06/22/24
How to study as a top level procrastinator.
Your problem isn’t procrastination, it’s avoidance.
But before I explain it further, there are three things you must understand.
They’re called fight, flight and freeze.
These three are the responses of your Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) to anything it perceives as a possible threat.
Think of the ANS as a sort of control center for the body.
It regulates heart rate, respiratory rate, among other things.
It’s crucial to understand how it works to figure out why we procrastinate.
Procrastination at its core is not doing something you know you should.
Now, if I simply ask you: âWhy do you procrastinate?â, you might say:
âI’m just lazy sometimes,â or âI really don’t knowâŠâ.
The thing is, that sounds a bit illogical, doesnât it?
You know there’s something to be done.
You know it will help you in the future.
And still, for some reason, you can’t bring yourself to do it.
Just the thought of it alone makes you uneasy.
Thankfully this unease turns out to be the answer we need.
See, that feeling doesn’t just come out of nowhere.
It is a result of how you interprete the task at hand.
Borrowing from MihĂĄly CsĂkszentmihĂĄlyiâs Flow theory, here’s what happens:
The Flow theory basically states the following:
Anything judged as too big of a challenge for your current skills will cause stress and anxiety.
Stress, anxiety and fear are primal responses.
They’re what hunter-gatherers felt when facing a predator.
And that’s exactly when the ANS would kick in with one of three reactions:
Fight, flight or freeze.
The predator is slow and/or weak? Fight.
The predator is fast and/or strong? Flight (run).
The predator actually surrounded you with four other ones? Freeze (overwhelm).
Now, use the example above, but change the word âpredatorâ for âtaskâ.
The task is easy/fast to be done? You do it (fight).
It’s too hard/takes too much time to be done? You run from it (flight).
It’s actually a ton of really difficult things altogether? You don’t even touch it (freeze).
The last one is why you procrastinate studying.
Learning something new tends to be exciting at first.
But then, you begin to notice how much you don’t know.
The more you explore, the more aware you become of your ignorance.
It feels like it will take you and eternity to grasp all the different concepts.
Words you’ve never seen before.
Rules you’ve never heard of.
Things that simply are what they are for seemingly no reason.
It all just feels⊠overwhelming.
That’s when you’re hit with the freeze response.
It doesn’t have to do with laziness or IQ.
You procrastinate studying because it feels too big a challenge.
But here’s the catch: it feels that way.
It’s not for nothing that the ANS responds this way to perceived threats.
Now, obviously, when it comes to an actual predator, it is a threat.
However, when it comes to doing a certain task, it is a perception.
The good news is you can shift that perception.
And here’s how to actually do it:
1. Proper physical movement (extra attention to âproperâ).
Be it walking, jogging, lifting, dancing, climbing or anything else.
As long as itâs sufficiently challenging physical movement, itâll work.
âSufficiently challengingâ meaning neither too hard, nor too easy.
Physical movement releases adrenaline, serotonin and dopamine.
What these three increase: motivation, mood and sense of competence.
What they decrease: stress, anxiety and pain perception.
The best thing? It’s totally free.
Remember: going to the body fixes the mind.
2. Proper mental movement.
This means engaging the task somehow.
No matter how small or unimportant it might seem.
There just needs to be movement.
The reason why? Momentum.
A first step creates the momentum for the second one.
Little by little, you get a compound effect.
Your mind now feels it can actually get the task done.
A bigger sense of control starts emerging.
But here’s the key to it: start small.
No expectations nor pressure.
Just show yourself you can do something.
Once you get going, it becomes easier and easier.
So, from now on, this will be your game plan:
Feeling stressed/anxious/worried about a task?
Get moving any way you can.
Be completely present all the while.
Once the good neurotransmitters kick in, engage the task.
Just start and let your now beefed up brain figure it out.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to this:
âDo what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.â Squire Bill Widener, Theodore Rooseveltâs Autobiography, chapter IX
Make it a habit one day at a time and your life will change.
I promise.
Recommended reading:
About the fight, flight or freeze response – https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/fight-flight-freeze
About the Flow theory – https://positivepsychology.com/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-father-of-flow/
About how exercises reduce stress and anxiety – https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/can-exercise-help-treat-anxiety-2019102418096
