Procrastination - You can listen to this later

We all do it, but some of us are better at managing it than others (cough... cough... Magda... cough). Today's episode is all about putting things off. Did you know that procrastination is actually a form of self-harm? We didn't either. And now that we do, we can't unthink it. It's put a whole new light on why we don't do the things that need to get done. 

It all stems from this great New York Times article. In it, the author explores the roots of procrastination and ways to possibly address it. You should read it... later (wink, wink).

Since NYT did our homework for us, we're using the self-coaching prompts that they outlined: 

Cultivate curiosity: If you’re feeling tempted to procrastinate, bring your attention to the sensations arising in your mind and body. What feelings are eliciting your temptation? Where do you feel them in your body? What do they remind you of? What happens to the thought of procrastinating as you observe it? Does it intensify? Dissipate? Cause other emotions to arise? How are the sensations in your body shifting as you continue to rest your awareness on them?

Consider the next action: This is different than the age-old advice to break up a task you’re tempted to avoid into bite-sized chunks. “What’s the next action I’d take on this if I were going to do it, even though I’m not?” Maybe you would open your email. Or perhaps you would put the date at the top of your document. Don’t wait to be in the mood to do a certain task. “Motivation follows action. Get started, and you’ll find your motivation follows."

Make your temptations more inconvenient: It’s still easier to change our circumstances than ourselves... we can take what we know about procrastination and “use it to our advantage” by placing obstacles between ourselves and our temptations to induce a certain degree of frustration or anxiety. If you compulsively check social media, delete those apps from your phone... By doing this, you’re adding friction to the procrastination cycle and making the reward value of your temptation less immediate.