Today I want to talk more about the mental illusion(s) that cause procrastination.
I want to talk about the "I'll do it later" habit and why it does not work!
Here's an example of how it happens: It's a nice day, and one has a number of tasks to do when he or she would rather enjoy the sunshine.
"Oh it's 9:10am he says, I'll start at 9:30am". But it never happens; 4 hours later the mind wants more enjoyment!
5 hours later, guilt is pressing and n order to compensate for that irritating feeling more enjoyment is required. It has become like an addictive substance; there's no fun in it, but one runs after the empty promise of more fun.
Have you ever realised that a good dinner always seems less abundant. As the saying goes, one can never have enough of a pleasant thing.
That same thing happens with whatever distracts people from the tasks that are required to be done.
So how do we solve this?
First, be aware that breaks before starting cause a downward spiral into an addictive state of procrastination.
Second, resolve to enjoy the day, but only when the task is finished.
Third, realise that by starting your tasks and finishing them you will not only have all the time to enjoy the day, but you will enjoy it better and enjoy even the tasks.
Fourth, consider forming this into a habit. There are techniques to create habits fast if you do your research! If you don't have time for such a research, you're either too busy to be reading this space or you're a really big procrastinator. So get my book to quicken up things or if you can't afford it, find some time to visualise yourself carrying this new behaviour in the same situation where you usually procrastinate.
More importantly though, keep in mind that delaying doesn't work... the more you consider the truth of it the quicker your mind will be willing to drop the behavior. When the mind realises that a behavior doesn't give the required result it drops it IMMEDIATELY, once and for all.
It's instant change; and your next step is to build the habit that works.
Congratulations!
More mental illusions that cause procrastination in the next post. Stay tuned, and until then, stay productive! :)
Mark Mifsud
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