#10: Overcome Procrastination with Dr. Timothy Pychyl

Dr. Procrastination aka Dr. Timothy Pychyl from Carleton University is the world`s leading authority on procrastination. For the last 20 years, he has researched why we procrastinate, the negative effects that has on our lives, and of course some practical techniques to finally get ourselves to do the things we say we want to do. If you want to learn how to tame the monkey mind, this episode is for you! Max Out Insights: Procrastination is detrimental to our performance, health and wellbeing, while often leading to guilt, stress, and heart disease We process information regarding our future self like a stranger, which often keeps us from making rational choices Self-oriented perfectionists try to do good job because they like it, while socially prescribed perfectionists try to live up to other people`s standards. Not surprisingly, socially prescribed perfectionists experience more anxiety, negative emotions, and procrastination Our monkey minds are a main reason for procrastination, so we need to keep the monkeys busy by asking: What`s the next action? Or: What would be the next action if I was going to do this? Using Implementation Intentions puts the stimulus for the action in the environment and therefore makes us more likely to act: In situation X, I will do Y Mindfulness allows us to develop a non-judgemental attitude towards our thoughts and feelings, thereby making it easier to deal with unpleasant emotions and stick to our intentions When we think about things concretely, our brains treat them like the present. When we think about things abstractly, our brains treat them like there`s no urgency to them. Therefore, thinking about your goals and intentions very concretely makes you more likely to follow through. Replace “I´ve got to read this weekend” with “I`ve got to read 5 more pages in chapter 3 on Saturday at 2pm”. The Inner Child from a neuroscientific perspective: Children`s prefrontal cortex (center for logic, reasoning, and self-control) is not matured yet while the limbic system/reptilian brain that is responsible for impulses is fully active. That`s why children have a hard time controlling their impulses and our “Inner Child” comes when there`s a mismatch between the two and the limbic system takes over. An amygdala hijack occurs, which means that your emotions dominate your decision making A transgression with someone else usually leads to avoidance. Similarly, procrastination is a transgression against the self and leads to avoidance of the thing that makes us feel guilty or ashamed. Therefore, when we try to get ourselves to do something and fail, we often do anything to avoid the same situation in the future. Learning self-forgiveness is the best way to overcome this Max Out Quotes: “Procrastination is a voluntary delay of an intended action despite knowing you`ll probably be worth off for the delay.” “Procrastination is failing to get on with life itself.” “Procrastination is not a time management problem, it`s an emotion management problem.” “Motivation follows action. No one said you have to be in the mood.”