曾伟骏
menowarchivesnewslettersay hi

Dealing with Procrastination

December 15th, 2023 (10 months ago) • 3 minutes

Procrastination is unavoidable. It's literary build into our DNA, as we crave immediate satisfaction, even when it's not the best for us long term. Human also tend to think short term which exacerbates this problem.

Although procrastination produces stress that actually correlates to a performance boost, relying on procrastination itself as a stress producer limits our growth and potentials.

Yerkes Dodson Law

Yerkes Dodson Law

Types of Procrastination

  • Type I - Procrastination on simple daily things like doing laundry, buying groceries, replying to emails etc
  • Type II - Procrastination on longer term projects, leading to us failing to make progress

Fighting back

Here are some types of fighting back recommended by Sahil Bloom:

  1. Awareness: Schedule a time within the day to ask these questions. Answering them with a 'no' is a signal of procrastination.

    • Am I proud of the actions I am taking on these big projects?
    • Am I doing what I should be doing?

  2. Deconstruction: Big abstract problems scares us. Break down these problem into smaller manageable chunks of tasks.

  3. Plan Creation: Once you know what to do, plan a timeline for it. Be specific on what to do and time-box it to keep yourself accountable. We often overestimate what we can do in a day but underestimate what we can do in a year. Hence, be more generous on the timeline when setting short term goals.

  4. Stake Creation: Create and raise stakes for the things you want to do. Put yourself up for it. Some examples are like:

    • Doing a public declaration of what you are building.
    • Setting up social pressure by telling a close friend what you want to do
    • Giving yourself a reward if you finish the task
    • Setting a penalty if you don't complete

  5. Action: The first step is always the hardest. But after that, according to Newton's 1st law of motion, it gets easier due to inertia. Creating small wins that continue to motivate your journey helps in this case.

Appendix

  • Look into Eisenhower 2x2 Decision Matrix to know what to do.
  • Block out one hour at the start and end of the day to do tactical tasks that give you immediate satisfactions.