How To Trick Your Brain to Stop Procrastinating
Summary
TLDRIn this insightful discussion, the speaker addresses the root causes of procrastination, emphasizing the importance of understanding personal motivations and letting go of past experiences. They advocate for shifting focus from mental barriers to actionable behaviors, introducing strategies such as creating rewards for task completion and theming workdays for enhanced productivity. Effective communication with team members is crucial to manage time and expectations, and setting boundaries is essential for personal accountability. The speaker encourages immediate action on avoided tasks, fostering a proactive mindset to overcome procrastination and achieve goals.
Takeaways
- 😀 Procrastination often provides temporary relief from anxiety but can lead to long-term negative consequences.
- 🧠 Identifying the underlying benefits of procrastination helps in understanding one's behavior.
- 🚫 Letting go of past failures or experiences can free you from fear and improve present actions.
- 🗓️ Committing to tasks and creating a supportive environment enhances productivity.
- 🎉 Rewarding yourself after completing tasks can serve as motivation to overcome procrastination.
- 🛠️ Theming your workdays helps streamline tasks and improves focus on specific activities.
- 🤝 Clear communication with your team about how to approach you can foster better collaboration.
- ⏰ Protecting your time and setting boundaries is crucial for maintaining productivity and reducing overwhelm.
- 🔍 Learning to say no is an important skill for prioritizing your time and energy effectively.
- 🏃♂️ Taking immediate action on tasks instead of seeking more information encourages progress and accountability.
Q & A
What are the main reasons people procrastinate according to the speaker?
-People often procrastinate due to feelings of anxiety, fear of failure, or avoidance of tasks that they find intimidating or overwhelming.
How does the speaker suggest overcoming the negative impact of past experiences on current behavior?
-The speaker advises against using past experiences as excuses for present behavior, emphasizing the importance of focusing on the current moment and taking proactive steps.
What does the speaker mean by 'get out of your head and get into your behaviors'?
-This phrase encourages individuals to stop overthinking their feelings and to focus on actionable steps that can lead to task completion.
What kind of reward system does the speaker recommend to combat procrastination?
-The speaker recommends setting a reward, such as going for a walk with a dog, that is contingent upon completing a specific task, creating positive reinforcement for productivity.
What is the significance of theming your days for productivity?
-Theming your days allows individuals to focus on specific tasks or types of work, which can reduce the difficulty of switching between different activities and enhance overall productivity.
How should team members communicate with a leader about needing help, according to the speaker?
-Team members should propose specific solutions when seeking help from a leader, instead of merely stating their problems, to facilitate more efficient decision-making.
What role does boundary-setting play in effective time management?
-Setting boundaries is crucial for protecting one's time and ensuring that tasks are prioritized effectively, which helps to reduce feelings of overwhelm.
What action does the speaker encourage viewers to take at the end of the video?
-The speaker encourages viewers to stop consuming content and instead take immediate action on the tasks they have been putting off, promoting a proactive approach.
How can creating a supportive environment impact productivity?
-By creating an environment that rewards task completion and minimizes distractions, individuals can make it easier to focus and accomplish their goals.
Why is it important for a leader to communicate their time management strategies to their team?
-Communicating time management strategies helps team members understand how to interact with the leader effectively and fosters a culture of respect for the leader's time and priorities.
Outlines
🧠 Overcoming Fear and Embracing Action
In this part, the speaker emphasizes the detrimental impact of allowing past experiences to dictate current behavior. They advise against dwelling on previous setbacks, urging listeners to focus on present actions. The discussion centers around creating a reward system linked to task completion, suggesting that individuals should engage in enjoyable activities, like walking their dog, only after finishing their work. By disengaging from mental barriers and concentrating on actionable behaviors, individuals can enhance productivity and accountability.
📅 Strategies for Effective Time Management
This segment focuses on enhancing productivity for business leaders through effective time management strategies. The speaker introduces the concept of theming workdays to streamline focus and reduce task-switching difficulties. Emphasizing the importance of communication, they encourage leaders to train their teams on how to manage expectations and present solutions rather than problems. By clearly stating how their time should be respected and prioritized, business owners can alleviate feelings of overwhelm and anxiety. The speaker concludes by prompting viewers to take immediate action on pending tasks, reinforcing the notion that proactive engagement is key to growth.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Procrastination
💡Anxiety
💡Behavior
💡Rewards
💡Theming Days
💡Communication
💡Time Management
💡Fear
💡Environment
💡Mindset
Highlights
Procrastination often provides temporary relief from anxiety but leads to more significant stress later.
Reflecting on the benefits of procrastination can help individuals identify underlying fears.
Past experiences should not dictate present behavior; focusing on current actions is crucial.
It's important to shift from a mindset of fear to one of action to combat procrastination.
Creating a rewarding environment can incentivize completing tasks and overcoming mental barriers.
Establishing a clear reward system, like taking a walk with a dog, can boost motivation.
Theming days for productivity helps manage time and tasks effectively in a busy environment.
Communicating with team members about how to manage tasks can improve overall productivity.
Training team members on how to approach you can alleviate pressure and streamline requests.
Prioritizing your time and saying 'no' to non-essential tasks is crucial for effective time management.
Emphasizing the importance of time as a resource enhances focus on meaningful work.
Avoiding mental drama regarding task completion can lead to better focus on behaviors.
Encouraging individuals to tackle tasks they've been avoiding can lead to immediate progress.
Engaging with your calendar and planning can alleviate feelings of overwhelm.
Setting clear expectations with your team enhances communication and reduces anxiety.
Transcripts
are you procrastinating right now maybe
you're even watching this video
procrastinating by watching this video
on procrastination today I'm going to
help you understand the three main
reasons why you procrastinate and what
you can do about it at the end I'm
actually going to jump into real
conversations with people from my
audience live to talk about how to stop
procrastinating getting yourself to do
something when you don't want to do it
is a skill in itself the reason that you
procrastinate is because you lack skill
not because there's something wrong with
you not because there's something wrong
with the thing you need to do at hand
but because you're lack fundamental
skills of managing yourself cuz let's be
honest youve probably put it in your
calendar you probably put it on your
to-do list probably avoided it didn't do
it thought about how much you didn't
want to do it thought about you could do
something else instead thought about how
you should do something else instead and
then done something else instead
procrastination isn't any practical
problem it is an emotional problem my
friend Dr cashy introduced me to this
and he calls it the three-headed monster
of procrastination so let's dive into
them so the first of the three-headed
monster is anxiety so for me I don't
know about you but anxiety is almost too
200% of the reason I don't do things and
I can tell you personally this is one I
have probably dealt with the most and so
what it means is that the thought of
doing something or the action of
starting to do the thing makes you feel
anxious and so then you avoid doing the
thing this actually was really relevant
for me because about 3 years ago now I'd
never made a piece of content in my life
I had accumulated a net worth of $100
million I think we done at that point
130 million in sales and I still felt
terrified to make content about business
I would draft up the YouTube videos I
would write the tweets and then every
time it came to actually hitting post I
would just stop my fear of posting
content got stronger and stronger my
anxiety continued to elevate my brain
was saying all these different things it
was like one this is not your job LEL
you don't need to post content just go
like run the business like you've been
doing people are to talk it's going
to be really uncomfortable who wants to
listen to a woman talk about business
the reason I wasn't making content
wasn't because of those thoughts but it
was because of the anxiety that came
with those thoughts so to get out of the
discomfort I avoided doing the thing I
have learned to ask myself series of
questions to help myself remember the
long-term benefits of doing things that
provoke anxiety in the short term the
first one I ask myself is is this going
to make my life easier or harder in the
long term if I do it today and most of
the time when I think about it I'm like
it's going to make my life easier
if I do it today not long ago when
someone asked me to speak on stage in
front of 5,000 people and I was like oh
my God I'm so busy I have so much to do
but then I was like will this make my
life easier or harder and I was like
well does future Leila do presentations
in front of thousands and thousands of
people yeah she does if I do it now it's
going to make it easier for me in the
future cuz the next time someone comes
to me maybe it's a group of 20,000
people it's going to feel even harder to
say yes the second question I ask myself
is Leila gaining the skill of speaking
in front of thousands of people a good
thing well yes I see tons of benefits to
that then you have to figure out what
committed action am I going to take from
here on out in the beginning when I
would try to do something new I would
just sit there and I would just stare
huge amount of the anxiety came from
feeling like I didn't know if I was
doing it right the reason that we want
help when we're starting anything we
want more certainty we want our brains
to set settle down and say like I think
I know what might happen so I went to
somebody who I knew that was good at it
and that happen to be my husband Alex
and so I said can you share your
framework with me and for the first 6
months of making content from that day
forward I used his framework to make the
content so what it helped me do was
actually get started a lot of the times
the things that cause us anxiety are
things that we think that we have to
take this giant leap now when I've
learned that if I develop a framework
that breaks a large task down into small
steps I'm much more likely to be able to
do it one it's easier to work on over a
longer period of time if you just sit
down and you just say like start the
presentation you have to go from zero to
entire presentation done and presenting
in like a day but the reality is if you
break it down to small steps and you're
able to work on each step thoroughly
then you're going to also desensitize
yourself to the situation and then also
most likely be more prepared for it the
way I like to do that is I like to chunk
time that I dedicate towards the thing
I'm going to make space for the thing
the second thing I'm going to do is I'm
going to break it down into small steps
and then the third thing I'm going to do
is I'm going to always in anticipate
that things will go wrong things might
change or other things are going to get
in the way or an emergency might pop up
during the time you're supposed to work
on something I provide myself with way
more buffer time when I'm doing
something that provokes anxiety that I
haven't been able to do before and so
what that looks like is I will always
for example when I'm making a
presentation that's causing anxiety I'll
make sure that I have it done two weeks
ahead of time because I know that if I
really don't like something in the
presentation two weeks is plenty of time
for me to change it before I have to go
on stage the second of the three-headed
monster of why people don't get
done is rebellious
some people I'm saying myself some
people don't respond well to Authority
or to others telling them what to do
when somebody says go left some people
just want to go right so it's funny
because a lot of the times you know we
feel like I'm doing the opposite I want
to do what I want to do it's like well
maybe what's best for you is also what's
what they suggested and there's nothing
wrong with that an example of this for
me that really made it real was that
during Co I owned a company called gym
launch and our entire customer base was
all gym owners at that time people
weren't allowed to be in person working
out and so we had to Pivot and teach
gyms how to fulfill their contractual
obligations to their customers online
and when we did that pivot so many of
the gyms just wouldn't do it I remember
talking to a select group of them and
realizing on the call that they simply
didn't want to do it because it felt
imposed upon them it didn't feel like it
was their choice by rebelling we like to
think that oh I'm showing this person
they have no influence over me but they
do have influence in fact they have
influence over you to go in the opposite
direction so if this resonates for you
ask yourself this question does putting
off this task help or hurt me in terms
of getting to my goal at the end of the
day you cannot control every thought
that runs for your mind you cannot
control every feeling that gets provoked
but you can control how you behave but
just understanding that you have an
aversion to Authority and when somebody
in an authoritative situation asks you
to do something whether it benefits you
or not you like to reject it and guess
what that's okay we just need to accept
it and then make ourselves aware enough
of it that we can feel gross about it
and still act in our benefit no matter
what and it's the same recurring theme
as you see with anxiety which is like
you can can still do the thing while
having that feeling present that you
don't like you can still act in
accordance with your goals even while
feeling like I don't like that I'm doing
what this person wants me to do the
third head of the three-headed monster
is bordedom so what this means is that
the task that you're working on you
don't feel excited about meaning you're
not getting reinforcement from it you
feel bored your mind wanders you want to
avoid doing the thing because it's not
exciting it doesn't provide you with
enough feedback this is fairly typical
especially in companies you'll see like
lots of people want to take on new
projects right but they can't even stick
with getting their daily tasks done
because the new projects are more
exciting and more stimulating than the
tasks that they need to do on a daily
basis I think this is really relevant
for business owners in sales so a lot of
times people ask why is it that this
salesperson can't transition to being a
sales manager well let's think about how
much feedback a salesperson's getting
you know every day they're closing sales
they're seeing money in an account
they're getting great job amazing good
work there's a very fast feedback cycle
and there's a lot of it and then when
you move into being a sales manager I
think it's much less of a hard skills
discrepancy and more of a soft skills
discrepancy which is learning how to
delay reward and gratification so you
move into a job where suddenly you don't
make money except for on a quarterly
basis where you get bonus off of what
other people sell suddenly nobody's
telling you every day that you've done a
good job suddenly you're only talking to
your team you're not talking to
customers anymore think about all of
what you lose when you when you leave
sales and go to a Sales Management role
that's why you'll probably hear whenever
you have a Salesman that has to get back
in the saddle they're like man it feels
good to be back in the saddle it's like
well what feels good what feels good is
that you're missing all those rewards
you were getting a lot of times the
reason I think people can't move up is
because what they're currently doing is
actually more rewarding than continuing
to move up in the company things that
are very important and pay really well
like doing financial analysis learning
how to build a pipeline properly fitting
a CRM you know getting a company audit
ready all incredibly valuable but also
slow feedback loops and not a lot of
reinforcement from others it's the same
reason why people have a hard time time
losing weight which is because the
things that you do to lose and keep off
the weight are boring drink more water
eat more protein eat less calories walk
and work out that's not exciting but if
you do a fad diet where you basically
starve yourself you're eating these
weird nutrients these interesting
vitamins they're telling you to do water
cleans of this it's like exciting
there's movement there's feedback the
reason I would say more people succeed
when they have a coach for example is
because they're getting feedback they're
getting reinforcement same when people
do it with their friends feedback and
reinforcement right versus if you're
doing it alone you don't have a coach
you're not measuring anything you know
you just create this situation in which
your environment is working against you
and so people end up quitting now in
that situation I think there's a lot
more you can do to make it more exciting
so that you do get faster feedback and
you don't have to do that but a lot of
people like over a long enough time
Horizon it makes sense with people's
lives that they don't have a coach 24/7
and they're not constantly working out
with their friends so if you feel like
you're not able to achieve your goals
because you're procrastinating them due
to boredom the first question I would
ask myself is is this the best thing for
me to be working on in the shortterm and
longterm often times when we're working
on something exciting it's good for us
in the shortterm but not leading to our
long-term goal and often times when
we're dealing with boredom it's good for
us in the long term but in the short
term it's not very incentivizing and so
what I like to say is cool okay is this
aligned with the longterm yes then what
can we do to make it more exciting in
the short term which leads to the second
question I asked how do I give myself
more intermittent reinforcement to keep
myself engaged on this task intermittent
reinforcement is creating shorter
feedback loops so for example somebody
was trying to lose weight in a year
maybe you've lost 20 lb but what do you
do to keep yourself engaged while you
lose .5 lb one pound not even a pound
this week can we recruit two of your
friends to come to the gym with you can
we do at home workouts where you invite
your friends and you put a little garage
set up together I think the best person
that you can get to help reinforce you
so that you can get yourself to stick to
good habits is a spouse you know ask
them to high five you every time you go
to the gym ask them to tell you great
job every time you eat something healthy
so for example while Alex was writing
his book $100 million leads he was
writing it for 2 years nobody was
reading it nobody was seeing the work he
was doing he was working 6 hours a day
every day on this book and it felt
punishing because there was no reward
he's not seeing anybody read it he's not
getting any feedback so I made a
conscious effort to try and support him
encourage him leave him little notes
tell him how proud I was of him every
day and tie it to his long-term goal I
was like I'm so proud of you for working
on that book 6 hours a day every day
this week because you're going to write
an amazing book that's going to change
people's life every day trying to
reinforce my to him that what he was
working on was good it was good quality
it was a great book and it was going to
lead to his long-term goal I think the
strongest sources of reinforcement that
we can have are the people around us so
recruit the people around you to help
you while you're trying to achieve your
long-term goals and you'll be much more
likely to stick with it creating more
engaging situations in the in between is
how you create that reinforcement so if
it is in line with your long-term goals
then finding ways to make it more
reinforcing in the short term this is
why for example companies have
short-term and long-term term
compensation it's like we're paying
people they're getting a paycheck every
week and then we're also going to give
them a long-term goal where maybe we're
going to tie them in with the success of
the company cuz it's best for it the
short term and the long term hopefully
you guys are liking this video so far
and it doesn't completely suck
if you're still watching now I'm going
to go ahead and bring in people from my
audience live to talk to them about
procrastination what's up Evan my
question is how do you kill
procrastination that stems from the
paralysis by analysis effect when really
everything in front of you kind of looks
like it would be a viable and profitable
option like just for some contacts I run
a sem agency and we're kind of just
deciding like do we go into paid ads do
we go into cold email because we don't
want to spread ourselves too thin we're
very very new it's a partner and I don't
have the budget to do all of them or
don't have the time budget to do all of
them so pretty much we haven't done
anything in two months because of that
understood so really it's you're putting
off making the decision out of fear that
it's the wrong one that it that's right
do you have a way that you make a
decision besides how you feel about
something or what you're thinking no
pretty much it's just that which kind of
gets into that feedback loop of yeah you
know this is the right one I think
there's a few things that you can do
okay so the first one is that whenever
I'm making a decision in business
actually probably anywhere in my life um
I like to write things down I like to
put them in a chart because a lot of the
times we make decisions based off of
previous experiences that might not have
anything to do with this experience or
off of how we feel feel about something
which feelings have not often as much
evidence as we'd like but it's basically
like I'll put the decision I have to
make and then it's like cool here's the
options I have I have options 1 two and
three and then I'm going to ask myself
what's the upside what's the downside of
Route 1 2 3 and then if I made this
decision and the worst case scenario did
happen would I still be okay with it
many times in business there's a lot of
risk mitigation like it's not making one
amazing decision that's going to make
your business grow it's making sure that
you don't make a stupid decision all the
options you've got let's say that you
just eat on all of them which one
would you pick yeah Emil I mean we'll
burn five grand the max if we don't do
it right and that's pretty much it
reframe this you are trying out cold
email you're not like we're not like
this is the new direction of the
business like we're going to try
it like you know if you try it doesn't
work you just do something else if it
was irreversible it would be justifiable
to say it took 2 months to make this
decision ision but it's not irreversible
at all and if it is reversible then you
don't need to take 2 months I have
always found that even if I choose the
wrong thing taking action will always
get me to a solution and usually the
solution faster than not so like in the
last 2 months you would have already
known if cold email would have worked or
not and you would have already if it
didn't probably transitioned to like
paid ads you would have learned more and
gained more skills in the last two
months if you had already made the
decision yeah that uh well that made a
decision in my head for everything and
that's going to be I love it hi Callie
Hello nice to see you so tell me what
was your question I'll set aside time
blocks and things to measure my
productivity and I'll even like write
down I worked on this for so long but my
problem is whenever I am in that time
block and working on what I need to work
on I am not actually finalizing it I'm
just working on perfecting and being a
perfectionist and it never actually gets
finalized M so you're aware that you're
doing it but you continue to do it yes
and uh I do believe it Sims from fear of
not wanting my business to fall off
again like I did over the summer so I
understand why you're probably putting
things off and wanting to feel like
you're getting everything perfect before
it's done I think that's super normal
the question for me is like okay so
those are the circumstances you have
what's the goal with your business right
now like where are you and where do you
want to get to literally just get my
ideal clients would you say okay let
let's contextualize it get your ideal
clients and make enough income so you
don't need to go back to the 9 to5 yes
yeah so then the times when you put that
thing on your calendar block right what
happens when you see it and you're not
able to get something done I start kind
of beating myself up I'm like you're
falling into this pit again you know and
I'm I'm telling myself well I'm sitting
here and I'm spending the time working
on it but I'm never actually completing
it and getting it done cuz I'm working
on like the tiny details and like trying
to make everything perfect okay so
here's what I want to ask you is we do
things because we get a benefit from
doing them not completing your work also
has to have a benefit otherwise you
wouldn't keep doing that so what's the
benefit what good do you get out of
procrastinating like really think about
it what good right after you
procrastinate what happens is it relief
of anxiety is it that you put off
something that scares you like I want
you to think about what that is it it is
from the fear of of getting back into
that rut that I was in in the summer
when I let it fall off cuz I got I got
to a bad point here's what I think would
be helpful for you I want you to stop
referring to what happened this summer
because you can't control the past girl
like you can't do anything about what
happened this summer but what we do
often as people and I'm guilty of this I
used to do it to myself is I used to use
the past as a reason for why I'm
behaving in a nonpr way in the present
and so what we want to do is like let's
look at the situation objectively you
put something in your calendar and
commit to getting it done something
happens some thought or feeling doesn't
matter either way you don't get it done
if you had no fear and you didn't even
have the memory of what happened this
summer what would you do like what would
a person do who didn't have that fear or
memory in that moment when that's on
their calendar get it done they would
get get the done yeah yeah the only
thing preventing you it is not in your
head it's not these feelings it's your
behavior get out of your head and get
into your behaviors how can
you create an environment where it makes
it easier to get it done or how can you
put something in place so that the
moment that you get it done you get give
yourself a reward I want you to put
something so that if you commit to the
task and you stay there and you sit in
your seat until you get it done
that you have something at the end of
that reward yourself with what's
something that you like uh I I like
going on walks with my dog honestly okay
so that's great so here's what we do you
do not go on a walk with your dog until
you complete the task so the reward for
completing this is that you're going to
go on and walk with your dog disengage
from the mental drama why you feel a
certain way about getting work done or
not it doesn't matter but we can
create an environment where it makes it
more rewarding to get the work done and
you put contingencies in place and I
think that would be really helpful for
you yeah I think so too that helps so
much hey Carrie hi the network what's
that is that your business yes the
network we are a real estate consulting
firm that empowers women to build their
Financial Freedom through real estate
investing that's badass I like it so
tell me what was on your mind how do we
or I specifically uh chunk or batch our
work to maximize days weeks for
productivity if you have a hard time
switching between tasks like yes then I
think theming your days is the best
thing you can do the hard part though is
not that that's not where anybody
struggles in fact everyone that I
know puts on the theme of their
day at like the top of their calendar
and they're like I'm going to do it and
then they're like oh wait but what about
when this happens or when this person
needs right and so I think that the best
thing that you can do is one let your
team know I think a lot of times we we
do these things to manage ourselves but
we don't realize that like you own the
business right right and you train
people how to treat you and your time is
truly the most important resource in
this business right now especially if
your business is smaller so I think the
first thing is communicating to your
team here's how I'm going to be theming
these things in terms of things that are
needed on a day-to-day hour by hour
basis here's how I want to handle them
so what that means is that when someone
comes to you Carrie they're not saying
Carrie I need help with this thing do
you have time they're bringing you and
saying Carrie I've tried to do X Y and Z
and I've come to a point where I realize
that I need help I'm proposing three
solutions I'm going to put them on your
assana board and when you get time could
you tell me which solution you think is
best given the situation so it's like
theming your days then communicating to
your team that why those days are themed
and that your time is very important and
then also communicating with your team
how you need to be communicated with to
get the best out of you because just
like you learn how to manage your team
you have to teach them how to manage you
yeah and they're they're just guessing
and they're probably terrified
of you because you seem amazing and very
nice and very friendly but nonetheless
you are founder and CEO it's a very
scary title if you place more importance
on your time being allocated in the
right places and protecting it you will
do right by the
business yes I want to look at my
calendar and not feel
overwhelmed anxiety how the heck are we
going to do all this right so that's
that's really what I'm looking for and
I'm I'm going to take you up on the
suggestion for sure yeah and the last
thing I'll say is just like if you don't
say no to something who's going to for
sure so normally at the end of these
videos I tell you hey go watch this
other video that's related to this I
think it's really going to help but if
you're watching this video and you've
watched all the way through instead I'd
like you just go do the thing that
you've been putting off and get aead
started doing that
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How to Beat Procrastination
Técnica BRUTAL Contra a Procrastinação {NA PRÁTICA} | Academia Cerebral por André Buric
Give me 8 minutes, and I'll FINALLY f*ck up your procrastination…
Cách QUẢN LÝ THỜI GIAN HỌC TẬP cho HS LƯỜI nhưng BẬN RỘN | Học tới đâu giỏi tới đó
How to manage time like a TOP student
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