I always wanted to learn/do that but never actually found time for it -me sometimes

Procrastination means putting things off till the last minute. The deadline of a task, project or duty comes around sooner or later. Then after being high on adrenaline and pulling a couple of all-nighters, we manage to survive and deliver what we easily could have done without that much stress.

The cause

By personal experience, I think procrastination has 3 major causes.

1. 1. Your value system

   “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

   Why are you doing this task? What will you achieve? What is your goal? money? social validation? whatever the reason might be, you have to go through this personal conversation with yourself.

   Our brains are wired for survival and passing genes to the next generation. That is the ultimate goal of any living being. Our natural instinct could not care less about getting straight A’s in final exams or learning that hot new technology, unless you couple it with some value deep within your psyche.

   Try to understand your why, then and only then, you will be able to bear its how.

2. 2. Fear

   We are scared of the unknown and ambiguity, just like how children fear darkness.

   When we don’t know completely what we are dealing with as a challenge, a classic trick our brain does is to try to avoid it by sticking to short term pleasure, but here’s when you have to intentionally interfere with this natural response.

   After gaining momentum, that fear will be gone and you will have no problems doing that work again.

3. 3. Distraction

   We live in a society prone to distraction. We’re constantly called on social apps, emails and other matters thanks to the internet.

   We cannot get rid of distraction entirely, but the thing we most certainly can do is reducing the possibility of being distracted when we are actively working.

   There are many systems, apps and tools you can facilitate to reduce the amount of distraction you receive per day.

The cure

I wrote about the potential reasons why you might be procrastinating. Now let’s see how we might be able to get decrease it.

• Remove the delay for execution

  The more time you take to prepare, the less likely you are to finish the task at hand.

  There’s a famous quote by Warren Buffet saying “An idiot with a plan can beat a genius without a plan”, personally as a professional “over-thinker”. this is not a case for me.

  I’ve seen times and times again that when I get to work without that much planning I am quicker gain feedback and to change course and keep moving step by step. Hip-firing my way through success if you will.

• Gain momentum

  Newton’s first law states that if a body is at rest or moving at a constant speed in a straight line, it will remain at rest or keep moving in a straight line at constant speed unless it is acted upon by a force.

  I’ve experienced the same concept can be applied to human actions. If you’re not doing anything and are lazy to start things, chances are you are going to be that way unless you gain momentum towards what you want to do.

  Same principle applies to people that are motivated and high performer. They are more likely to keep doing what they are already doing.

• Try SMART goals

  While planning ahead of time, try to set specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time.-bound goals. SMART goals have the attributes that will help you have less friction towards starting, doing and finishing your tasks.

• Pomodoro technique

  Simply put, you set an alarm for 10-15 minutes, you get to work and discard any distractions or any multitasking. 15 minutes of laser focusing on one task. After that you take a 5-10 minute break. Repeat this process multiple time and you will get so much out of your day!

  Pomodoro technique is effective because you limit all of your friction. It is only 10 minutes! it is going to be fun! But there’s a compound effect to it. which will pay off soon.