Overcoming Procrastination In 2 Simple Steps
A short guide to accomplishing things
One of the most common problems faced by those seeking advice about work and academic life especially is procrastination. Many people often know what they need to do to succeed or complete a task. Yet, they avoid doing it as if they were fleeing from the plague. The problem isn’t usually a lack of knowledge but rather a failure to act, coupled with an internal resistance whenever they try to begin.
The Struggle with Procrastination
Consider students who know they need to prepare for an exam, understand how to prepare, and even promise themselves they will study tomorrow, yet they fail to start for weeks. This is a deeply frustrating issue.
Particularly interesting is the intense resistance they encounter when they genuinely want to engage in the task. It feels as though something inside them is sworn to maintaining the status quo, resisting any change, no matter their goals. This resistance, surprisingly, disappears entirely when they spend hours doing nothing or when they are bored.
In the following article, I’m going to explain to you how the simple 2 steps of :
- Detaching from phone devices and any other stimulating activity for the period of studying — even if you end up doing nothing.
- Opening the book material or the task at hand and just looking at it.
are going to help you overcome the initial resistance that’s biologically made to keep your brain from changing and eventually start overcoming procrastination.
The Biological Basis of Resistance
I was surprised when I first learned that this resistance operates on a biological level. In an interesting fact about neuroplasticity, one of the chemicals the brain releases when doing non-routine tasks or learning new things is acetylcholine, which is preceded by the activation of the stress system. When we want to learn something new, we release norepinephrine (noradrenaline) into the brain stem. This chemical enhances focus, akin to a flashlight illuminating a path of cause and effect. However, this focused attention is demanding, and the adult brain resists changing its established, effortless algorithms. But if you push through this discomfort and reluctance, the brain marks the neurons required for the new behavior or thought for change.
This also explains why starting a new task is often harder than doing it. Initially, the norepinephrine and adrenaline released by the brain create feelings of discomfort and reluctance.
Misconceptions About Procrastination
Contrary to popular belief, procrastination is not usually due to laziness. Completing tasks involves significant changes, which are costly for the brain. It must dismantle old pathways and establish new ones.
Additionally, the fear of the changes that will follow once tasks are completed keeps us in our comfort zones, the same way that stepping into the unknown is risky.
Another misconception about procrastination is that we often delay the tasks that we find unenjoyable and we make this imaginary image that the task is painful. Well, this is no more than an illusion of the brain that it makes when it compares an immediately gratifying experience, such as playing video games, to a way less gratifying experience, such as preparing for your exams.
The way to overcome this is to only offer your brain the option between studying and being bored, which is way less gratifying. Below, I’ll explain this in detail.
Practical Strategies to Overcome Procrastination
My practical advice for overcoming procrastination typically involves simply sitting down to work and waiting. For instance, if you keep postponing starting a document, decide on a specific time to start and a set duration to spend on it. Open the document and sit at your desk. If you continuously delay studying for a class, set a specific time and duration, place the textbook on your desk, and sit down.
Two things might happen: you will either start working on the task shortly after sitting down, or you will find yourself distracted by social media, your phone, or chatting with colleagues. If you’re a student, you might start texting, lying down, or watching something unrelated.
Facing Discomfort
What happens here is that as soon as you sit down to do the task, the discomfort we mentioned earlier arises. Instead of pushing through it, you opt for “narcotics” to numb the discomfort.
My advice is to realize that however bad the discomfort might feel, it’s going to ease away in no time. Additionally, the more that you condition yourself to start studying, the easier it is going to be for you to start studying again.
Our brains are malleable and tend to find comfort in repeating already established behaviors; the moment that we study a session, it’ll be easier to start another one and so forth. That’s why the hardest studying session in a day is the first one.
Structured Study Sessions
For example, I suggested the following plan to a student struggling with procrastination:
- “From 9:00–10:30 AM, 11:30 AM-1:00 PM, and 2:00–3:30 PM, you will work for three 1.5-hour sessions, totaling 4.5 hours. You will sit at your desk during these times. Your phone will be off and out of the room. No lying down, you will stay at the desk.
- “At 9:00 AM, you will sit down. For an hour and a half, you will either study or just look at the book. Even if you don’t feel like studying, you won’t turn to distractions. Let yourself be bored. If you can’t muster the will to study, at least show the will not to get up.
Even if you don’t study at all, take a break at 10:30, rest as if you had studied, and be back at the desk at 11:30. Once you sit down, there’s a 60–70% chance you’ll start working. Maybe you’ll just sit for 3–4 days, but if you persist and avoid distractions, you’ll soon begin to study.”
The Importance of Boredom
I learned from Anna Lembke about the importance of boredom. In “Dopamine Nation,” Anna Lembke discusses in the “Addictions” section that boredom is a significant trigger for anxiety, but it’s also a necessary experience for modern humans, who are constantly distracted by endless tools.
When you’re bored, you face the question, “What should I do now?” This is crucial because, in this state, we can produce creative ideas, reevaluate our priorities and values, and ask, “What will I do with my life?”
Practical Implementation
If you need to write a document, open it, turn off the internet, and sit in front of it for an hour and a half. You’ll either work on the document or just look at it, doing nothing else. Let yourself be bored.
If you don’t feel like going to the gym, get dressed and go there. Even if you don’t lift weights, sit at the door and don’t look at your phone. You’ll either lift weights or be bored.
From my experience and the experience of many others, if you sit down at the designated time and allow yourself to be bored, you will eventually start the task. If you get up from the task (physically or virtually via screens), you will likely delay the task until the last moment or never start it. Boredom, just being alone with the task, is crucial. At least show the will not to escape the boredom. You’ll see the rest will follow.
This approach is not glamorous. Most self-improvement advice overlooks a simple truth: almost all worthwhile and developmental tasks are boring. Moreover, experiencing and enduring boredom is necessary to start these tasks. Our primitive brain always prefers immediate pleasure and entertainment over boredom and anxiety. With billions of dollars invested in keeping our primitive brains detached from our advanced brains by platforms like Instagram and YouTube, focusing on boring tasks is challenging. The only solution is to eliminate all alternatives during the designated task time. The only alternative to doing the task should be looking at it and being bored.
If you can’t study at your desk, at least sit there without your phone for an hour and a half. Daydream if you must, but when you catch yourself, stop. Be bored. If you fall asleep at the desk, it’s not great, but it’s better than checking Instagram.
In conclusion, the key to overcoming procrastination is to face the discomfort and embrace boredom. It’s not about laziness but about pushing through the brain’s resistance to change. By committing to the task and removing distractions, you can train yourself to start and complete tasks effectively.
About me
I’m Madison. I’m a life coach who has had immense experience in the last decade in the art of attracting your life’s partner, enjoying the benefits of a disciplined and healthy life, and building the mindset necessary to enjoy an independent or happily co-dependent life.
For more of my lessons, make sure to follow my blog and I’m very excited to hear your comments as well.
