Photo by Brett Jordan​

There are SO many reasons why we procrastinate. In this newsletter I'm going to explain some of the main reasons, along with practical steps on how you can combat each one.

My intention is to simplify the psychology behind procrastination and to show you a practical and easy approach to beating it.

This post isn't just full of tips from the internet, these are things I have tried and tested for years. Collectively they form my secret for being somewhat productive.

Beating procrastination will help you get more done each day in a shorter amount of time. It will give you more free time to explore your interests and leisure activities. It will help you Live Better.

Decision Fatigue

Decision fatigue is the deteriorating quality of decisions made by a person after a long haul of decision making. It's the reason we often make irrational decisions, like opening the cookie jar instead of eating an apple or starting another episode on Netflix instead of sleeping.

Decision fatigue is highly prevalent these days. If you go into a store to buy a pen, you have an abundance of choice. What colour? What type of nib? What brand? Those 3 questions alone will have you making a dozen decisions.

Psychologists say that our brain has a daily processing limit. A finite number of decisions that we can make before we reach decision fatigue. The more decisions we make, the faster we reach this stage and along comes the influx of poor decisions.

Decision fatigue leads to procrastination. We have a task at hand but because of decision fatigue, we make the poor decision to check that one notification which leads us down an endless spiral of doing anything but the task at hand.

So...how can you beat it?

Reduce the number of decisions you have to make.

One way to do this is to make the mundane, easy decisions for the next day before you sleep. What this does is it saves your decision making energy the following day by already making those decisions ahead of time. These include things like:

• Laying out your clothes for the next day
• Deciding what you're going to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner the day before
• Writing a to-do list for the day - put a star next to the most important 3 tasks so you know where to focus your energy

If there's anything you can decide ahead of time, do it. This is why having a daily, weekly or monthly planner is such a commonality amongst the most productive people in the world. This prolongs that time of day where you reach decision fatigue, so you can make better decisions for a longer period of time.

A major example of this is with the well known Barack Obama, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg who have been known to reduce their everyday clothing down to one or two outfits in order to limit the number of decisions they make in a day. YouTuber Matt D'Avella has a video about wearing the same t-shirt for 3 years as part of his minimalism regime. By wearing the same colour T-shirt every day, these people never waste decision making energy on 'What shall I wear today?'. It's a bit extreme but you can try it yourself if you wish.

Attend to the most important things first.

In the morning you have the most energy and the best ability to make decisions. That's why you should utilise the morning to do the things of most importance, because you're most likely to stay on task and actually get them done. Leave Netflix, social media and other low energy activities for the evening when decision fatigue kicks in.

This is why many people exercise first thing in the morning - If they delay it to later on in the day, decision fatigue kicks in and makes them less likely to do it.

Momentum

For all of you who complete assignments the night before they're due, this one's for you.

This is by far one of the most powerful lessons I have learnt in productivity. Momentum is real and if you build it up, it'll make doing work a lot easier, helping you ward off procrastination.

When you have an essay, a project or anything important to do, make it a rule that you do a little bit every. single. day. Even if you type out the title and write 2 words, just make sure you do something every day. I followed this advice in my previous degree and I found that by day 5 or 6 I would suddenly get a 'Let's do this' attitude and end up doing a whole paragraph of the essay, or more.

It's a really powerful technique. When you've sat down, loaded the document on your laptop and typed a few words you might as well just carry on for 5 or 10 minutes. If you can reach flow in this time then you'll be going for 30+ minutes.

This is similar to the 5 minute rule. This is where you tell yourself that you're going to do something for just 5 minutes. What usually happens is after the 5 minute mark, it doesn't seem so bad so you end up carrying on. We usually lack the activation energy to start things that are difficult. Once they have begun, it's much easier to continue.

Motivation

Motivation is not a reliable resource for when it comes to being productive. So many times I hear students complain that they're not motivated to study for their exams. They end up waiting as if motivation will come knocking at the door - it never does.

That being said, if you ever find that you have lots of motivation then you should absolutely use it to your advantage. In those moments of spontaneity where you actually feel like doing things, do them! Make the most of motivation while it lasts.

Do it w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶f̶e̶e̶l̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶

People often wait for the feeling of wanting to do something before they do it.

If you ever find yourself saying 'I don't feel like it', remind yourself of this point. If you have a task that needs doing, learn to just do it regardless of how you feel.

Granted, this is easier said than done, so here's a skill you can build on to make this easier: Discipline.

Discipline

This is, in my opinion, one of the most important life skills. I truly believe that discipline is one of the most transforming life skills you can develop.

When you don't feel like doing something. When you're procrastinating and taking the easy way out, it takes discipline to stop doing that thing and to pick up your work.

Waking up early takes discipline.

Eating healthy and saying no to snacks takes discipline. Controlling your anger and emotions takes discipline. Doing mundane tasks when you don't feel like it takes discipline. Studying 4 months before your exam takes discipline. Do you see why this is such an important skill?

So, how do you build discipline?

Think of discipline as a mental muscle. If I want to build my bicep muscle, I would train it every day. I would practice using it until it becomes stronger. The same applies to building discipline. You have to practice using it in order to develop it. Essentially, you need to start saying NO to your desires on a regular basis. It takes discipline to say no to something you want to do. Over time, you will become more comfortable doing the things that usually take a lot of self-convincing.

Limit Distractions

Anything that you can see, hear or touch is being processed by your brain. If your phone is in your sight, you will have thoughts about it. The same goes for any other item in your immediate environment. If you have important work that needs completing, try to clear out your work space beforehand. When you have too many things in front of you, you create visual noise and give your brain too much information to process. You will struggle to focus on the task at hand, especially if you're easily distracted.

Try these tips for limiting distractions:

• Keep water and snacks with you, so you don't have to get up for anything during your work session.
• Pee before starting, a toilet break will stop your flow of work.
• Switch off your phone or leave it in another room on silent - It should be out of reach and sight.
• Turn off notifications on any device you are using - we are impulsive creatures so when something pops up it makes focusing that much more difficult.
• Wear noise cancelling headphones or play some light instrumental music - This will stop any noise from distracting you.

The Pizza Plan

A pizza is broken up into slices to make it easier to eat and digest. Take this same approach when you do any big project or task. Break it down into smaller, easier digestible chunks and work on those one by one.

If you need to write an assignment, spend 5-10 minute breaking it down into smaller tasks, like this:

• Background reading
• Make a plan
• Write Title
• Write subheadings
• Introduction paragraph
• Main Body
• Conclusion
• Proof Read

Now it doesn't seem so bad. Instead of thinking ugh I have to write this assignment, just look at your pizza slices and pick one to work on. Once that's done, move onto the next. Ideally you want the slices to be as small as possible making it super easy to complete each one. If you pair this with the momentum tip from above, you can do 1 slice per day and you’ll be done in no time!

Procrastination is something we all do, so don't beat yourself up about it. Practice these techniques altogether and I promise you will find yourself being less distracted.

If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this. I appreciate it more than I can put into words :)

(Note: If you enjoy this email, please consider forwarding it to someone who would get a lot out of it. If you were forwarded this email, you can sign up to receive it each Sunday evening. It’s free.)

💬 Highlight of the Week

Resurfaced by readwise​

✏️Insights of the week:

• 💬QUOTE OF THE WEEK: 3 simple words I constantly tell myself to stay positive.

• 👁️INSIGHT: Having a daily planner is so good. I’ve been using a daily planner since the beginning of this year and it’s made everything so easy. I never forget anything important because I write it down on my daily planner and it’s nice knowing that I’m spending my time in the best way so I don’t have to worry about ‘Oh I should be doing X instead of this’.
• 🎙️PODCAST: I listened to The Anti Diet ​episode from the Ten Percent Happier podcast this week - really good listen for anyone who’s wanting to eat healthy and exercising but isn’t sure about nutrition. There are a lot of myths busted in this episode - for example why downing your protein shake immediately after a workout isn’t giving you gains. Why you should wait 3-4 hours after a meal before working out and more! The guest has a really entertaining laugh too 😂

​

About the Author:

That’s me! I’m Daanish, I’m a Biomedical Science Graduate and a first year Medic studying in Aberdeen.

I like reading, writing, exercising, anything mindfulness-related and coffee.

If you want to discuss something further, make a friend or just have a chat, please reach out! I love connecting with like-minded people.

You can find me on 📽️YouTube, 🐦Twitter, 📸Instagram and 🤓LinkedIn.

If you liked this post, consider sharing it with someone who might like it, I’d really appreciate it 😊