INSIGHTS: Two tips this week about procrastination:

I finally got around to preparing a couple of my 'Ataraxy Friday' newsletters about procrastination (you see what I did there?).

This topic is close to my heart. I’m a wonderful procrastinator. I’m so good, it is surprising I get anything done at all.

I set up systems and workarounds to help.?For instance, I have a marketing team chase me every week for ideas and nudges for these Ataraxy Friday messages.?Of course, I could outsource these emails, even AI them, but then that would not be me speaking to you.

There are so many drivers of procrastination:

• Not knowing which way to go, we do neither
• Having too much to do, so like a "gridlock of ideas", we don’t move at all
• Not enough sleep - not enough energy
• Short attention window (or span), so we avoid the ‘deep work’ in favour of the quick.
• We simply don’t ‘feel like it’ (more on this next week)

Procrastination = Working tomorrow for a better today.

The idea is that the fun, relaxation, or enjoyment I’m experiencing now is worth more than the progress I’m not making towards some future outcome.?

Sometimes, this is true, most of the time, it is a cop-out.

At base, the mind tries to solve a problem.?

It scans the near horizon and manages a budget of energy.?Trying to conserve energy, avoid risk, and spend energy where it is likely to lead to a reward.??

It is balancing ‘Pain Avoidance’ (and spending energy is a type of ‘pain’ in this context) with 'Pleasure Seeking'.? It is RISK MANAGEMENT by your brain.

For instance, making a phone call and speaking to a colleague to resolve a problem for 5 or 10 minutes takes more mental energy than emailing them a comment or question.?

Even though the email will not resolve the issue, it will likely simply kick the issue around the email-o-sphere for a few days, before someone calls for a 30-minute Teams meeting.

Our non-conscious mind operates in the present.? It needs to solve the energy and risk problem it sees at the moment.? Making that phone call brings doubt, effort, and risk:??

• I’ll have to actually dial into and think about the problem (rather than just ‘catch and pass’)
• Will the person be available to chat???
• If we chat, we might need to decide something, they might get cranky,
• If we decide something, we’ve got to action that decision - which might make others cranky or create more work for me.??

Even though it is likely to be less efficient - it is easier and less risky from your brain's point of view to take the cheap option and send an email, kick the can down the road and hope the problem sorts itself out.

One tip this week about procrastination is to dial into the moment and ask a slightly bigger question.?

Instead of a ‘catch-and-pass’ question like "How should I deal with this?", ask yourself two questions that are, when used together, more likely to achieve a real outcome:

1. What does "done" or progress actually look like or mean?
2. What is the Very Next Action that is likely to move us towards "done"?

The first question will help you move past a cheap "move the problem around" action.?

The second will help you make, and therefore take, clear and direct action in the moment.

#2: Start before you feel like it.

How you feel now is the consequence of a vast number of automated unconscious predictions, reactions and pattern-matching responses by your brain, mind, and body to external and internal stimuli.

Over the preceding day, hour, 5 minutes and seconds, your brain has been managing and predicting how you should ‘feel’.? The chemicals that influence the behaviour of the cells in the body, including the brain, and that ultimately generate a feeling, take time to distribute and dissipate.

As an example, consider that it takes time for a feeling of fear to dissipate.?

Our body ‘dials up’ ready for action. The chemicals that facilitate this dial-up (e.g. cortisol) cannot simply vanish when you realise that the loud bang was just someone dropping something heavy, and not a gunshot.?

The chemicals that help create the feeling of fear are still hanging around. ??

This is also true for feelings of tiredness or even ennui.

For instance, sometimes we do not "feel like exercising" but find a way to drag ourselves out of bed and do it anyway. Then, about 5-10 minutes in, we start feeling a lot better.

Prior to exercise the ‘prediction’ was ‘down-regulate, low energy’.

Once you start exercising, your mind adjusts and dials the system up to a more appropriate energy level for the activity.

Think of it like adjusting the temperature in the shower - there is a time lag between the action "adjust the tap" and the felt experience of "the water temperature change".

Knowing this, a simple and effective idea is "Action Precedes Feeling" to reduce procrastination.

• If you wait until you feel like it, you could wait a long time.?
• Imagine waiting for the shower temperature to be just right before you take the action to adjust it!
• Just start - no view to finishing - just start before you feel like it.

Be patient, and the feeling will catch up.

What is an action you know you need to take, but just don’t feel like?

What is the VERY NEXT STEP in taking that action?

Just do that……..

Cheers,

Nigel

www.nigeldonovan.com

PS Whenever you're ready for a conversation, click here to book a time that suits you.