BEAT PROCRASTINATION WITH THE FIVE-MINUTE-RULE

hurdle, which was to start, and now you’re on your way to finishing what you started.

WHAT MAKES THE 5 MINUTE-RULE EFFECTIVE Procrastination is not because of laziness or poor time management skills. In reality, it is a coping mechanism to deal with the negative emotions associated with a task. Whether it’s insecurity, anxiety, resentment, or boredom, we try to avoid these negative emotions for as long as possible. That’s where our buddy procrastination comes in. Our brains try to protect us in strange ways sometimes. By procrastinating, we avoid the negative feelings now, even though we know the stress will be worse later on. We really weren’t designed to think ahead into the future because we needed to focus on providing for ourselves in the here and now. As we evolved, our ancestors needed to focus on the ‘here and now.’ We still follow those same ideas. When we put a task off, we trick our brains into thinking that it is someone else’s problem. This way, we can feel stress-free right now. If we ever want to stop procrastinating, we have to understand these fundamental feelings that we all share.

By using the 5-minute rule, we relieve some of the stress expected from the task. A 5-minute burst of activity is a lot less daunting. We don’t want to feel stressed for an hour, but we can rush through 5 minutes of the activity before we feel stressed. Additionally, we get the satisfaction of completing a task.

OTHER WAYS TO BEAT PROCRASTINATION

If the 5-minute rule didn’t work for you, don’t fret. There are other ways to tackle procrastination.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Procrastination is the act of unnecessarily postponing decisions or actions.

• The 5-minute rule says to just do 5 minutes of the task you’ve been putting off, and if you want, you can stop after 5 minutes.

• Usually, people find starting the task the most challenging part and often will continue to do the task after 5 minutes and complete it.

Imagine How Great You’d Feel After the Task is Over: There have been studies which show that people are more likely to save for their future retirement if they’re shown digitally aged photographs of themselves. This is because it makes their future self feel more real, making the future benefits of saving also feel heavier. When we paint a vivid image of how satisfied we would be after doing the task we’ve been putting off, it can be enough to give us just the push we need.

Pre-committing in Front of Other People: Telling someone that we’re going to get something done can amplify the appeal of actually taking action. This could be because our brain’s reward system is so highly responsive to our social standing. Research has found that it matters greatly to us whether we’re respected by others or even by strangers. Most of us don’t want to look foolish or lazy to other people.

Confront the Downside of Inaction : While we might weigh the pros and cons of doing something new, we far less often consider the pros and cons of not doing that task. Known as omission bias, this often leads us to ignore some obvious benefits of getting stuff done. For example, you’re repeatedly putting off studying for that test. You’re tempted by more exciting tasks, so you tell yourself you can do it tomorrow. But force yourself to think about the downside of putting it off, and you realize that tomorrow will be too late to cover the syllabus. If you get moving now, you have half a chance of covering all the portions, so this enables you to get going now.

Make the First Step: Sometimes we’re just daunted by the task we’re avoiding. The trick is to break down big tasks into baby steps that don’t feel as though they take as much effort. An even more foolproof way is to identify the very smallest first step, something that’s so easy that even your present-biased brain can see that the benefits outweigh the costs of effort.

Treat Yourself to Taking the First Step: We can make the cost of effort feel even smaller if we link that small step to something we’re actually looking forward to doing. In other words, tie the task that we’re avoiding to something that we’re not avoiding.

Remove the hidden blockage in your Mind: Sometimes we find ourselves returning to a task repeatedly, still unwilling to take the first step. We can easily identify what is blocking our minds from starting that task. Ask yourself why it is so and try to overcome it.

The next time you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by your inability to get important tasks done, be kind to yourself. Recognize that your brain needs help if it’s going to be less shortsighted. Try taking at least one step to make the benefits of action stay larger, and one to make the costs of action feel smaller. Your neverending to-do list will be grateful.