How Do I Stop Being Lazy and Procrastinating ?
By: Jacob Daniel
Tags: Work, Procrastination, Productivity, Motivation, Techniques

Photo of Person Holding Alarm Clock

So you wake up in the morning, have your morning coffee, sit down on your desk, determined to work, slug it out, switch on your computer, and just as you are about to sort out your day’s activities, your mind wanders to Twitter, Facebook or Youtube.

Today is the morning after the elections for the President of the United States, and the entire day, I had multiple tabs open in my computer browser of various News outlets, multiple YouTube videos who are live streaming the possible results of the presidential elections, simultaneously checking out the trends in Twitter and Facebook like a maniac, I literally got “ZERO WORK DONE”.

How did I go from “Just gonna quickly check out what’s going on with the elections and then get back to work” to spending hours of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter!?

Brain

Dopamine, its the hormone that is released when we check out our notifications in Facebook or Twitter. Its these little bursts of dopamine which gets released in our brain, which makes us feel good. It’s the same hormone which is released every time we have sex, eat fast food or play video games. Our brain has several prominent dopamine pathways, that light up the moment we indulge in such activities. These pathways are called reward centers. Our brain constantly craves this “Feel Good” hormone, to the point it becomes an obsession. Dopamine is also released by taking drugs like amphetamines, cocaine, heroine etc. The obsession for this feel good hormone is so extreme, that a habitual drug user literally finds it difficult to stop taking these harmful drugs, the reward centers which gets activated(The HIGH) is far too great, that the individual is willing to go homeless in his pursuit to get that high using drugs. The reward behavior pattern where the dopamine pathways light up every time a drug user uses drugs compels the user to seek those drugs without any consequences whatsoever. This is the same hormone which makes us constantly crave for sex, drugs, fast food, indulging in gambling, basically any Instant gratification activity that leads to the release of this hormone.

Researchers were surprised when they studied the brains of drug addicts and social media users, to find out that the same reward centers which were activated in social media users also gets activated in the drug addicts. This need for “Quick fix” or “instant gratification” is one of the reasons why we frequently check out Facebook and Twitter, the moment we get up in the morning. If left unchecked, this could also lead to a significant change in human behavior where there is a constant need to get that quick burst of dopamine, thus hampering your productivity. In my case, I found myself checking out Twitter and Youtube every 5 minutes. This is not a unique phenomenon at all. A colleague of mine literally had to uninstall his Instagram App every day, before coming to the office(Those were the days when we didn’t have covid or “work from home” policy) because he found out that he was constantly checking his Instagram at work, leading to a precipitous fall in his performance. He says he uninstalls the app in the morning before coming to the office and installs it as he leaves the office. It’s really fascinating and harrowing at the same time to see how this simple hormone called dopamine literally has such control in our lives.

So How do you self control ?

Identify the problem:

It’s really important to understand why you are procrastinating in the first place. Not every one has the same “social media” problem as I do. It maybe as mundane as “Today’s weather is not good, I don’t feel like working” to “I want everything PERFECT, but I don’t have my lucky pen, so I will work on it tomorrow”. This happens especially in jobs that requires “creativity”. Especially if you are a composer, painter, copywriter, artist etc. Identify the problem, actively recognize that you are procrastinating and work on it.

2. Incentives:

Train your brain in such a way that if you complete a certain portion of your work within a given deadline or work continuously for 2 hours(Set a timer) then you are going to reward yourself. The reward can be as benign as eating a chocolate chip cookie or playing a quick game of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. This acts similarly to the reward centers which lights up when we check our notifications in Facebook or Twitter. This trains the brain and your mind to delay the urge for “Instant Gratification” and instead work for it and get the sweet cookie at the end of the day/work. This technique works great especially if you have something that needs to be done quickly. This reward incentivized behavior is how exactly companies motivate their employees to work harder for increase in their salaries or bonuses.

3. Con Your Brain:

This technique worked wonders for me. So how do you lie to your own brain? I found that as soon as I started my project, I somehow didn’t lose my concentration and really focused on the job till it got completed. Upon introspection, I realized the trigger point was doing an “easy” part of the project first.

You see, I am a programmer, and I was working on a certain app that I wanted to build. I was stuck somewhere (I won’t bore you with the details). I literally procrastinated for a week, every time I sat on the desk, my mind literally built obstacles, imagining how it would take me days before I could solve that particular problem. And then one day, as I was going through the code, I simply came across a function that I wanted to improve in the app, and Voilà , suddenly I am typing away and actually doing my work. Our minds are notorious for building and propping up obstacles, we delay starting that blog or that YouTube channel simply because we look at the end result(where we want to be) and focus on that instead of taking the first baby step. We are too engrossed on that 1 million subscriber channel and awed by the guy with six packs to realize that it all began with that one random video you shot in your iPhone or that first pushup. We look at the peak of the Himalayas and instantly begin building up obstacles and delaying instead of taking that one small step in front of you.

Take the first baby step, work on that one simple part of the problem or take that one simple step, and before you even realize, you’d be working on that project that you delayed for days.

4. Take a break:

Research recommends that people who took a 5 min break every 2 hours are more productive than people who continuously worked for 5/10 hours. Taking a break or a simple stroll really releases your creative juices. Steve Jobs would often take a stroll in the park every time he felt he was stuck in a problem. It cleared up his mind. Going out, taking a simple break and tuning off would do wonders to your productivity. Every time you feel like procrastinating, I would recommend you go outside, breathe in some fresh air or just simply close your eyes and meditate, it frees your mind and rejuvenates your brain to take on those obstacles that you were finding difficult to overcome.

5. Tune everything off:

If you feel you are wasting too much time checking out what Sam is up to in his vacation in Maldives or you catch yourself browsing Cat videos in the middle of day for no reason whatsoever then switch off your phone. Eliminate every distraction that puts you off course. Set a timer, it may be a three hour interval or two hour, and reserve that time exclusively for “Work”, where you are not distracted by the sounds of those pesky notifications from your mobile phone. Switch off all your electronic gadgets during that interval and just focus on your work.

I just want to end by saying its ultimately your attitude that plays a critical role, if you are uninterested in your work or not passionate about it, no amount of tips or techniques is going to work for you.

Finally I just wanna sign off by quoting a prominent ancient Indian philosopher, economist and strategist called Chanakya,