Thread by @DrJohnAfam

Monday,

Here is some special advice for the week.

I watched a TedTalk by Tim Urban on Procrastination - bit.ly/2oJCg67 and it succinctly illustrated a battle I had fought for a long time.

I noted some similarities between his points and mine, hence the thread.

RT!

His Talk was fun and brilliantly described what goes on in the mind of a procrastinator, and pointed out a few pitfalls to that approach.

I found it enlightening and an easier way to illustrate the solution i have devised to curb procrastination

I hope it helps someone. 🙂

Alright without further ado;

Everyone understands the big bane of Procrastination . It generally means that things would get done in a panic at the deadline rather than as it should be (Picture A)

It goes without saying that "deadline rush" would lead to suboptimal results.

This could be overlooked in smaller projects, e.g the homework that you left till the morning of the deadline,

However when it becomes big e.g Thesis, obvious problems occur.

The Procrastinator would still almost always leave the work till the deadline and go through phases...

..."mentally preparing" themselves, but not actually doing anything.

So the "plan" keeps evolving as illustrated in the diagrams below

Until even with the biggest of projects you are still doing all nighters with sub optimal output

This is the problem with Procrastination!

And the truth is , despite your best efforts, you really can't do 3months of work in 3days and expect good results.

So the question arises?

As rational people , why do we procrastinate.
I mean it's easy to identify the problems so why do wee keep leaving it till the last?

He illustrated it as follows.

Below are "pictoral representations" of the brain of Procrastinators and Non Procrastinators.

Notice a difference?

Basically the Procrastinators have an extra component, the Instant gratification monkey.

So when the Rational decision maker takes the wheel to do something important,

The Instant gratification monkey has other ideas.

Then you hear
"Before we start, let's watch on episode of Netfflx"
Also while we are at it, let's check if @jaysonrogue has made any new videos."

The instant gratification monkey is only interested in "easy and fun"
From that funny youtube video to one more match in career mode of FIFA, if it's easy and fun, the IGM is down for it.

Sadly easy and fun isn't enough for existence in today's world, that's why we have a rational decision maker.
The Rational decision maker does "Whatever Makes Sense" to be doing in view of a Larger picture and
End goals.

Work, Play,Study provided it makes sense to be doing.

So sometimes these 2 agree, those times it makes sense to be doing something easy and fun

Like leisure time, it watching a movie after work, or having dinner with your crush.

Other times however , there is a conflict to which takes precedence and sadly for a Procrastinator, the Instant Gratification Monkey always wins.

So generally they spend a lot of time in the easy and fun part of the diagram, affectionately called "dark playground"

When they should be spending more time in a less pleasant, more important place called hard things.

So the question arises, how do we move from the dark dreary playground, to the practical, much needed room of hard things.

Luckily the rational decision maker has an Angel!!!

Yup!
Deadline induced Panic Monster!!

The Instant Gratification Monkey is terrified of the Panic Monster who is dormant most of the time but awakens and gets into a frenzy whenever a deadline get too close and there are dire consequences or danger of public embarrassment.

This is a feeling Procrastinators know so well.

When you wake up 2 weeks to exam and realised that you need to start studying or you would fail, or the Night before the Pitch and you realised you haven't updated your pitch deck and boom!

Panic Monster awakens !!!

Instant Gratification Monkey scampers away, Rational Decision Maker takes the wheel, and Hard, Essential things start getting done.

In a deadline induced, adrenaline pumping, panic driven frenzy.

This is the Procrastinator system, and it's not pretty, but it works🙃

This model explain how Procrastinators can afford to stay up for 3 nights straight, driven by the panic Monster, yes impossible to stay up for one night for the first 3months of the project.

These 3 characters basically sum it up

But obvious flaws in the system are apparent, as soon as you spare the system a thought.

Because basically there are 2 types of projects.
Those with Deadlines and those without.

That is why the Procrastinator system isn't a viable model.

The monster only comes out when there is a deadline with possibility of public embarrassment or major failure.

But a majority of things in our lives, a majority of life changing changes, have no deadline.

Or arbitrary deadlines that don't evoke the panic Monster.

When is the deadline on pitching the new business idea? When you are broke?

Or the deadline of getting out of an abusive marriage? When you are broken?

What's the deadline on taking that online course or applying for the dream job?

These things don't have deadlines

And this is why most Procrastinators are unhappy , not because they failed, but because they didn't even start.

And on a smaller level, we are all procrastinating on something.

Take a hard look at those aspects of your life without deadlines and inquire, are you putting it off?

One of the ways to mitigate this, is to give deadlines to those non deadline endeavors.
Set time bound goals, and have accountability partners, could be your friend or a support group.

Turn on the panic Monster.

By setting time bound goals, you would be driven to achieve more..

You could also attempt to increase the activities that the monkey and rational decision maker agree on.

That is when it makes sense to be doing what is easy and fun.

Like if you really enjoy what you do (work) it's easy and fun and makes sense to be doing!
Follow your passion.

Look closely at this picture,
Every small box, is for 1 week in the life of a 90 year life.
There aren't so many boxes and most up us have already used up some of those.

Those endeavors you are pushing away because there are no deadlines, still think you have too many boxes?

This is something I regularly battle with, so I am open to more conversations.
Very grateful to Tim Urban and the Ted Initiative for the material.

Also, are you ready for TedXBarnawa?
Happening on the 31st of August. More information @tedxbarnawa

Thanks for reading! Thoughts?