Procrastination is often emotional. More than time management. Fear of failure runs deep. Even in school, I’d often not put full effort into school work because I feared how I’d feel if did my best and didn’t get an A. If you don’t try your best, you can always rationalize how you could do better to make yourself feel better. Reaching a 100% or yourself is a goal we all say we want to achieve but a goal almost all of us fear reaching.
@@viktorsamuelsson8216 the things I do I try to formulate them as a project that could potentially lead to a product or service. From my circles I try to find someone that might be interested and I try to push myself to the tasks through frequent meetings
I agree with you on everything mentioned in the video. However, I’d like to add one more important thing and that is self-control and discipline. Without self-control and discipline, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve the things I need to do and cut out distractions. It’s been a year since I stopped using TikTok, 4 months since I stopped using Instagram, and my only social media now is Twitter. I still use TH-cam but this is because I don’t watch tv and Netflix. Cutting these distractions has helped me to achieve a lot. I also use the Pomodoro technique when I have a lot to do. Lastly, I realise I often procrastinate because I have a fear of failure and moving forward scares me. But you’re right if I don’t do the things I need to do. It will cost me in the future. Anyway, thank you for the advice and insights.
Very good points, agreed that self control and discipline are critical as well as cutting out distractions like TikTok. Thanks for sharing your personal experience!
Keynotes: 1. Understanding the “real why” behind procrastination opens the true door of resolving it completely. 2. Use meditation, journal, 5 whys technique to find the “real why” 3. Next, make sure your goals are aligned with your values, else you’re going to procrastinate again anyway because you don’t have a reason to strive. 4. Understand that “pain” is inevitable, either now or later. 5. Set timer, get away from distractions and break tasks into small chunks. They make it easier for you to pursue your goals. 6. Now, work hard.
This video has put together a few thoughts I have had. There are a number of fundamental truths that we arse struggling with: 1. Humans are energy conserving organisms 2. Action requires expenditure of a small amount of energy - energy of activitation like a chemical reaction. Habit reduces the energy of activation to near zero. 3. Rational thought follows the moment of decision (proven in MRI studies). Decisions are driven by emotion not thought and we use thought to rationalise the decisions we have already made. 4. Our self is divided between our internal experience and our externally observable behaviour. Counselling and meditation are two seperate ways to harmonise our internal experience and our observable behaviours. 5. Every action we take moves us to being a new person, the goal is not to complete the action but to become the person who completes these actions. The conclusion from this is that writing job lists is effective because it takes very little energy and by writing the list you have already spent the energy of making the decision to act. Feeling the emotion of visualising being the person who does the the things we want to do gives us the drive to accomplish our tasks. Procrastination comes from not wanting to be that person enough. Most of your tips are reducing the energy of activations.
This is an exceptional video, thank you! I have recently began a new path in my life with a mental coach and this reminds me a lot of the things we talked about. Especially your why's! But you're way of telling and the thing you put an emphasis on gave me some new insights. you inspired me for this more financial metaphor: "Pain comes back with interest". Pain now is indeed less than pain later and we have to remind ourselves every second of the day that we are doing this for our future selves. I think the problem is that we are too comfortable in giving are future selves a hard time because our dopamine systems are programmed to do crave things in the present moment but it is possible to train this, let's be patient!
Great video as always Matt, showing the people how to apply the 5 whys to real life! I think for a lot of people including myself the ultimate reason why we’re procrastinating is fear of failure eg even if I stop procrastinating and study my hardest, what if I still fail the exam? Even if I try my hardest with this job application, what if I still get rejected? The challenge is looking past that fear and still trying!
Part of the problem is that some people have gremlins in their minds and hearts and all this self reflection leads to nowhere. They might need someone from outside to help.
Brilliant as always, such high quality content for free, am sure the community at large will reap enourmous benefits keep it going man!! One quick point from me re meditation which people may find interesting: There is a concept of "Shreyas" & "Preyas" to classify all actions as per the oldest scripture in the world - which translates to actions that are either "beneficial" or "pleasurable" and we have to decide which to pursue from moment to moment. Funnily enough the word "decision" also comes from latin - "caedar" which means to cut. Meditation is therefore held as a tool by these scriptures to dissociate our habitual patterns of resorting to pursue pleasurable actions by widening the gap between desire (thought) & action so that we can "cut" whats pleasurable in favor or whats beneficial. Wider reading, experience and reflection help with discriminating whats pleasurable and whats beneficial... Pairing this ancient insight with Goggins Andrew Huberman's concept of rewiring the brain to "enjoy" / derive pleasure from pursuing things that are difficult I reckon is a powerful model. Soz for the essay lmao got carried away punchin the keyboard 😂
Another reason journaling/meditation is good, is because it's an expression of the Self that you are trying to understand. So when you let your Self write, you will be able to work through tough thoughts/emotions, and you can go back and analyze/recognize patterns. This need not even be conscious, once it's out of the brain and on paper, you take a load off your mind. Same if you have intrusive thoughts. So... the foundation is of the EXPRESSION of SELF then being RECOG NIZED, and ANALYZED. What other activities do this? Freestyling/spoken word is verbal journaling, painting, (what is a painter that doesn't know what their art means..) boxing, dancing.
Just watched it The big thing is just habits for me. I do not think even about the whys everytime when i need to do something I dont even rely on this so called motivation or disciplines shinanigans I do not get personal with the goals for in the moment and in the future However there is a time when i can not do something. For example too tired, emergencies, things that are out of our control. The real question behind these procrastinating is just not making the big mistake in career, dating and location I love the gym example that it is too far. I think for me i do not see the gym as something too important. I just want to get the shape done and i am out of the gym. No mirror check, no fitness guru consumption. I am there to get in shape not to be some kind of gym bro. The lifestyle of this billion industry and the contrast bias is huge
I'm a chronic procrastinator trying to heal myself because it basically ruined my life and I'm not joking. I watched and read basically everything about this topic (obviously because that's part of the procrastination). So. Good video but the message "pain now is less than pain later" is not good enough, it won't stop you procrastinating and it won't make you start the task. You will forget it after 2-3 occasions. I understood this "future me" concept immediately when I started to look after the "cure" of procrastination but it never really stick with me because (according to scientists) to our brain future us is like another person and not us so our brain in the present can't identify with future us. We just don't care about future us... unless (this is what I realized recently) the future is really close to now. So what works for me is this: at the later part of every day I ask myself: "What would I be happy about when I wake up tomorrow morning if I did it today?" This question has the effect of me starting at least a thing I was procrastinating on. Another good one is "What would I say to my five-years-ago self with today's knowledge and mindset?" These two questions can bring such feelings to the surface that motivate me to do the thing so they have an anxiety suppressor effect which is pretty amazing. Another good question is asking the same as the first one but about one week later. Problem is that one week later self already fades into the distant future for our brain and so this question is not that strong to cultivate strong procrastination-suppressor emotions.
Loved this. So many good insights. Would love to hear how you manage your day. It must be a challenge managing work, TH-cam and then of course personal priorities!
He’s fundamentally misunderstood the difference between motivation and discipline. His video does not properly address procrastination, just those who haven’t prioritised clearly - strategies around knowing your priorities will increase motivation, but that’s not procrastination which requires discipline to overcome.
To be honest. Thinking about pain now vs later personally doesn't help me. I either end up freezing because I see a+b+c+d=e it really isn't working for me to be honest as it makes no difference in minimizing the daunting feeling of the task or I subconsciously dissociate.
Everything takes time Rather than procrastination it is may may you feel regret due to procrastination Knowing the purpose of the task is important and working towards it the purpose help If you think "everything is important" Then that the purpose if any task is yet to be completed then I think "everything is important" You can't escape because of the only discipline that for only on one thought "everything is important"
Why am I procrastinating? I'm too tired, low energy. Why? Work and other stuff. Ok cool ill just quit my job 👍 I've been diagnosed with ADD and with medication, procrastination becomes a myth. Maybe because since my brain isn't being fucked with a deficiency on the good chemicals, I can actually do things.
(I like to save videos and then when something in a certain point of the video sticks out I make a note on why I saved the vid so ignore this comment) NOTES FOR ME: 2:37 present vs future self: 2:57 delaying the pain onto our future selves 5:26 sit and be bored/alone with thoughts 5:40 reduce stimulation (6:12 nor allowing yourself to understand your feelings when overstimulated) 8:16 priority: asking ourselves deeper into questions 11:50 valuing current self more than future self: 11:09 example 18:35 being overwhelmed: 19:08 how to combat by visualizing, 19:30 worse-case-scenario mindset
Procrastination is not that simple. Just when you think you gonna do what matters the most... TH-cam recommends another video
Hahaha I’m part of the problem 😂
😂😂😂😂😂😂
True af and you go downhill watching one after another
Procrastination is often emotional. More than time management. Fear of failure runs deep. Even in school, I’d often not put full effort into school work because I feared how I’d feel if did my best and didn’t get an A. If you don’t try your best, you can always rationalize how you could do better to make yourself feel better. Reaching a 100% or yourself is a goal we all say we want to achieve but a goal almost all of us fear reaching.
What worked for me is transforming my tasks into business commitments. When other people are involved it becomes really hard for me to procrastinate
I can relate to that. How do you do it?
@@viktorsamuelsson8216 the things I do I try to formulate them as a project that could potentially lead to a product or service. From my circles I try to find someone that might be interested and I try to push myself to the tasks through frequent meetings
Accountability from other people is major key 🔑
@@matthuang21 On point !
Sounds interesting, but can u give us some examples? please :)
I agree with you on everything mentioned in the video. However, I’d like to add one more important thing and that is self-control and discipline. Without self-control and discipline, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve the things I need to do and cut out distractions. It’s been a year since I stopped using TikTok, 4 months since I stopped using Instagram, and my only social media now is Twitter. I still use TH-cam but this is because I don’t watch tv and Netflix. Cutting these distractions has helped me to achieve a lot. I also use the Pomodoro technique when I have a lot to do. Lastly, I realise I often procrastinate because I have a fear of failure and moving forward scares me. But you’re right if I don’t do the things I need to do. It will cost me in the future. Anyway, thank you for the advice and insights.
Very good points, agreed that self control and discipline are critical as well as cutting out distractions like TikTok. Thanks for sharing your personal experience!
nice! saved this to my Watch Later
jokes aside, wonderful channel man
Thanks Bennie! I appreciate you
Keynotes:
1. Understanding the “real why” behind procrastination opens the true door of resolving it completely.
2. Use meditation, journal, 5 whys technique to find the “real why”
3. Next, make sure your goals are aligned with your values, else you’re going to procrastinate again anyway because you don’t have a reason to strive.
4. Understand that “pain” is inevitable, either now or later.
5. Set timer, get away from distractions and break tasks into small chunks. They make it easier for you to pursue your goals.
6. Now, work hard.
This video has put together a few thoughts I have had. There are a number of fundamental truths that we arse struggling with:
1. Humans are energy conserving organisms
2. Action requires expenditure of a small amount of energy - energy of activitation like a chemical reaction. Habit reduces the energy of activation to near zero.
3. Rational thought follows the moment of decision (proven in MRI studies). Decisions are driven by emotion not thought and we use thought to rationalise the decisions we have already made.
4. Our self is divided between our internal experience and our externally observable behaviour. Counselling and meditation are two seperate ways to harmonise our internal experience and our observable behaviours.
5. Every action we take moves us to being a new person, the goal is not to complete the action but to become the person who completes these actions.
The conclusion from this is that writing job lists is effective because it takes very little energy and by writing the list you have already spent the energy of making the decision to act. Feeling the emotion of visualising being the person who does the the things we want to do gives us the drive to accomplish our tasks. Procrastination comes from not wanting to be that person enough.
Most of your tips are reducing the energy of activations.
This is an exceptional video, thank you! I have recently began a new path in my life with a mental coach and this reminds me a lot of the things we talked about. Especially your why's! But you're way of telling and the thing you put an emphasis on gave me some new insights. you inspired me for this more financial metaphor: "Pain comes back with interest". Pain now is indeed less than pain later and we have to remind ourselves every second of the day that we are doing this for our future selves. I think the problem is that we are too comfortable in giving are future selves a hard time because our dopamine systems are programmed to do crave things in the present moment but it is possible to train this, let's be patient!
Saved to Watch Later List.
i love how you end videos with shockingly uncomplicated
Great video as always Matt, showing the people how to apply the 5 whys to real life! I think for a lot of people including myself the ultimate reason why we’re procrastinating is fear of failure eg even if I stop procrastinating and study my hardest, what if I still fail the exam? Even if I try my hardest with this job application, what if I still get rejected? The challenge is looking past that fear and still trying!
Couldn’t agree more, Shivani! Btw, glad to see you posting content! Only up from here
I feel like the reason why I procrastinate a lot is because I have a lot of mental problems that I'm struggling to solve or choosing to ignore
Part of the problem is that some people have gremlins in their minds and hearts and all this self reflection leads to nowhere. They might need someone from outside to help.
I'm going to get back into deep dive journaling, it is indeed super helpful in understanding yourself.
Watching a video to overcome the problem of how to stop watching TH-cam videos !
great video Matt!
Thank you bro for dropping this... Keep going
You bet, more to come
Brilliant as always, such high quality content for free, am sure the community at large will reap enourmous benefits keep it going man!!
One quick point from me re meditation which people may find interesting:
There is a concept of "Shreyas" & "Preyas" to classify all actions as per the oldest scripture in the world - which translates to actions that are either "beneficial" or "pleasurable" and we have to decide which to pursue from moment to moment. Funnily enough the word "decision" also comes from latin - "caedar" which means to cut.
Meditation is therefore held as a tool by these scriptures to dissociate our habitual patterns of resorting to pursue pleasurable actions by widening the gap between desire (thought) & action so that we can "cut" whats pleasurable in favor or whats beneficial. Wider reading, experience and reflection help with discriminating whats pleasurable and whats beneficial...
Pairing this ancient insight with Goggins Andrew Huberman's concept of rewiring the brain to "enjoy" / derive pleasure from pursuing things that are difficult I reckon is a powerful model.
Soz for the essay lmao got carried away punchin the keyboard 😂
Brilliant, thanks for sharing my guy! Hope all is well with preparing for the start of the semester!
Another reason journaling/meditation is good, is because it's an expression of the Self that you are trying to understand. So when you let your Self write, you will be able to work through tough thoughts/emotions, and you can go back and analyze/recognize patterns. This need not even be conscious, once it's out of the brain and on paper, you take a load off your mind. Same if you have intrusive thoughts.
So... the foundation is of the EXPRESSION of SELF then being RECOG NIZED, and ANALYZED. What other activities do this? Freestyling/spoken word is verbal journaling, painting, (what is a painter that doesn't know what their art means..) boxing, dancing.
bro thank you for this content , it feals just like my big brother giving me his rare one year lecture😊
Anytime!
Great video man you have a skill for teaching
Thank you man! Appreciate you 💪🏻
really needed this video with so many tasks at hand!! thanks for this, matt!
So glad to hear you found it helpful Vidi!
Amazing also was the one thousandth like!
Lets goo!
@12:00 this is something I realized only a few days ago that shifted something in my brian
Just watched it
The big thing is just habits for me. I do not think even about the whys everytime when i need to do something
I dont even rely on this so called motivation or disciplines shinanigans
I do not get personal with the goals for in the moment and in the future
However there is a time when i can not do something. For example too tired, emergencies, things that are out of our control.
The real question behind these procrastinating is just not making the big mistake in career, dating and location
I love the gym example that it is too far. I think for me i do not see the gym as something too important. I just want to get the shape done and i am out of the gym. No mirror check, no fitness guru consumption. I am there to get in shape not to be some kind of gym bro. The lifestyle of this billion industry and the contrast bias is huge
this is shockingly helpful ❤❤
I'm a chronic procrastinator trying to heal myself because it basically ruined my life and I'm not joking. I watched and read basically everything about this topic (obviously because that's part of the procrastination).
So.
Good video but the message "pain now is less than pain later" is not good enough, it won't stop you procrastinating and it won't make you start the task. You will forget it after 2-3 occasions.
I understood this "future me" concept immediately when I started to look after the "cure" of procrastination but it never really stick with me because (according to scientists) to our brain future us is like another person and not us so our brain in the present can't identify with future us. We just don't care about future us... unless (this is what I realized recently) the future is really close to now.
So what works for me is this: at the later part of every day I ask myself: "What would I be happy about when I wake up tomorrow morning if I did it today?" This question has the effect of me starting at least a thing I was procrastinating on.
Another good one is "What would I say to my five-years-ago self with today's knowledge and mindset?"
These two questions can bring such feelings to the surface that motivate me to do the thing so they have an anxiety suppressor effect which is pretty amazing.
Another good question is asking the same as the first one but about one week later. Problem is that one week later self already fades into the distant future for our brain and so this question is not that strong to cultivate strong procrastination-suppressor emotions.
would you mind sharing a bit about how it ruined your life? Struggling with a similar problem
Thank you for this content bro!
Such a valuable video, thanks so much Matt!
Glad you liked it!
Loved this. So many good insights. Would love to hear how you manage your day. It must be a challenge managing work, TH-cam and then of course personal priorities!
Great idea! I’ll add it to my list
He’s fundamentally misunderstood the difference between motivation and discipline. His video does not properly address procrastination, just those who haven’t prioritised clearly - strategies around knowing your priorities will increase motivation, but that’s not procrastination which requires discipline to overcome.
loved this. thanks bro.
thanks for dropping by!
I like your personality
Thanks so much! I appreciate that you took a few seconds out of your day to write this comment.
What a beast
Right back at you
To be honest. Thinking about pain now vs later personally doesn't help me. I either end up freezing because I see a+b+c+d=e it really isn't working for me to be honest as it makes no difference in minimizing the daunting feeling of the task or I subconsciously dissociate.
Everything takes time
Rather than procrastination it is may may you feel regret due to procrastination
Knowing the purpose of the task is important and working towards it the purpose help
If you think "everything is important"
Then that the purpose if any task is yet to be completed then I think "everything is important"
You can't escape because of the only discipline that for only on one thought "everything is important"
Thanks very much
Why am I procrastinating?
I'm too tired, low energy.
Why?
Work and other stuff.
Ok cool ill just quit my job 👍
I've been diagnosed with ADD and with medication, procrastination becomes a myth. Maybe because since my brain isn't being fucked with a deficiency on the good chemicals, I can actually do things.
bro im procrastinating watching this video, could it be shorter ?
Bruhhh 😂
(I like to save videos and then when something in a certain point of the video sticks out I make a note on why I saved the vid so ignore this comment)
NOTES FOR ME:
2:37 present vs future self: 2:57 delaying the pain onto our future selves
5:26 sit and be bored/alone with thoughts 5:40 reduce stimulation (6:12 nor allowing yourself to understand your feelings when overstimulated)
8:16 priority: asking ourselves deeper into questions
11:50 valuing current self more than future self: 11:09 example
18:35 being overwhelmed: 19:08 how to combat by visualizing, 19:30 worse-case-scenario mindset
You’re liar, you are not Matt