The Science of Procrastination (and how to stop)

Right now, you're probably supposed to be doing something. Whether it's sleeping, working, or touching some grass, you're watching this video instead. And that's odd, because, you know, you should go outside. But, you could also not. This isn't necessarily because of laziness. Procrastination and laziness are two different things. Laziness is just openly not doing things because you don't want to. Procrastination is wanting to do things, and you will do things, just tomorrow. Maybe after this video, because it's educational. And so it's like, okay, right? For the purposes of my rent, the answer to that question is yes. Anyway, there are two players in a bout of procrastination. The prefrontal cortex and the limbic system. Rationality and, oh my gosh, Mr. Beast just posted, I better watch that. The limbic system has been around pretty much as long as animals themselves. While the thinky part of your brain is relatively new and has much less pull. So, you might rationally know that studying is the decision that will benefit you most, and that there's relatively no downside to doing so. But your limbic system is 260. He sees red, and bodies hit the couch. But why is the limbic system so opposed to doing what's good for you? The reality is he's trying his best. The emotional brain is not evolved to handle long-term threats. So, when you see you have an assignment due in a week, two things happen. Your thinky part says, yeah, about an hour a day will be good. But your emotional part says, well, if I fail this, I'm probably going to fail class, and fail school, and not graduate, and not get a job, and just starve. Which I would say is generally bad. The emotional part perceives this as a bad thing that's happening right now, caused by whatever work you should be doing, and therefore, sends out signals to avoid that bad thing, your work. The thinky part can try its best to send out signals saying everything is fine, actually, but its efforts are almost entirely futile. Remember, he's 260. Not much you can do. In fact, usually your prefrontal cortex will be so intimidated that he joins in and starts justifying the decision to procrastinate. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Productive stuff can be seen as a threat from multiple different angles, not just anxiety. The work might seem overwhelming, or just really hard. Or you're scared that if you actually try your best and fail, there will be no excuse for your shortcomings, and you won't be able to blame the embarrassing performance on the fact that you procrastinated. Your failure will be entirely due to your fundamental inability to succeed. But most likely, it's simply less interesting than Minecraft parkour Reddit stories. Either way, procrastination is always a form of self-regulation failure, where repairing your current mood takes priority over anything. The thing is, the brain is really bad at predicting its future mood. If you put a task off, it guesses that when it's time to do that task again, it will feel the same way about it as it does now. But wait, I thought the brain procrastinates because it feels bad. Yeah, which is why the moment you decide to delay the task, it feels good. And this is the feeling it thinks it's going to feel in the future when doing that task again. This whole process manifests itself in six words. I'll feel like doing this later. The reality is, probably not. There are two ways to repair this cognitive flaw. First, time travel, which isn't a joke, just an uncreative name. You essentially envision what confronting that work in the future will actually feel like, hopefully realizing it's just as bad then. This comes with the risk of tricking your brain into releasing juicy signals that you already did the work, which is why I wouldn't recommend this method. Also, because the name sucks. Second, super stupidus, which isn't its actual name, but I had to replace the real name because apparently, most scientists got rejected from film school for a reason. In this method, you literally just assume your prediction is wrong, which is much more reliable because it almost always is. But now you're just sad because the work is hard now and hard later. And then my first instinct is to look down upon you as if I'm not making this video for myself. I'll instead give what research has shown to be the best advice. See, the monkey brain may be 260, but I never said this was a boxing match. And what's different about the animal brain and the thinky brain? Tools. Firstly, you need to plan ahead. Everyone besides Keanu Reeves encounters the temptation to procrastinate. It's unavoidable. And just trying to willpower your way through it won't be very effective. Studies have shown that when you put hungry people alone in a room with some cookies, the ones who are allowed to eat cookies perform on tasks requiring willpower longer than those who aren't allowed to eat cookies. I don't know why these studies always use cookies, but I do know that this is a clear indicator that willpower is at least unreliable. Sure, you might be able to will your way through procrastination from 10 to 12 o'clock, but your productivity will probably tank after lunch. But there has been studies where participants starved of cookies are told to use implementation intentions and subsequently perform just as well as their satiated peers. But what does that mean? What is an implementation intention? Basically, it's where you treat yourself like a computer. If I think, this sucks, I hate this, I'm going to watch YouTube, then just start working. Now, I know what it sounds like. Stupid. But time and time again, implementation intention proves to be effective. You're essentially pre-deciding. You're taking out that middle part where you weigh whether doing the work is worth it or not. Because you already decided beforehand. It is. But you need to be very specific about this. Not just, if I start to procrastinate, then don't procrastinate. I promise if you do exactly what I say here, you will procrastinate less. The next time you're about to procrastinate, write down your exact reason. This exact thought, which is personal to you, is a new if statement. Your then statement should be all the steps required to start being productive. Like getting out your homework, a pen, and doing the first problem. As another example, mine is, then, open Premiere Pro, Photoshop, and dual screens of Raid Shadow Lore. Nah, I'm just kidding. This isn't sponsored. But that would have been good. I do have Patreon now, though. So, you know, I'll throw that out there. Anyway, your then statement should be overly specific steps that you've written beforehand. But, getting started on the work is only the first round of defeating procrastination. You might be working, have a question, google that and two hours later, you're on the Wikipedia article for the most OP Smash characters. The good news is, you can use implementation intentions here, too. If I open Google and question is irrelevant, then close Google. But this is a bit more tricky for things like your phone. Which brings us to the second tool. Elimination. Eliminate as many distractions as possible. Leaving your phone on do not disturb in the deepest corner of your bag will be beneficial. No matter what you do, do not let anxiety get the best of you here with what if there's an emergency. Like, bro, why would they need you? There's people for that. That's their job. The last tool isn't a tool, just good advice. Go easy on yourself. If you really want to procrastinate less, research has shown that those who forgive themselves of their procrastination are more likely to redeem themselves in their productivity. So, you know, it's okay, man. We can't all be Keanu Reeves. And remember, if video good or helpful, then subscribe, like or support on Patreon.