My crazy way of instantly overcoming procrastination / getting motivation

[Sunnybayes]

So the conclusion from steve's overcoming procrastination article says this:

" Realize that procrastination is caused by associating some form of pain or unpleasantness to the task you are contemplating. The way to overcome procrastination is simply to reduce the pain and increase the pleasure you associate with beginning a task, thus allowing you to overcome inertia and build positive forward momentum. And if you begin any task again and again, you will ultimately finish it."

And I also notice that I'm highly motivated after I do pushups... so what I've found is that when I'm sitting doing nothing, in pain, because I can't even find the motivation to get off the couch, and it hurts to even think about what I need to do is this:

Make it very painful to sit there and do nothing. The way I do that is this:

I take my two hands and press them together as hard as I can as if I were trying to crush a can into aluminum foil while thinking to myself "I am not going to stop this until I do [what I need to do]" and I think about doing the task that I need to be done.

Sometimes I have to do this about 3 times in a row, because I'll get motivated , but not to do the right thing, so I have to keep on reminding myself of the right thing to do.

And sometimes I really dread the thing that I have to work on, for example my literature essay, (writing those are hell for me), so just thinking about it makes me not be able to very press hard, and I recognize this physically, so I get really pissed off and go all out and press even harder to just get the frustration out, then when I stop, I totally have the motivation to begin the task, or at least something a little more related.


My theory of why this works:

1.) First of all it makes you stop wasting your time on whatever wasteful thing you are doing, also that it clears your mind (because now you are concentrating on pressing as hard as humanly possible) so that you can then fill your consciousness on the task that you want or know you need to begin, because you are fully thinking about the task as you do it.

2.) It stops the bad thoughts that are running through your mind of not being able to begin.

3.) It just brings you into the current situation so that you do not worry so much about the future. Read the Power of Now.

4.) It lets your body/mind know that when you do this activity then it really is time to get started.

5.) It polarizes your mind into the darkside, basically saying "damn it!! no more excuses!! you are going to do this now!!!"

6.) Its action, and you become motivated after doing action.

7.) It "increases the pleasure you associate with beginning the task", because it feels so good to stop pressing so hard.


Field tested. Simple. Its great. Give it a try people!!! Share your experience!! Is it just me or does it really work?

[Sunnybayes]

okay, so noone wants to try it. Okay so I'll share my experience.

So I was sitting in bed this morning, and I didn't feel like getting up. Usually it would take me about 30 minutes of just sitting there in bed before I had enough energy to get up, even when I clearly had enough rest, like 9 hours. So today I thought I would try my advice. I was like... yea, this is stupid... I dont really want to get up, but I need to get up so that I can tutor online, and so I knew it would take me 30 minutes of just laying there before I would get up.

So I brought my hands together, starting laughing at myself because of how absurd this idea was, and I was like, okay... I'll give it a try any way. The magic of it was that it did not take any motivation at all to bring my hands together while laying there, and pressing is such an easy thing to do. but as soon as i did it, I was like "this is an absolutely stupid idea", but then you have to make the agreement with yourself that you wont stop until you get up, and I was like "no, I've already gotten used to this idea... its not going to work on me any longer", I could just hear and feel my mind getting more negative about how it was not going to work this time because nothing is fail proof. So then I remeber that when that happens then I just need to press even harder, when my mind becomes negative about it, I just press harder.

So then my minds like "okay, fine.... you win ,I'll get up, just because this is so stupid", and then I got up and it was not such a big deal, because you know, getting started is the hardest part, and after that it even feels good to continue.

Can someone who has trouble with getting up in the morning give this a try and let me know if it works for them? Because I am curious if this is just some weird trait of mine that makes it work only for me, or if this is something that would work for other people as well.

[MGJ]

Take a look at this guys website... Tapping.com - Tapping.com... very interesting method of elimating procrastination using EFT. I don't really have an issue' with procrastination, but I've used his other video's and I have to say, I'm impressed.

[Lauxa]

The next time I need to increase my motivation I'll try this and report back.

[groove88]

Funny as it sounds. Just coming on here and reading a few posts totally pumps me up from procrastinating and lazyness

[newdad]

Next time I'm on the couch and know that there is something else I ought to be doing but can't get up the drive to do it I'll give your idea I shot and then post it back here.

[CeciL]

Sounds hard on the wrists, with a lot of typing and stress on the wrists like that sounds like carpal tunnel syndrome fast. Too many tiny injuries turns out to be huge problems.

Interesting concept though... maybe I'll try pinching

[ahimel]

I don't have much of a problem with procrastination anymore, but the theory seems sound. It's a low entry fee (as it were) and so there's no reason to procrastinate it. But it is work, and furthermore it's stupid work. It emphasizes how very dumb it is to sit on the couch and waste your day just to avoid 10 minutes of work.

What finally did it for me was saying to myself, "It won't get better if you pick at it!" It's my reminder to ask myself if the job will be any more pleasant after I sit on the couch for 10 minutes... or 30 minutes.. or whatever. Sometimes the answer is yes, like when I just came in from my run and am out of breath. But usually, dishes are dishes and are really boring and nasty no matter when you do them. Procrastinating isn't going to make the job better, so why do it?

[Sunnybayes]

Originally Posted by ahimel

What finally did it for me was saying to myself, "It won't get better if you pick at it!" It's my reminder to ask myself if the job will be any more pleasant after I sit on the couch for 10 minutes...

Hmm... I have to adapt this point of view over the next week and see if it that helps me out.

Though I think that there is also a reason behind procrastination based on my model of how the mind works with the brain, that I'm currently working on to explain in a long post. Basically has to do with the fact that it is painful and takes up alot of energy in your brain to rework your goals in your mind if they are drastically different from the goals and habits that are currently in your mind.

And I'm also trying to come up with a way to be able to make transitions in doing task without experiencing or lessening the pain of totally reworking your mind to fit in your new goals, basically by finding a way to tack them on the goals that you currently have on your mind that you currently have no problem thinking of and taking action to because your brain has already spent the energy to organize itself to be able to take action to that goal.

Its been very fun to think about this. And I've also got a good idea why its fun to think about things. hopefully I'll have my ideas baked up fully in a week or so.

But anyone else have any ideas about the discomfort associated with procrastination?

[smallstar]

Cheers,

Seems that I misread and figured out a new way to do isometric training. Does not seem to help with procrastination though - I'll start doing a thing but I'll forget what needs to be done next since the blood that should be in my brain is now in my arm muscles.

[Sunnybayes]

"I'll start doing a thing but I'll forget what needs to be done" - See it works because you actually started doing a thing instead of constantly thinking about doing it. Doing the isometric forces the thoughts to become some kind of action. I do that too. And at that point I'll just redefine my goal to be to find out what my goal is, and then I do that by writing.

I thought earlier that this trick was not working anymore. But it is just not as shocking to me anymore because my mind has become accustomed to the sensation so that now I can press hard and not be as conscious as I needed to be. Though it still works for me, I just need to hold it a little longer than before. But I might become so accustomed to it that it will just not work for me any longer, and then I'lll have to get to the true cause of my procrastination instead of just doing these random tricks.

[persephonevii]

Basically has to do with the fact that it is painful and takes up alot of energy in your brain to rework your goals in your mind if they are drastically different from the goals and habits that are currently in your mind.

To do... with procrastination and me, it feels like a comfort old blanket or jacket. I just slip it on, feels so secure and comfortable but at the same time, it is smelly, too small and hindering my movement. But the pleasure of donning the procrastination jacket easily outdoes the idea of doing something else, that is, leaving the security and comfort of the procrastination jacket and doing totally not naturally! The mind is designed to seek pleasure and avoid pain. For many people procrastination = pleasure, doing something else = pain. Even if you consciously see procrastination as bad, your subconscious mind is pretty much latched onto procrastination.

So I think what you got to do is just like what Sunnybayes suggested, make procrastination painful and keep making it painful so your subconscious mind associates it with pain. Make it quite or even extremly painful, and thanks to design of the mind, it will choose the lesser of the two evils then. Procrastination = extreme pain, doing something else = pain. It may not be pleasure but it sure beats what you are feeling now. That's called leverage. Or you increase the pleasure of doing something else that it beats the pleasure of procrastination, but I think that's harder because you have not done it yet so you do not know how it feels and therefore what pleasure you try to create feels unconvincing and your mind will know it.

But feel pain now, not future pleasure, works much better I reckon.

[Sunnybayes]

Hehe... another insight... just doing the isometric exercise also lets you become more resistive to the pain, even resistive to the pain of reorganizing your thoughts so that you can focus on hitting the new goal/task.

Also, the discomfort of doing the isometric, in my opinion, totally swamps out the discomfort of reorganizing your thoughts to tackle the new task, so you are in some kind of pain either way, but at least you trick yourself into thinking that you are feeling pain because of the isometric and not just because you are feeling the pain from working so hard to reorganize your brain and thoughts to take on the new task.

Reminds me of the trick of breaking your finger so that you don't feel so much the pain of having your leg being operated on.... or something like that I remember from some movie...

[Sunnybayes]

So I think that is also why exercising in general would be so effective in making yourself more productive overall. Which I've noticed that I always have a much better week overall when I do exercise.

While you are sitting there benching 150 pounds, your are free from distractions. There is no computer, or TV or whiny kids. You have nothing else to do but think about things. You feel more free to reorganize your thoughts, free from the discomfort of reorganizing the neural networks of your brain, because it is totally swamped out by the discomfort of your muscles, so you can get ready for what you are going to do when you return from exercising. Also all that blood pumping around, maybe more oxygen can get to your brain (or maybe not... but I dont see how it makes sense that oxygen can just get stuck in one part of your body... maybe someone else has some insight...),

Also, if you go to exercise in the morning, then there are several more benefits as well. First of all you get up early, because you have a reason to get up, because excercise, for me at least, becomes a fun thing after I've made it a good habit. So that adds a couple of hours to your day, or at least shifts your awake hours earlier in the day, which is a good thing because how often can you actually get things done in the night. Since you have nothing else to do but think, (at least when you are recovering from the set), then you have time to make a plan of your day in your mind, and internalize it so that you can implement that plan without much effort, because you have already gone through the pain of visualizing and thinking about/memorizing / reorganizing your brain to follow your plan while you were exercising, but you never actually noticed the pain of thinking because you were already distracted by the pain in your muscles. After you are finished exercising, you feel incredibly awesome, there's a thing called a runner's high (I'll have to look that up again), and give out an awesome vibe and just feel more motivated in getting things done... well motivated because you've got a plan that you've already internalized and polarized to. Being in an awesome vibe, by LoA will just attract you to other awesome people. And also by going out, it gives you part of your daily dosage of being social, which might be a good thing if you are someone who does not interact much with people. But everyone needs social interaction because it is built into our genes, and you feel horribly lonely without it of course.

Its not currently a habit of mine, because I'm currently studying abroad, maybe that's why I'm having more trouble with procrastination this semester..., but I'll just start getting up and doing more one handed push ups and sit ups, and go for a jog from now on, and then while doing so take advantage of that perfect time to plan out my day and internalize it, which will also increase my ability to think without paper and pencil. Another point, when else are you going to have a better excuse to sit down and plan for an entire hour during your day, I would never think about just doing nothing but planing for an entire hour (well i have... but could never do it), anyway it would be so easy to become distracted from it.

hmm.... wow... love thinking about this stuff. Anyone have similar feelings/theories about exercise?