Are you the Driver ... or the Passenger?? A Neuroscientists perspective as to why we procrastinate

Recently read Willpower Doesn’t Work. Here’s the Key to Being More Productive According to Neuroscience. by Al Pittampalli, the author of Persuadable : How Great Leaders Change Their Minds and Change The World.

Maintenance vs Growth

Maintenance activities are effectively short-term obligations.

They are the “musts” in our life: consultants must consult, surgeons must perform surgery, managers must manage as well as occasionally conduct performance reviews.

...

But then there are growth activities.

Growth activities drive our most important long-term goals. They take us beyond the status quo. “Coulds” rather than “musts”, these activities, as a result, deliver comparatively high return on effort.

Often strikingly so.

A consultant could spend a couple of hours each day for six months writing and publishing a book — I know one who did and in just a few short years, began earning 7x his salary.

A surgeon could deliver eight speeches a year at high profile conferences and soon find herself a nationally recognized authority with regular appearances in national media.

A manager could carve out time every single morning to read books on behavioral economics, and cognitive psychology, and in eight months become the best damn decision maker in the building.

And so it’s no surprise then, that when you look at the schedules of the world’s most productive people — the Elon Musks, the Oprah Winfreys, the Kevin Harts — what you invariably find is this: a disproportionately high number of growth activities.

this was an interesting read for me ...

as it seems to happen so often in life, things cross our paths just when we need them to...

I literally wrote in my journal this morning that I feel I am floundering, stuck in the cosmic soup of the universe, uncertain of which direction to move forward...

while this is fine at times, and sometimes even necessary ... one of the things that I was unwilling to acknowledge is that I needed to choose a direction.

we're not in Kansas any more folks ...

we live in a world rife with choices where free will reigns supreme ... I had been frustrated, downtrodden and dismantled ... my will felt weak and I want an external force to choose for me...

well, unfortunately (IMO) that's not how the universe works ... it was gentle with me, nudging me along as needed but eventually I was going to have to make a decision.

For me ... this is what has arisen.

I have many goals ...

and am easily distracted

I decided to pick one (in this case one I've been focused on for a while and the first one that came to mind when I asked myself what do I really want to do?...

that is now my focus.

I have adjusted my morning routine to accommodate more growth activities.

Now in addition to my regular journaling exercises I will choose 2 actions that will give me the best return on my time relative to accomplishing my singular goal. I will choose 1 more action that is also a growth activity but not tied to any fixed goal. I get bored easily and wanted to add the second part to increase the number of growth activities I accomplish in a day without losing the colorfulness and vibrancy of a semi-chaotic lifestyle.

I really like using the Pomodoro technique.

If you are not familiar with it I highly recommend reading more ... but in summarization:
break down complex tasks into items that can be accomplished in 30 minutes or less ... accomplish one task at a time with short breaks in between.

Now ... you might think ... he's only trying to accomplish 3 things per day?? 30 minutes each ... an hour and a half of work??? whhhhaaaaaauuuuuggghhhtttt???

Well, yes ... that is my goal.

But when you see it from a different perspective you might be surprised.

I am committing to spending at least 1.5 hours each day (working day) investing in my future. I will still complete necessary obligation to sustain my life and lifestyle ... but now I am spending 90 minutes each day of highly focused effort to improve my future wellbeing.

When worded that way it can be seen slightly differently.

I highly recommend the article ... and if my dreams come true (going to email our friend Al Pitt) I will get a free copy of his book, devour it ... and share my thoughts on that as well.

Thanks for reading!
Con mucho amor.