How I Beat Procrastination (The Easy Way)

so the other day i made a poll in the  community tab asking what is the biggest   obstacle you guys face as students and out  of the options procrastination money staying   healthy relationships and other with 17 000 votes  in 24 hours the most common answer by far was   procrastination with a massive 76 and some of you  in the comments even replied all of the above so   i'm sorry for you guys but after seeing those poll  results i was like yeah i need to make a video on   procrastination i want to address the single  most common problem that you guys are facing   and by the end of this video you should have a  far better chance at significantly reducing how   much you procrastinate throughout the day right  now i'm one on one coaching dozens of students in   the transform your grades course the entire course  is centered around how to drastically improve your   productivity and decrease your procrastination  essentially leveling up your studying and your   grades there's a link in the description below  to find out more but for this video these are   the strategies that i use if i'm feeling like i  want to procrastinate or if i'm feeling like i am   procrastinating and i need to kind of shake myself  out of it we all have this incredible mental tool   that we've been honing in for years the tool of  self-deception so when we're procrastinating on   youtube for example we'll say to ourselves just  one more video right or if we're playing video   games on our phone we'll say just five more  minutes right how many times have you told   yourself that because when we're doing something  we like doing like procrastinating on our phone   we're getting those little hits of dopamine that  keep us addicted and going from getting those   dopamine hits to then going to studying it seems  like such a big deal right so then we use this   tool of self-deception that we've been honing for  years so instead of saying just five more minutes   when you're procrastinating you turn it around  and you say just five more minutes of studying and   suddenly your studying doesn't seem that daunting  and this is the concept of the minimum viable   action we often procrastinate because we build up  fears and friction relating to our perception of   how difficult an activity will be but all we have  to do is commit to the smallest possible action   and that will get the ball rolling so for  example if i had to write a 3 000 word assignment   it can feel quite intimidating at first but then  i'd just say to myself i'll just write 100 words   right that's it just 100 words and naturally  once i had written those 100 words i'd kind of   gotten into the flow of writing so then i'd just  continue writing in fact i just recently used   this trick about six weeks ago i'm in vietnam  right now and this whole corona situation here   is getting worse and worse so a few weeks ago  there was a government lockdown meaning that all   the non-essential shops are closed so gyms bars  restaurants that kind of thing they've all been   closed i go to the gym at least five days a week  and i've built it into a strong habit i don't skip   gym days i'm pretty good with that but since the  gym's closed that habit has kind of been thrown   out the window because instead of going to the gym  i had to kind of work out at home which i'll be   honest with you i don't particularly like working  out at home so i use the concept of minimum viable   action to kind of push me into making that first  step so i said to myself okay just 10 press-ups   that's it and you know 10 press-ups are pretty  easy only takes about 15 seconds but once i   did those 10 press-ups then i suddenly didn't  find exercising at home that bad so i continued   for another 20 or 30 minutes and this trick is  particularly useful for when you're in the process   of building up new habits so that was a few  weeks ago i was really unmotivated when it   came to working out at home but now that i've been  exercising at home every day for the last 30 days   and i've not skipped a single day it just took  that initial push at the beginning to build up   that momentum and now that that habit is formed  it's really easy now in fact i actually made a   whole video last month on what i do to stay  productive when i feel unmotivated you can   click up here on the pop-up banner above to watch  it and i remember reading months ago now maybe   a year ago or maybe more there was a research  study that tried to look at procrastination   and how it manifests in people's brains so how  procrastination affects the brain's activity and   feelings and the study showed that the level  of anxiety is really high at the stage where   in your mind you're debating whether or  not you should continue to procrastinate   on whether or not you should get to work but then  once the participants made that decision to stop   procrastinating and start working their anxiety  levels dropped significantly to the point where   it almost disappeared so using the concept  of minimum variable action is one of the main   methods i use to overcome procrastination but now  let's go over six other actionable steps to train   yourself to fight against procrastination step one  be aware of when you're procrastinating this is   super super super important in order to fix  a problem you first need to realize that you   have a problem in the first place right it's  really easy for us to procrastinate for a long   time without even realizing that we're actually  procrastinating because we're so preoccupied in   the activity that we're procrastinating with so  as soon as you realize that you're procrastinating   you need to take a clear actionable step and stand  up from your desk for a minute to break the cycle   and kind of jolt you out of this mental state of  procrastination step two be aware of your emotions   try to look at your feelings like you're observing  yourself from outside so it's interesting because   what you'll realize with procrastination is that  it's basically just a fear and procrastination   comes as a result of your body triggering a fight  or flight response so over millions of years our   brain has kind of programmed to avoid potential  danger and ensure survival it still thinks we live   in tribes where being good enough to be part of  the tribe was essential for survival furthermore   our brain doesn't distinguish between what's real  danger and what's unrealistic danger it's why   many of us have phobias of spiders even spiders  that are completely harmless or many of us have   a fear of flying even though traveling by plane is  the safest form of transport they're in many ways   irrational fears because our brain is still  programmed for survival we have the same   fears when it comes to procrastination if we feel  like we're doing a bad job with a complex task it   triggers a kind of fight or flight response where  our brain is trying to keep us safe so if you're   facing a task that you're dreading for example  writing a 5000 word assignment or revising for   an upcoming exam subconsciously you might fear  the task is too difficult and that you might fail   and this triggers the emotional response of  fight or flight in which your brain naturally   chooses flight which by law of survival  means you try to avoid it at all costs   this results in procrastination so you really  need to be aware of this whole process and the   emotions that you're feeling at the very point  that you're procrastinating step 3 be aware of   your inner dialogue start to pay attention to the  excuses you give yourself when you need to study   but you're trying to find reasons not to so in  your mind you're trying to keep procrastinating   our brain is really good at tricking us into kind  of manipulating us into doing something that will   benefit us in the very short term but that is  very damaging in the long term so for example   when your alarm goes off but you don't want  to wake up yet so you hit the snooze button   and before you hit that snooze button you  weigh up the pros and cons in your head   and even though deep down you know that you should  wake up straight away somehow your brain kind of   tricks you into hitting the snooze button and  continue sleeping we need to be aware of this   and realize that the excuses that we're telling  ourselves are exactly that just excuses step four   remember that procrastination is a choice just  because your brain is telling you to procrastinate   it doesn't mean that you have to procrastinate so  being able to override what you're thinking is an   incredibly powerful thing to do when your brain  is telling you to do one thing but you know that   it's not the right thing to do so you don't do  it it's incredibly liberating it's why having an   ultra cold shower in the morning is so popular in  the personal development space because it trains   your body to override what your brain is telling  it so your brain is telling you not to have a cold   shower it's saying that you should turn the hot  water on and be comfortable right but your body   overrides those thoughts and you do it anyway  step 5 break the task down break up the tasks   that you need to do into smaller steps to make  it less overwhelming so for example i mentioned   at the beginning of the video taking advantage of  the concept of minimum viable action which takes   away a lot of that fear and anxiety that is often  the underlying cause of procrastination so instead   of saying i need to write a 5000 word assignment  instead you can break it down into saying i need   to write 500 words for 10 days it's very likely  that on the first day that you write 500 words   you'll catch that momentum and you'll continue  writing a lot more than that your main goal here   should be to make it as easy as possible to get  started so the task doesn't feel that intimidating   anymore step six start and keep going the hardest  part to breaking the cycle of procrastination is   to start the tasks that you need to do right so  once you've started that task it suddenly won't   feel as overwhelming so once you've started  you need to keep going and there are multiple   ways that you can do this so firstly now this is  fairly obvious remove all distractions around you   turn your phone off put it in another room or  use your phone productively by downloading an   app like focus to do that will once you start the  timer there's a feature that will lock your phone   so you can't procrastinate on it set yourself a  rigid study plan so you know exactly what needs   to be done each day or set yourself two or three  goals that you need to achieve so being able to   beat procrastination is an incredibly liberating  feeling when you have the power and control of   your state of mind so you're no longer slaves  to the destructive habits that are damaging you   long term it's an incredibly empowering mindset to  have and a few weeks ago i made a video on how i   recovered when i lost all motivation you can click  on the video on the screen alternatively i made   a video on how i stay productive when i'm feeling  unmotivated again click on the video on the screen   both videos have similar titles but they're  both very different there's some really helpful   practical strategies on what i did to  pick myself up from the productivity   slump i was experiencing so whichever  one you choose i'll see you over there

Channel: Mike Dee

Views: 140,697

Keywords: student motivation, study motivation, motivation to study, motivational speaking, top motivational speakers, motivation, inspirational speakers videos, how i beat procrastination, the easy way, procrastination, procrastinate, procrastinate study, procrastinate study vlog, studying, study, how to beat procrastination, how to stop procrastination, procrastination motivation, how to procrastinate less, procrastinate less, why do i procrastinate, beat procrastination, procrastinating

Id: WXAXBkj-jPs

Length: 9min 55sec (595 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 22 2021