learn and so on…
One aspect we all share in one degree or another is the habit of procrastination – the art of delaying or not completing until it is too late to take action.
The article linked to this cover note sheds an informative insight on why procrastination is such a powerful beast for many of us to consistently overcome. Like the three automatic emotional, reactionary modes of fight, flight or freeze – our brains are programmed to procrastinate. As highlighted in the article “In general, we all tend to struggle with tasks that promise to process concrete rather than abstract things….” The end result is we are inherently biased towards the short-term over the long term.
…“our brains are programmed to procrastinate”
How many of us confess to responding in a Pavlovian manner to the immediate distraction of our phone ringing or looking to see who has just sent us an email or a text message when something is sitting awaiting attention? I know that I need to either mute the sound or turn my laptop or cell phone off so that I don’t hear the ring of something else that has tantalizingly popped into my life.
Okay, so what do we do to overcome our default to go to the more tangible, short-term orientation held by our brain? Three things:
- Be clear with yourself of what is important and discipline yourself to disallow other temptations to clutter your priorities
- Build time into your calendar to start working towards what needs to be done. It’s amazing how 15 minutes of focused time can lead you to discover that the task is not as daunting as you make it to be; and
- Imagine how you will feel when you have completed the task.Accessing the sense of how you will feel once this task is done is a powerful emotional motivator
More recommendations are captured in the article. .Once you discover a formula that works for you, find a way to access these steps when you find yourself resisting what is achievable without putting more stress on yourself.
Recommended Reading:
Harvard Business review – “How to Beat Procrastination”