Procrastination

 

 

I want to share with you something that I've noticed about how I procrastinate.

I'm sure everybody procrastinates, but one of the things that really struck me is when I used to have to revise or study for the exam, one of the things I always did is before I sat down to actually do the work, I wanted to prepare the scene, I wanted to tidy my desk, I wanted to sharpen my pencils, to make myself a cup of tea, maybe have like a little snack ready.

 

And what I realized is that I was just basically delaying like the actual work.

And it was just another form of procrastination.

And once I realized that, it also made me think that, you know, by doing all of these little things, like

feeding into your perfectionism or your OCD(*Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, OCD) or getting yourself a snack beforehand or just like all of this prep before doing the actual work, it was always like I was rewarding myself for procrastinating and procrastination.

 

There's a lot of studies that have been done on it and it shows like it's almost like an addiction.

It works so similarly in the human brain to an addiction, in the sense that like, you know, the more you

feed it the stronger it gets, the more dependent you become on procrastinating. So one of the best ways is to just not feed it.

 

Imagine it as this sort of monster that you have to really break away from.

So ever since I realized that what I did, instead of sort of doing all of these little things beforehand is I just got started.

And once I was done, once I did the work that I wanted to do, be it revising for an hour or studying something

for an hour, it’s at that point that I reward myself, that I get myself a snack or I find something fun to do for like five minutes.

And this really helped me like beat procrastination. And one of the ways that you can try is something

called the Pomodoro Technique.

 

So you set the timer for twenty-five minutes. You do the tasks that you're meant to do and then after that time when the timer rings you have a five-minute break. And in those five minutes you can do whatever it is you want, right, like you can, you know, like go for a walk, go for a snack, look outside the window, go on like your computer, search for something.

And the point is that you're delaying all of these fiddly things or all of these little itty bitty things

for that five minutes.

 

So while you're working you're fully focused on working and while you're having a break you're fully

focused on having a really relaxing break. So have a go of that.

 

If you've never tried the Pomodoro Technique, it's pretty big for me anyway. And I'm really curious how it works out for you.

So let me know by comments, how it's going for you and what are some of your tricks as well.

I'm curious to know. So keep going and I will be silently cheering for you here.