Mike
Carruthers:
Why
is it that we procrastinate when we know we have to get something
done?
Neil Fiore:
We do it in part because of the way we talk to ourselves
and the way in which our parents talked to us about our homework.
"You have to finish your homework" - well that's very
counter-productive 'because you have to' means you don't want
to.
Neil Fiore, author
of the book The
Now Habit, says procrastination is a good way of avoiding
something painful or boring but you also avoid that very good
feeling of accomplishment.
It feels good
to be able to be effective. Our brain actually lights up and
rewards us any time we're effective. So, procrastinating keeps
us from experiencing that optimal performance thrill.
Neil's suggestion
is you change the way you look at any task - rather than looking
at it as something to finish, simply look at it as something
to start.
So when you tell
the workers: your mind and body start at 1 pm on this project
for fifteen to thirty minutes, you're creating a more doable
task with a clear message of when to start - that's very different
than I have to finish. So you begin to eliminate the anxiety
by starting now for just a brief period of time.
When you focus
on starting something as opposed to finishing something you'll
be amazed at what gets done.
It's counter-productive
to give your mind an image of getting it done because your mind
can't get into the future. You need to focus your mind on what
you can do now so that it's not overwhelmed trying to get into
the future.
You can link
to Neil's website from
ours: somethingyoushouldknow.net
I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.
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