Stop Procrastination Now!

Are you reading this instead of working, going to the gym, cleaning your room, etc? Are you procrastinating?

If your answer is yes, you are not alone. 20% of people identify themselves as chronic procrastinators, people in this category find that procrastination affects almost every part of their life.

But the problem is not only with this 20%, many of us struggle with procrastination in some or many parts of our lives.

Procrastination is postponing actions in a way that is not rational. The individual knows that this delay will bring problems, mental suffering, etc and still keeps delaying those actions.

If you have read some self-help books about it, many will say that you need to develop focus and avoid any distraction. Unfortunately, this is not a solution! Just the result of a good strategy, but that strategy is never explained.

#REWARDS

Here is the simple strategy that will bring focus and avoid any distraction: REWARDS

Obvious, right?. Unfortunately, it almost never gets used, especially in our everyday life.

Why is so powerful a reward? Our brain is constantly looking for rewards and actions that trigger those rewards.

There are bizarre examples of humans doing weird stuff only because in some cases this behavior led to a nice reward for some time.

This is the reason why slot machines are so addictive for many people. The brain associates very fast the action of pulling a handle with the possibility of earning money. Remember that word "possibility".

Now, why we spend time on Facebook, instagram, a video game, instead of working? Because the reward in a video game/Facebook/instagram/etc is fast and the reward in your work is going to take week or months.

The brain can associate more easily an activity with a reward when this reward is immediate. In other words, our brain prefers smaller rewards but instantly, than bigger rewards but far into the future.

#POSSIBILITY

Our brain does not know about randomness and every time that it gets a reward, it will try to find patterns to increase the chance of getting the reward, that is the reason why so many people swear that they have found a way to cheat slot machines.

How can you apply this knowledge to your everyday life and finally beat procrastination?

Start by slicing your activities in small chunks and after each chunk give yourself a reward. Try to avoid giving yourself the same reward all the time, remember that what is important is how fast can you get the reward after the activity.

The reward can be cash, a break, a snack, spend some time on your favorite website, etc.

Do this for a few weeks and after some time your brain will develop an association activity-reward.