Procrastination is the result of a task feeling overwhelming.
"I haven't missed a workout in 45 years and two weeks... you know what I consider the worst disability of all? Procrastination and laziness. Give me blindness over that any day of the week." - Richard Turner (Penn & Teller video)
This is the single most useful productivity hack.
Mimimum Viable Actions is the smallest viable action that feels doable to you in this moment. It takes advantage of a psychology quirk where:
Motivation is not just he cause of action, but also the effect.
This makes it more difficult to stop doing the task than to continue... so you continue.
Instead of:
Inspiration > Motivation > Action > Inspiration
Do this:
Action > Inspiration > Motivation > Action
What this means is, do something... And it will lead to more.
- Read a book? Just read one chapter.
- Meet new people? Just go out for a beer.
- Write a book? Start with the outline.
- Go running? Get dressed.
Success is tied less to knowledge or talent, and more to action supplemented by them. You can become successful at something without knowing what you're doing, or without much talent... But you can never become successful at anything without taking action. Ever.
Example goal: Writing a memo
Steps:
Begin writing the memoStart with the outlineStart with a sentence- Create a document and give it a title
Expend willpower on building the habits, not on the work.
"You don't have to feel like getting something done in order to actually get it done."
The trick to quitting smoking (or to changing any habit) is to recognize that your identity—that elaborate mental framework you devised in your mind and labeled "me"—doesn't actually exist. It is arbitrary. It is a facade. And it can be raised or dropped at will.
You are not a smoker. You are a person who chooses to smoke. You are not a night person. You are a person who chooses to be active at night and sleep through the morning. You are not unproductive. You are a person who currently chooses to do things that do not feel useful.
And changing these actions is as simple as… changing your actions. One action at a time. Forget labeling it. Forget social accountability (in fact, research has found that sharing goals with others can often backfire).
Willpower is the ultimate predictor of success (delaying instant gratification).
Willpower is finite and can be drained, upon which impulse succumbence occurs.
Willpower is like a muscle, strengthened by consistent draining.
Instead of relying on willpower alone, one should develop daily habits.
In other words, use willpower to develop life-long habits, instead of enduring temporary fixes and burning out.
Habits form when you engage in a behavior repeatedly in the presence of consistent stimuli i.e. Habits are automatic responses to familiar cues.
Habits have 3 parts:
- Environmental cue
- Behavioral response
- Reward (removal of unpleasant stimuli)
Ex. Smoker drinks coffee (cue), and wants to light one up (response), after which he feels relaxed (reward).
In order to create new habits (break old), you should NOT focus on the behavior, but rather on the cue.
Instead of spending willpower on creating or eliminating the behavior itself, you should consciously create or reorganize the cues that trigger the habits.
Ex. To build a habit of working out, as soon as you get home (cue), put on gym clothes and head to the gym (response), and after working out, watch a TV show (reward).
Habits don't become automatic after hitting a threshold, but are reinforced (compounded) gradually.
After something becomes a habit, our behavior isn't guided by our willpower, but by the automatic responses to the environmental cues.
With our goals in mind, we can consciously use our willpower to manipulate our environments and develop desired habitual responses to the cues of our choosing.
The key is to build a habit slowly by ramping it up gradually. Instead of working out for 3 hours, try walking for 15 min. "I'm overweight, I should run a marathon"
Consistency is key and skipping a beat is normal. Also, take your time, as everyone builds habits in different time.
"Nothing good could be written on a laptop with an internet connection" - Jonathan Franzen
Your goal should not be the final end product, but creating circumstances that make the end product inevitable.
Instead of setting a goal to get 3 hours of work done each night, expend your willpower on habits which make it inevitable, by removing distractions, disconnecting internet, setting up rituals.
Instead of asking what goals you'd like to reach, ask which life habits you'd have to implement to achieve it, and then expend willpower on building them.