“Everybody is a genius. but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid” – – Albert Einstein

All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned

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Procrastination

the more aversive (unattractive) a task or project is to you, the more likely you are to put it off. And there are six main task attributes that make procrastination more likely -> (Boring, frustrating, difficult, unstructured or ambiguous, lacking personal meaning, or intrinsic reward)

For example, if the trigger is:

Boring: I go to my favorite café for an afternoon on Saturday to do my taxes

over a fancy drink while doing some people watching.

Frustrating: I bring a book to the same café, and set a timer on my phone to

limit myself to working on my taxes for thirty minutes—and only work for

longer if I’m on a roll and feel like going on.

Difficult: I research the tax process to see what steps I need to follow, and

what paperwork I need to gather. And I visit the café during my Biological

Prime Time, when I’ll naturally have more energy.

Unstructured or Ambiguous: I make a detailed plan from my research that

has the very next steps I need to take to do them.

Lacking in Personal Meaning: If I expect to get a refund, think about how

much money I will get back, and make a list of the meaningful things I’ll

spend that money on.

Lacking in Intrinsic Rewards: For every fifteen minutes I spend on my

taxes, I set aside $2.50 to treat myself or reward myself in some meaningful

way for reaching milestones.

How to approach it:

  1. Create a procrastination list: When you make a list of meaningful and high-impact tasks to do the next time you procrastinate, you can remain productive while your prefrontal cortex warms up.
  2. List the costs: Listing every single cost of putting something off is one of my favorite ways to get my prefrontal cortex fired up
  3. Just get started

 

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