Procrastination is something that we are all guilty of, including you because you have clicked on this post since you want to know whats happening inside your mind when you procrastinate, hoping that by understanding the process, you might find a way to stop doing it. You were probably supposed to do something else but then decided to spend five minutes on Steemit or YouTube and somehow you ended up here. It has been probably an hour or two since you decided to spend only five minutes.
It might seems difficult to control because you have been doing it all of your life and never found a way but in reality, it could not be easier! (Don’t procrastinate on reading the rest)
Your brain is designed in such a way that it always searches for a reward, especially in todays society when everything is connected and fast pace. Your brain will always choose short-term gains over the long-term gains even if the longterm are hundred times more. Why don't you watch a video to free up your mind and you will be able to focus better on your work? Or someone likes your picture on Instagram and that gives you a good feeling. Compliments you in a comment, you couldn’t feel better! A friend sends you a text asking to make plans this week. Thats why whenever your phone buzzes, you instantly check your phone because your brain is craving for that instant gratification!
So let’s take a look at what happens when you have a difficult task in front of you that requires a lot of tie and effort and you are not even sure where to start and how long its going to take and the rewards don’t seem to come fast enough. Exactly!
Your brain will start exaggerating it, making it seem like it’s going to take way longer than you think. Thats why its better to do it later. Your brain will come up with every excuse to put it aside for now and do something else that will give you instant gratification, like; checking the next marvel movie coming out or looking up the price of bitcoin or whatever other useless nonsense that crosses your mind.
So here is a simple trick you can follow that will make you stop procrastinating: Break up the task and focus only on a simple small part of it. If you plan on going to the gym, stop thinking it’s going to be an excruciating 2 hours of lifting and instead tell yourself you’re only going to exercise for 15 minutes and if you feel tired you will head back home. Suddenly it gets much easier to get up and head to the gym! And once you’re there lifting, it gets much easier to continue for another hour or so!
Remember your job is to get yourself to start, the rest will be easier! When you want to watch an educational Youtube video, you don't plan to watch videos for the next 2 hours, you just want to watch that one video about investing, and then somehow you end up watching many more!
Writing posts on your blog can be difficult, especially coming up with interesting material and you end up procrastinating. Instead of thinking that you have to write an entire post, simply focus on the topic and nothing else. The writing will flow on its own. Trust me, this is the most practical way to defeat procrastination.
