4 Steps to Overcome Procrastination and Beat It at Its Own Game!

This is part two of our discussion on why we procrastinate and how to overcome procrastination.

If you haven’t read part one yet, kindly check it out before proceeding to read this section.

Because understanding why we procrastinate is an important prerequisite before we attempt to actually overcome procrastination.

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Do you guys remember that scene in Game of Thrones when Jon and Danny are about to go for a casual dragon ride?

Jon says

“I don’t know how to ride a dragon.”

To which, Dany says

“Nobody does. Until they ride a dragon.”

The way to overcome procrastination is exactly like that.

Okay maybe not.

However, what I want to stress here is that just like Jon, you’ve got to back yourself up to get on and make it work.

What exactly do we mean by overcoming procrastination?

It’s a good idea to revisit the context in which we are talking about procrastination.

I define procrastination as substitution of a more important activity for less important activity.

By overcoming procrastination, I mean that our objective is to keep us focused on that important activity and prevent the substitution.

We have understood that procrastination is nothing but a pre-programmed set of routine. A routine that is triggered when we see a cue that causes us discomfort. 

To understand what I mean by cues and routine, read this post on why we procrastinate.

Hence, the question now becomes, 

Can we hack the automatic cue-routine-reward algorithm to make it work in our favor?

Can we defeat procrastination at its own game?

The answer is a resounding and cheerful YES. 

Let me show you how.

Step 1 : Become conscious about procrastination inducing cues.

These cues are of two types: Primary and Secondary. 

Let’s understand them with the help of an example. 

Since the time I started writing this blog, I have slipped into my procrastination routine multiple times.

The first time it happened when I heard the ping sound of notifications on my phone. 

Consequently, I might think that

“Oh, I received a notification on my phone, which got me distracted and which led me to procrastinate.”

That’s true, but this distracting cue was secondary in nature.

Other secondary cues include a particular time, a place, your energy level, your mood and so on. 

However, my secondary cue did not represent the ultimate cause. The real culprit was one step before that.

I had started writing but I was still not sure about the structure of this blog, which made me uncomfortable. That was my primary cue. 

We can identify our primary cues by asking the following question,

“What uncomfortable thing caused my pain centers to fire up?”

The next time you start procrastinating, pause. 

Just identify what happened before you slipped into your procrastination routine. 

And then think about whether the cue was primary or secondary in nature. 

Step 2: Eliminate the secondary cues

This is the easiest part of the process. 

How can we eliminate the secondary cues?

If a pop-up notification on my phone is a distracting cue, I can eliminate it by keeping my phone out of sight or enabling flight mode. 

If my energy levels are completely down at 9 PM, I eliminate that by shifting my important activity to morning 9 AM.

If my house is too noisy for me to concentrate, I eliminate it by doing my important activity in the library. 

You get the drift.

By eliminating distracting secondary cues, you ensure that your procrastination routine does not get activated at all. 

Step 3: Making Uncomfortable tasks comfortable.

After eliminating all the secondary cues that distract us, we now have to fix our reaction to the primary cue. 

And this is a challenging task. Hence it requires our strongest will power. 

Here we have to address the question 

“How do I convert an uncomfortable task into a comfortable one?”

Many times, the reason why a task feels uncomfortable is because we focus too much on the product and not on the process. 

What does this mean?

A 1500 word blog on procrastination is an end product.

Writing 300 words for each section of the blog everyday at 9 AM for 5 days is a process. 

Neuroscientist Dr. Barbara Oakley in her book A Mind for Numbers explains this concept beautifully:

“Process means the flow of time and the habits and actions associated with that flow of time. Product is an outcome of that process.”

The product is what triggers the pain that causes us to procrastinate. 

An end product is overwhelming, big and daunting in nature. 

Hence, this means that we need to start thinking in terms of everyday process and not the final end product. 

And this requires effective planning. 

Tim Urban, the founder of Wait but Why blog has described it beautifully.

“Effective planning turns a daunting item into a series of small, clear, manageable tasks.” 

If you think about it, enlisting the cue-routine-reward algorithm is much easier for processes than for end products. 

I will write 300 words at 7 pm everyday is much more easier than saying I will have a 1500 word blog ready by today. 

Step 4: Reward Your Process 

Procrastination habits are powerful because they ultimately create neurological cravings. 

Whenever we check our notifications on social media, we get a boost of instant gratification and our happiness hormones are in a frenzy. 

That’s why we keep doing it again and again. 

To cement the processes we talked about in Step 3, we should use small rewards to encourage us and motivate our brains. 

This can be anything ranging from going on a walk, browsing the web, eating a chocolate, watching your favourite TV show or even buying something that makes you happy. 

A brilliant way for beginners to get into the habit of process and rewards is by following the Pomodoro Technique. 

Read my post on the Pomodoro Technique to know more about what it means and how it helps you improve your focus and get things done.

Defeating Procrastination at its own game!

Procrastination is like an addiction which gives us a temporary high at the cost of long term suffering. 

Quite often, people don’t know that but they don’t know what to do about it. 

In this post, my attempt was to answer the latter question. 

Here is a simple summary and recap of what triggers procrastination and how we can defeat it. 

When you start procrastinating, stop and become conscious about the primary and secondary cues that led you there. 

Secondary cues are related to distraction. If you identify them, you can eliminate them.

Primary cues are related to discomfort. They happen because the activity is either too big, too daunting or too vague. 

The solution is to focus on the small, clear and manageable processes and avoid thinking about the end product. 

It’s also important to reward yourself from time to time while completing the processes. 

In this way, you can hack the cue-routine-reward algorithm of habits to make it work in your favor.

All the best.

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Resources

Here are some brilliant articles you can refer to help you overcome procrastination:

1. https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html
2. https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/11/how-to-beat-procrastination.html

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