Hello Brains! So... procrastination. I struggle with it. My friends struggle with it. Chances are
you're doing it right now. But now I'm gonna teach you how to stop procrastinating.
Which is the first step in whatever it is you were supposed to be doing before you started
procrastinating. So let's get started!
Do you want a snack? I want a snack.
[music intro]
Even if you don't have ADHD these techniques should be helpful to you. If you do have
ADHD you just might need to use them a little more often.
[whoop sound]
No.
[whistle sound]
[video game sounds]
[ticking clock]
So why DO we procrastinate? Getting stuff done on time would make our lives so much easier.
More productive. More relaxing. And -- our brains LIKE to get things done!
They're built for it. There's a whole reward system involving dopamine to
encourage it. So, again, why do we procrastinate? Because there are a ton of reasons to?
[whooshing noises]
No. These things might make it easier to procrastinate but they're not the actual
reason we do. And we don't do it because we're lazy. If you've ever cleaned your
entire house to avoid working on an essay, that's not laziness. Telling yourself
you're lazy is just another way of procrastinating on dealing with your own
procrastination. Turns out, procrastination is not a character defect. If you're procrastinating
it means your brain doesn't have all the information,
stimulation, motivation, it needs to get the thing you're trying to get done, done.
Think of it like an inner alarm system letting us know when something's wrong.
Just like pain is an alarm system to let us know that something's wrong with our body.
Not addressing the reason we're procrastinating and just forcing ourselves to work
is like making ourselves work when our back hurts. Some times it's good to
just push through. Other times, it's gonna do more harm than good. When we figure
out which one we're dealing with, we can fix the issue and get back to work -- without the pain.
So what's wrong?
When it comes down to it there are only two reasons we procrastinate:
One: you don't know what to do. Either you don't remember what you're supposed to be doing, in
which case a task manager or a to-do list can help, I will talk about that in
another episode, or you don't know what the next step is. Projects need to be broken
down into actions for our brains to know how to tackle them. By outlining the
steps we need to get to the end of the project we make working on the project a
whole lot easier. Try putting "write a novel" on your to-do list. See if it ever gets done.
"Brain dump ideas for a story" is much more doable. Any time you're stuck, break down your project into steps
then ask yourself, "what's the very next step?" And then do that. If you're still procrastinating,
chances are, 2. you don't feel like doing it. Your task here it figure out why you don't
feel like doing it. Note that I didn't say "just do it". If you have ADHD you know making yourself do
something makes the task almost unbearable. It also takes at least
five times as long to finish it. So it's usually worth taking the time to address
whatever the problem is. Common reasons we don't feel like it include:
We're bored. We're anxious. We're overwhelmed.
We're hyper focused on something else. Fear of success. Fear of failure. We don't
care about it. We want it to be perfect. We got distracted.
We forgot to take our meds. We're out of our meds. We're hungry.
We're tired. We're afraid we're not good enough. We just want to do this one last thing.
And my favorite: it's not due yet. That's a lot of reasons. The good news: once we identify
WHY we don't feel like doing something, we can do something about it. Let's treat it like
any other project and break it down into steps. One: decide what you're supposed to be doing.
Two: break it down into steps. Three: take the next step. Four: if you still find yourself
procrastinating, ask yourself why. Five: correct the issue.
If you're hungry, eat. If you're tired, nap. If you're bored,
play some fun music while you work on it. Setting a timer can keep you engaged as well.
If you keep getting distracted, try a website blocker or setting your phone to do not disturb.
Six: get back to work. Of course, it's a bit more complex than that, which
is why I'm going to release a bonus video that tackles nearly every reason you
might procrastinate and provide you with a sure-fire solution to get out of
procrastination land.
Probably.
Eventually.
P.S. It's interactive!
That's it for this week. If you have any questions post them in the
comments below or on Facebook and Twitter and be sure to subscribe.
Bye Brains!
Don't condemn your procrastination. Try to make friends with your procrastination.
Now get to work. Thanks for making it to the end!
[music outro]