Wikipedia defines procrastination as “The avoidance of doing a task that needs to be accomplished by a certain deadline”[1]. While all of us have our own definitions of procrastination, the thing that we share around this phenomenon is its negative impact on us, that keeps us away from achieving what we truly deserve and what we, as humans, are capable of accomplishing. If you think fear, anger, jealous and greed are your only negative patterns, add procrastination to the list, because it is equally harmful, even more sometimes.

This article is divided into 2 sections. The first sections talks about the primary reason why people procrastinate. This section is inspired by Tony Robbins’ (World’s leading life Coach) theory of Pain-Pleasure and will help you understand the psyche behind getting into a pattern of procrastinating all the time. The second section has a framework that will help you break the old patterns and neural connections of procrastination. With this, you will be able to break those old chains that have been holding you back from accomplishing things you are capable of, so that you grow on self-belief and become a better version of yourself. 

Why do we procrastinate?

Let us get straight to the point; Procrastination is a choice – as are smoking, drinking excessively and eating junk. We tend to delay doing things because we link  ‘Pleasure’ to ‘not doing something right away’. Think of that Yoga mat that you do not fold after your workout or the clothes that you do not put in your closet. Despite knowing that it’s the right thing to do, you chose not to do it. Why? It is because you find pleasure in not doing it immediately. (You may not always realize this because there is an automated subconscious program running. Next time when you do so, become aware of those unconscious patterns and try to identify the reason why you did so).  It could be anything; shopping groceries, paying bills, vehicle servicing, returning back a friend’s call, etc. The list of activities we procrastinate would vary for each of us, but it is indeed a long one for almost everyone. On a weekday we push it to weekend, on the weekend we push it to the next week and so on. 

Neurons that fire together wire together and each time we procrastinate, our brain builds neural connections of postponing things. Repetition makes this connection even stronger and before we know, from postponing just these small tasks, we get into the unconscious circuitry of procrastinating the larger, impact making and significant activities of our lives, like starting an investment, doing that extra certification, starting a new fitness regime, meditation goals, reading books and the list goes on. So what did we fail at? We failed at linking ‘long term pain’ to procrastinating things. Long-term pain of not being able to get the dream house, dream job, dream physique, dream vacation, providing luxury to our families, etc. 

Let’s have a look at this research around Bedtime Procrastination; Dutch Researchers at Utrecht University surveyed 177 subjects about their sleep behavior and found that half of them purposely delayed sleep (“one more episode”, “one more link”) at least twice a week. The procrastinators tended to be impulsive, with low self-control. [3]

How to Overcome Procrastination?

Here is the good news. If repetition has made things bad, repetition has the power to reverse things back in your favor. How? It’s very simple; just remember this simple mantra– “How you do anything is how you do everything”. Only complex part, though, is to really follow this mindset in everything you do and do it for an extended period of time. Remember that you took years to develop this habit, so it cannot be reversed overnight. Start by stopping to procrastinate those small tasks of putting Yoga Mat at right place, shutting down your laptop everyday after office, making your bed and any such daily activity that you have been postponing. Doing this regularly would reverse those neural connections, which would get you out of the habit of procrastinating. And before you realize, you will stop finding it difficult to do those important and consequential activities.

Practice micro-victory: Tell yourself that you will do it, and then, do it. Each time you do this, it is a micro victory and this develops a pattern. Repeat is a form of mesmerism and cause you to enter altered state of consciousness, helping you make conscious choices throughout the day.

In addition, instead of ‘sub-consciously’ linking short-term pleasure to procrastinating, start consciously linking massive long-term pain to it. E.g. When you procrastinate starting a mutual fund investment, simply link this to not being able to buy your dream car, plan your dream holiday or provide luxury to your family. When you procrastinate getting on a fitness regime, link it to not being able to stay physically and mentally active after 10 years, which could possibly cost you your dream job, or get you those chronic disease because of which you may not be able to enjoy life at its peak.

Change your identity from ‘someone who is lazy’ to ‘someone who is pro-active’; from someone who runs away from responsibility to someone who embraces responsibility; from someone who is scared of challenges to someone who is ever ready to face challenges. When you change your identity, it changes your belief system and when your underlying belief system changes, you start to transform as an individual. It changes your life!

These are more of behavioral changes that we are talking about. It is not difficult; all it need is to believe that you can stay consistent with these changes. Remember, if you think at the beginning about the huge building that you are planning to build, it may look like a massive and unachievable task. However, if you focus on just putting each brick perfectly, brick by brick, you will have a beautiful building in front of you. Hence, take a pledge to start it right now. Do not procrastinate ‘getting rid of procrastination’ anymore and become the best version of yourself!

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrastination
2. Book: Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
3. Floor M. Kroese, Denise T.D DeRidder, et al., “Bedtime Procrastination: Introducing a New Area of Procrastination,” Frontiers in Psychology, June 2014.

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