How to Counteract Procrastination

Procrastination. Such a woefully common phenomenon. We know there are tasks we must do, but an unshakeable aversion to them looms. The brain has numerous tricks to avoid those chores: question their importance; distract us to do other, irrelevant tasks; perceive the chance of failure as higher than success; or even simply 'not feel like it'. This is the same brain that we could use to counteract the impulse.

There are a handful of reasons the brain resists exerting effort, and one of them is the need to conserve energy. Humans need energy for survival. Since the dawn of their existence, humans have relied on efficient energy consumption, primarily to fight or flee predators and gather food for more energy. The brain is especially critical in this case because it organises the energy usage and conserves as much as possible for more important cases, like a predator encounter. Whatever energy it can get, the human brain will save it.

From this, we can understand that the brain is rather tired. Its job of regulating the entire human body takes plenty of energy—around 20% of it.* This explains the tendency for people to operate by habit, for it is the brain's default, energy-efficient mode. Using energy taxes the brain, so it leans to resist exerting effort as much as possible. An exception to that is if a reward is worth striving for, but that is a different matter.

Another possible reason for such resistance is the mere-exposure effect. This phenomenon states that humans are attracted to familiar matters and averse to unfamiliar ones. The reason behind it is that the more familiar something is, the easier the brain processes it. This ease of processing is what stimulates the attraction towards familiarity. (This could explain why advertising is critical to businesses.) Since the brain conserves energy by default, it is not unreasonable to deduce that energy conservation is familiar and thus preferable. Opting to conserve energy strengthens its familiarity, which increases the chance of doing it again in the future. In contrast, unfamiliarity—doing chores, in this case—is undesirable because it consumes energy. Furthermore, the brain struggles to assess the amount of reward it could reap from unfamiliar tasks, further deterring it from completing them. Continouously avoiding chores generally decreases their chance of being done.

One more reason is that, by virtue of time and space, humans operate by the immediate present. It is a matter of survival, since all of their life events happen now. That is why humans, by default, do not foresee far in the future: evolutionarily speaking, they never needed to. This broadly paints future reward as less pleasurable than immediate reward, which is why the brain seeks the latter. Future reward often requires effort, too, and that is additional incentive for the brain to not think of it.

Despite all of that, we still have chores. We have tasks we ought to do for our wellbeing, and such tasks not only require effort, but they are often unpleasurable or 'boring', too. The brain, being the energy-conserving organ that it is, will immediately attempt to disalign us from our duties, all for the sake of energy conservation and a vague sense of reward. Below I list methods to guide your brain into doing the chores.

Before the list, I must tell you that these methods are applicable if the chores and their goals are clear. Lack of clarity in such will hinder your performance on the tasks. Moreover, the methods assume that each task would last an arguably reasonable duration, namely less than four hours. With that in mind, here are the methods listed:

• Counter-argue. Try to reason with your brain. Is the task important? Is it urgent? Is it your responsibility to complete it? And, are you capable of it? If the answer to three of the four questions is yes—particularly the latter two—then do it. No one else is going to do that task for you (unless you delegate), the task will not stretch time for you, and the task will not be any less important. What excuse do you have to not just do it? What reasoning has your brain weaved to justify your incompletion of the task?
• Reframe your idea of the chores. Are the chores really that unpleasant? Perhaps they are not. It is likely only your preconceived judgment. Judgment is a strong guider of our actions, and rethinking it could subsequent change in behaviour. Even if it were inherently unpleasant, it is still a chore that must be done.
• Foresee how you will feel. Recall a time when you completed your chores. Did you not feel marvelous? Is that sense of triumph, that freedom from obligation, unworthy of going through the hardship of chores? Foresee, too, how you will feel leaving them incomplete. I imagine you would feel the opposite of marvelous, doubled by the unfinished chores taunting you.
• Schedule the chores. Know your chores, and keep them in order. Clarity is key. Do ensure, however, that your scheduling is realistic, in that it matches your capabilities and your nature of doing tasks. In case you believe schedules are incompatible with your nature, you may use bucket lists. Either scheduling or bucket-listing will free you from the worry of forgetting to do a task. It is preferable to do this before slumber.
• Eat the frog. 'If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.' These words, attributed to Mark Twain, were adopted by author Brian Tracy to become a metaphor for this method. It states that whichever tasks are the most important and urgent to you—the frogs in question—do them first in the morning, one at a time. You will then not have to worry about it later in the day. If, however, your energy peaks in a different time of the day, you may eat your frogs during that time. Whatever suits your modus operandi. This method is especially helpful if your tasks can be finely ranked by necessity and urgency.
• Bore the mind back. This is perhaps the most daunting of the methods, but it is a method nonetheless. If your brain calls you to do something other than the chores, do not do it. Obeying it will lead you astray from the chore at hand. Do nothing. Stare at a wall, lie down on the floor—whatever way, force your brain into boredom until it returns to the chore.
• Do not think. Can you be quicker than thought? Can you speed past it and focus on the chore, paying no heed to the complaints of your brain? Accept the supposed unpleasantness of the chores and do them anyway. Let no thought hold you back. A bonus from this method is a sense of triumph from defying your mind.
• Just do it. Do not even try, just initiate. Action, and later motivation, will follow soon.
• Adjust for focus. Rid away any distractions from the chores. Eliminate obstacles in your path. Adjust your surroundings so that your concentration on the chore is more assured. You can even reorder certain things so as to encourage you to do the chore.
• Point and call. This method is used by Japanese railway workers to avoid errors. For the purpose of completing chores, aim at a chore's object and call out what you must do.
• Where there is resistance, slow down. Doing so may ease doing the chore. This method is especially useful for people who have a tendency of rushing in tasks.
• Remember your goal. What you consider important is so because it contributes to your wellbeing. Easy now, hard later; hard now, easy later. (Do note, though, that there are periods where you will not act in alignment with your desired goal. That is fine. If, however, the period persists beyond desired, there likely is an underlying condition, perhaps burnout.)
• Check your values. Unachievable desires are aligned with values, whereas goal-oriented desires cease after achievement.
• Specify your goal in full detail, then focus on a detail to work on tomorrow. If tomorrow cannot be done, see why and reschedule it to a different day. Continue until no obstacle is in your path.
• If you cannot complete a chore, do half of it. Keep reducing until you find a suitable point.
• If desperate, use distractions to assist you. Multitask.

Obviously, the list of methods I have presented is not comprehensive, and some of the methods are merely tips. If you still find yourself with a list of incomplete chores, I advise you to seek other methods or examine why you are struggling.

*Koeppen, A. H. (2000). Basic Neurochemistry. Journal of the Neurological Sciences, Vol. 174, 49–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0022-510x(00)00257-4

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