Procrastination

Procrastination is like a credit card with your future self.

There is you sitting in front of your laptop, ready to take action, ready to work on your future.

But BOOM! a “How to become rich in 2025” YouTube video shows up in your feed. And guess what? You click on it.

You check the clock, it has been 2 hours since you fell into the rabbit hole of YouTube.

Now it’s time to eat, sleep or do something else.

You have wasted your time again.

You have procrastinated again.

Videos that promise to make you become something or give tips to achieve something are not the problem.

The problem is you.

Videos that give you dopamine then drain your energy to do what really matters.

But how does procrastination work?

It’s something normal, we all do it. We have to live with it.

The loop is something like this:

1- You have a long/hard task to do.

2- You feel overwhelmed by the task.

3- The brain’s natural reaction then is to generate adrenaline and cortisol.

4- The frontal part of the brain gets saturated, the part in charge of making decisions.

Faced with the task, we choose to postpone, to procrastinate on the task as a defense, since that will save us energy.

So then you end up doing something else that gives you instant gratification, like watching a video, eating, or sleeping.

How do I deal with it?

Actually, I don’t have the key, sorry. I’m still struggling with it.

But what works for me so far is to not negotiate with my brain and just take action.

Once you know the previous theory and why that happens, you can anticipate it and act accordingly.

Or at least try to.

In your brain, you usually have two characters living there, they are like the politicians of your body, discussing all the time what are the “best” decisions.

One is rational, the other is emotional.

The emotional one will always side with natural instincts, like procrastination.

The rational one will always side with long-term benefits, like working on your future.

So I just try to give more attention to the rational one. Even though sometimes I follow the emotional one’s instructions, I try to at least be conscious of it.