Hacker Bits, August 2016

Imagine yourself starting,
not finishing.
Cleaning the flat, working
out, reaching inbox zero:
these are all worthy goals,
yet sometimes getting stuck in
the infernal hackersnews ∞ reddit
loop seems so much more...
relaxing.
Let’s begin by delving into
the physiology of procrastination:
“[procrastination is] a
battle of the limbic system,
the unconscious zone that
includes the pleasure center,
and the prefrontal cortex,
the internal planner.
When the limbic system
dominates, which is pretty
often, the result is putting
off until tomorrow what
could, and should, be done
today.”
Source: scienceabc.com
So how can we trick our
limbic system to not “dominate”?
The answer resides in how
we picture the task. When we
picture a task, we often imagine
completing the task, if such
a thing is even possible, and are
also aware of task inter-relatedness.
Therein lies the problem.
This is what Neil Fiore has
to say about it in his book: The
Now Habit.
“The task before you is to
walk a solid board that is
thirty feet long, four inches
thick, and one foot wide.
You have all the physical,
mental, and emotional
abilities necessary to
perform this task. You can
carefully place one foot in
front of the other, or you
can dance, skip, or leap
across the board. You can
do it. No problem.”
This is how non-procrastinators
visualise a task. However,
Situation B is how procrastinators
visualise the same task.
“Now imagine that the task
is just the same, to walk a
board thirty feet long and
one foot wide, and you
have the same abilities;
only now the board is suspended
between two buildings
100 feet above the
pavement. Look across to
the other end of the board
and contemplate beginning
your assignment. What
do you feel? What are you
thinking about? What are
you saying to yourself?”
The task is more or less the
same; however the mental representation
is entirely different.
Imagine yourself
starting, not finishing
What is the first, smallest,
shortest, and least effortful task
you can perform to get started?
Say you need to clean your flat:
then it could be to:
take 1 plate and put it in
the sink.
That simple act has now
set you in motion. In other
words: the prefrontal cortex has
won.
Why does this work?
It works because your limbic
system is now experiencing the
previously terrifying task, but is
no longer feeling terrified by it.
This enables you to build new,
fresh memories of what was
previously uncomfortable to the
point of procrastination, but
now feels perfectly fine and safe.
tldr: imagine yourself starting,
not finishing. •
Reprinted with permission of the original author. First appeared at shyal.com/blog.
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