Have you ever experienced a day where you nailed all the items on your to-do list and
you felt so accomplished and so proud? A day later, despite knowing how great it feels
to knock out your work, you just can't find yourself motivated to even get started. If
that sounds like you, it's completely normal, but also something you can easily overcome.
Here's how. Dr. Jubbal, MedSchoolInsiders.com.
It's important to understand that procrastinating is human nature, and those who achieve top
results in college and medical school aren't immune to procrastination. Instead, they simply
know how to deal with it more effectively. Even in creating this video, I had to rely
on two of these five techniques, otherwise I would have pushed it off for later.
There are countless theories and explanations as to why we procrastinate. What I've found
that resonates the most with me and the students I tutor is some combination of the following:
1. Something else is more enticing than the work at hand
2. The task at hands seems intimidating, boring, or frustrating
3. There isn't enough time to make meaningful progress on your task
4. You’re too tired to spend the energy on it
5. You didn’t plan for it Based on the source of the procrastination,
the point of friction preventing you from getting your work done, we can attack the
problem with one or more strategies. If you find it discouraging that overcoming procrastination
takes so much effort and strategy, don’t be. Remember that forcing consistency and
discipline with your intended behaviors will lead to them becoming habits, which are much
easier to sustain. When the source of resistance is that something
else is more enticing, you have one of two options: either make other things seem less
appealing, or make the work at hand become more appealing.
To make temptations less desirable, consider adding points of friction to make them less
appealing. For example, if you’re anything like me, your phone is likely a big distraction.
It surreptitiously robs you of productivity. In brief micro-moments where you feel your
work is challenging, it’s easy to grab your phone reflexively to release some tension.
To make this less appealing, or at least less automatic, I have a few wireless chargers
set up in rooms where I’m likely to be working. I put my phone on the wireless charger, and
they’re strategically positioned to be out of sight and distanced away from where I’m
working, meaning in order to pick up my phone it won’t be automatic, but rather intentional.
If your distraction is TV, increase friction by working in a space away from the TV or
even remove the batteries from your TV remote. If it’s friends or your significant other,
study in the library or some place else where you cannot talk to them.
To make the work at hand more desirable, consider what environmental tweaks would make the process
more fun. When I first got my iPad mini in medical school, I was so amazed by the retina
display and was so eager to use my new gadget that I found myself powering through Anki
cards like never before. After doing that enough times, it became a habit that stuck.
Other ways to make your work more enjoyable include listening to music, finding a study
partner you mesh well with, or gamifying the task at hand. For example, you could reward
yourself after completing each 25 minute study block, or Pomodoro, by eating a little bit
of your favorite treat. Having a good study partner adds some level of accountability
and social interaction that’s a net positive, so long as you two don’t distract one another.
If the task at hand is the problem because it seems intimidating, boring, or frustrating,
the fix is to reframe your relationship to it. There are two main ways to do this.
First, deconstruct the task into smaller bite sized chunks. When you run a marathon or cycle
a century, you don’t set your goal from the start of running 26 miles or riding 100
miles. Instead, you focus on one mile at a time, one after another.
Similarly, rather than telling yourself that you need to study two chapters of biochemistry
and get through 25 practice problems, focus on just a single section within one chapter.
Like an enzyme reducing the activation energy of a reaction, this reduces the activation
energy of you getting started, and we all know that’s the hardest part. Once the ball
is rolling, it’s much easier to keep going beyond your initial goal of just 1 section.
Second, transform your goal from output-oriented to input-oriented. In other words, if the
task is to get through 10 physics practice problems, reframe the goal to doing a single
25-minute work block, or Pomodoro. This not only makes the task seem more manageable,
but also sets a discrete timeframe, rather than the nebulous amount of time it takes
for 10 physics practice problems, which is highly variable on how difficult or complex
each question is. If you feel like you don’t have enough time,
you simply need to rethink your relationship to being crunched on time.
Parkinson’s Law states that work expands to fill the time allotted to it, meaning the
more time you set aside to complete a task, the more time that task will actually take.
I found myself paradoxically more productive when I had busier days packed with commitments.
The reason is that when you’re short on time, you will force yourself to complete
the task in less time than you initially anticipated. The key is to find the right balance. If you’re
too aggressive, you’ll find yourself feeling overwhelmed, but if you’re too lax, you’ll
be leaving efficiency potential on the table. Don’t forget that most tasks lend themselves
well to partial completion. You don’t always need to complete an entire task in one sitting.
In fact, one of my friends in college told me he didn’t like studying for just 30 or
60 minutes, since he felt like he couldn’t get in the zone. I felt differently, that
having an intense burst for 30 or 60 minutes allowed me to intensely focus and immerse
myself without distraction, knowing the work was time constrained into a short period and
I didn’t have to worry about mental endurance. Being too tired is one that I can relate to
the most, and for that reason one that I’ve had plenty of time to experiment with. A couple
things have helped me overcome fatigue to squeeze out the last couple hours of meaningful
work before calling it a day without guilt. First, I find if I’m in a relaxed posture,
such as sitting in a comfortable chair, on the couch, or in my bed, I’m much more likely
to fade into a relaxed state with zero intention of getting anything done. Rather, working
at my standing desk or even sitting on countertop stools without backrests at my kitchen island
keep me alert. Remember, our body posture influences our mind, and vice versa.
Second, I consider whether or not a nap would be a good idea. If it’s before 2PM and I
have been short on sleep, I’ll do a power nap of 13 minutes, which is what I found is
the best duration for me. Any shorter and I don’t feel refreshed, and any longer and
I’m likely to feel groggy. I’ve spoken about how to get the most out of naps in another
video, which you should watch after this. And third, the act of physically moving is
a highly reliable way to get me back into gear. If I haven’t exercised, this may be
the time to get a workout in. But I tend to get my workout in by early afternoon these
days. So in most instances, this translates to moving around my apartment and tidying
up, doing chores I need to get done anyway. That can be laundry, the dishes, cleaning,
or something else physically productive that isn’t mentally taxing. And if even that
seems like too much to handle, just tell yourself to do it for 5 minutes and that you can stop
after that. More often than not, you’ll find it easy to keep going.
After getting the physical kickstart, my energy is restored and I'm able to get to work.
And finally, perhaps you didn’t plan for the task, and it escaped you in the busyness
of the day. Time-blocking your days and using your calendar as designed is the most powerful
tool I’ve come across in overcoming this. Once I added my daily workouts to my calendar
and planned meetings before and after, I found my consistency and performance during those
workouts improved. By creating the routine, I no longer had to wonder when I was going
to exercise, only for it to get too late and have to push it back to tomorrow.
If you make it a routine to study every afternoon from 3 to 6, that consistency will reduce
the activation energy of getting started, and you'll find it easier to overcome your
procrastination. If you've come this far, I know you'll love
my free weekly newsletter. I dive into similar concepts, personal learnings, and my favorite
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If you enjoyed this video, check out 7 steps to cure procrastination or how to achieve
super human productivity. Much love, and I'll see you guys there.