How many times have we wanted to do something only to put it off by saying "Maybe later"? Sometimes those things can be big things, other times they can be the little things like clearing out the washer or placing the cutlery in the correct drawer.
The problem is not instantly visible but when you keep doing it often it snowballs into an avalanche and then you're in a situation that you don't want to be in.
Where does Procrastination come from?
Some of us tend to procrastinate on things more than others. I know because I'm the former. It got me thinking, why do I procrastinate on the important things? Here's a surface-level answer after a couple of minutes of reflecting - It's the anxiety.
Before digging deep, I think I'd be wise to define the meaning of procrastination.
Procrastination is the act of delaying things often to do more enjoyable tasks.
But why do we delay certain tasks over others even if we know that not doing them might have consequences? We often spend so much time inside our heads that sometimes our imagination goes wild. But that's not the only cause. Most people also overlook the act of friction.
- Anxiety of Perfectionism
- Fear of failure
- Friction
Procrastination is a combination of all these, usually more than two.
Perfectionism and Fear of Failure
Usually Perfectionism and Fear of Failure go hand in hand. The mere act of thinking of being perfect makes us anxious because we realize our own imperfections which stop us from doing anything. We become scared that whatever we do may not be regarded as good. And therefore we decide "I'm not good enough yet, so I'll do it when I'm good at something".
Freakin' Friction
Being perfect and fearing failure is not the only one. Sometimes it's friction. Friction can be anything like Complexity, no clarity, physical effort, etc. This one is difficult because even if we want to do something, we become helpless before the big monster called friction.
Even if the said friction is small, mentally we get exhausted just thinking about doing it.
So what is the solution to all that?
The Duality of Force
Force is usually seen as a bad thing because in the long run forcing yourself too much can be counter-productive and lead to diminishing returns. You might end up hating everything.
Remember back in school when they forced us to do drills instead of letting us play? Or when your swimming instructor threw you into the pool and forced you to swim when you were 6 years old? (That's oddly specific:p) Force usually ends up creating this intense hate for things.
We're all adults here, we don't need to force ourselves to do something...right?? Well sometimes we do, force can be a good thing, that is its dual nature. But not too much, just a little bit. If you end up feeling like it's not worth it, then it's probably not.
Just 5 minutes, Man!
What's the answer really? Well, it's a time-restricted force. Let me explain. To do something when you're procrastinating we really do need to force ourselves. But we don't have to force ourselves to do it for the entire duration.
What if the swimming instructor instead of forcing me to swim, just said "Let's do it for 5 minutes, if you can't that's okay. We'll try again tomorrow".
This idea is called the 5-minute rule. It's simple really - commit yourself to a task for just 5 minutes. If you don't like it, you're allowed to stop. But usually, you end up doing more than 5 minutes. Which is good because any progress is better than nothing.
Let me give you an example, a couple of years ago when I had just joined the gym (again), I didn't want to quit it or be irregular like the last 2 times, years prior. This time I just made a couple of rules for myself.
- This is a long-term goal
- Go every day and spend 1 minute in the gym
- Have no expectations of becoming a Greek god in 2 months
Needless to say, it worked. I've been pretty consistent and it's been close to 4 years now, nowhere close to a Greek god but I'm happy with my progress. But the thing that kept me consistent was the 2nd rule.
Instead of doing it for 5 minutes, I lowered it to one. On most days that I went, I ended up spending a lot more than 45 minutes, some days I didn't feel like it and came home but that's okay. We're allowed to feel sucky sometimes.
This strategy really works for most things and is really adaptable to any lifestyle.
How to use the 5 minutes rule effectively
It's not rocket science but there are a couple of things you might want to consider.
- Stop but don't stop
- Deciding what to work on
- Avoid multitasking, pick one task
- Compound effect
Stop but don't stop.
Sometimes you may feel like stopping a task and saying I'll try again tomorrow. But it's always wise to intercept your thoughts and ask "Do I really not feel like it or is this just an excuse?". Sometimes it could be an excuse because you got too used to the choice of not doing it. So in this case, give yourself another 5 minutes and repeat it.
Deciding what to work on
This is also important because if you do something that has a lot of complexity you may be overwhelmed by the nature of it. So you end up backtracking and end up postponing it again.
If you're working on a large project and you've been procrastinating on some large task, try to find the lowest-hanging fruit that may give you a sense of progress. Do it a couple of times and then break down the large task into smaller ones.
Another way I like to decide what to work on are
- Going with my feels
- Thinking about a task that's bothering me
Avoid Multi-tasking, pick one task
Sometimes we might fall into the trap of multitasking in those 5 minutes. We might have several tabs open trying to cram it all into that short duration. For instance, you might be a writer trying to write an article for your blog and at the same time another important task might be to design the cover image. So you might try to do both of those together.
While it's good that you're doing it all it's better to just focus on the post-pressing task in those 5 minutes because that's the one you've been putting off.
The Effects of Compounding
I have to remind myself this very often, I think we all would be served well if we remember this. Compounding works. In the short term, you can't see it but over a large period, it is like a mountain that just goes up and never ends.
The 5 minutes you spend now on something might seem minuscule compared to all the hours you put in but they do add up. Not directly but indirectly and you won't even see it coming.
The End
In the end, this is a useful strategy to have. Remember, there's no one-size-fits-all solution. Usually from experience, it is a bunch of them tied together. You can combine this strategy with another technique but always keep it simple. We tend to like it when things are a bit complicated but most of the time we don't need complicated solutions.
And one more thing, if you don't feel like doing a thing, don't beat yourself up. Life is better enjoyed slowly. There's time for rest and then there's time to procrastinate. It's always a balance.
