Procrastination & Motivation

We all know how difficult it can be to find motivation. We’re always waiting for it to strike, or watching inspirational videos to get that spark, or doing anything to stop feeling lazy. I’m definitely guilty of this kind of behavior. Somewhere along the line, we were sold the lie that you should only do things if you are motivated and want to do them. There is an issue with this type of thinking though; you need to do the important things even when you don’t want to.

“People talk about getting ‘amped up’ to work on their goals. Whether it’s business or sports or art, you hear people say things like, ‘It all comes down to passion’ Or, ‘You have to really want it’. As a result, many of us get depressed when we lose focus or motivation because we think that successful people have some bottomless reserve of passion… successful people feel the same lack of motivation as everyone else. The difference is that they still find a way to show up despite the feelings of boredom.” – James Clear

I recently read an article by Ali Abdaal about procrastination, why the traditional mindset we are sold on motivation is detrimental to getting things done, and what the correct understanding of motivation is. I also have been learning more about tools for fighting procrastination and building motivation from the book Atomic Habits. All this information was very beneficial for me, I hope you find something useful as well!

Procrastination

From Ali Abdaal’s article about procrastination: “Ancient Greek philosophers developed a word for [procrastination] – akrasia – meaning to act against our better judgement by doing one thing even though we know we should be doing something else.” This is exactly right.

Life is work. We all have work that is important for us to do because it is beneficial or essential to complete. Why is it so difficult to do then? Why do we have unmotivating feelings when we try to do something we know will be positive for us? Shouldn’t we feel motivated to do things that are good? It seems strange on the surface, but it makes sense if you dive a little deeper into it.

Throughout most of human history, we’ve lived in an immediate return environment where our actions directly caused results and rewards. We were concerned about surviving the day, not the 10-year trajectory of our lives and wealth. This resulted in our minds evolving to prefer instant rewards over delayed rewards. In the modern world though, this is not the case anymore. We have the safety and wealth as a civilization to think farther ahead, and because of this privilege, we are able to receive greater rewards. Any real and worthwhile rewards come through forward thinking and delayed gratification. Even though the world has changed, our minds have not caught up to this type of reward system yet.

This is where procrastination comes from. You know very well that you should be working, but your brain does not care about that. What it cares about is finding quick fixes to problems you are having, and in this case the problem is boredom. The solution (for your brain) is scrolling on social media, watching YouTube videos, watching TV, or playing video games. Ali references a study (linked here) which states that your brain is more concerned with short term mood repair over long term mood repair. Modern problems are not the same problems our ancestors had. Short term solutions are no longer the correct solutions.

The Solution (Motivation)

If we want to eliminate procrastination, we are going to have to understand what motivation truly is. Motivation is your best weapon against procrastination. If you are motivated to do something, it doesn’t matter how difficult or painful it is going to be, you’re going to do it. How do we cultivate motivation then?

We need to remove the mindset that motivation is something that you need to wait to come to you, and that only successful people have motivation. Motivation is not something you get before you start a task, it is something you get once you start and complete the task. Motivation is momentum.

That’s why when you are working hard, sometimes it is difficult to stop because you have built up momentum. People who work out will have a great session at the gym and they might not want to leave; they still feel motivated to continue working out.

So then how do we cultivate motivation? I believe there’s three pillars to motivation and building momentum; habits, discipline, and taking action.

Habits

Getting into good habits are an excellent way to build up motivation. If you get into the habit of writing every day, or going to the gym every day, the process becomes that much easier. When you are developing a habit, your brain is carving out a section of itself specifically for that task. Habits are your brain automating the tasks you do the most. This is to conserve energy and effort, so you can focus and work on other things. When you automate a difficult task, it makes it that much easier to show up and complete the task. Once you get into the habit of doing these tasks every day, this builds motivation and momentum. Eventually, the task is completely automated for you and is effortless.

“Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement” – James Clear

Be warned, habits can work against you just as much as they can work for you. Having a habit of smoking nicotine after work every day, or having a soda at dinner every night, can cause major deterioration to your health over time. Alternatively, working out after work every day, or having water with your dinner every night, can have major benefits to your health over time. Habits is a friend and an enemy; you should constantly be making sure that it is your friend versus your enemy. Those bad habits will come up to bite you down the line if you do not pay any mind to them.

Discipline

“Discipline produces action, which leads to a more sustainable form of motivation.” – Ali Abdaal

Discipline is related to habits, where you need to be disciplined enough to do something even when you don’t want to. You should be disciplined enough to do the work, especially when you don’t feel like it. Lack of discipline will result in a downward spiral with your work. It will become harder and harder to get started, and because of this, you will start to resent your work more. But if you stay disciplined and worked, even when you don’t feel like it, you will develop the best relationship that you can have with your work, and you will continue to foster great motivation and momentum.

“Do the hard work, especially when you don’t feel like it” - Hamza

Taking Action

Taking action might be the most important thing you can do to eliminate procrastination. The best thing to do is to show up. Even if you don’t feel like doing it, do it anyways. Don’t wait for the day when you feel like doing it. You might pull the excuse “I don’t want to do it, so even if I do it it’ll come out poorly.” If this is your mindset, then you are never going to be in the mood to do what you need to do. You’re not going to be perfect the first time you do something. Get the bad tries out of the way, their inevitable.

Getting the ball rolling is essential for building momentum. You can’t build up momentum if you are completely still. Momentum starts slowly and builds up over time. The most important thing to do is to take action, set things in motion. After that, momentum will become easier to build and maintain. Like Newton said, an object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion. There really is power to Nike’s slogan “Just Do It!”.

You’re Your Biggest Enemy

Tim Groover, author of Relentless and trainer for many all-time NBA talents such as MJ, Kobe, and Dwyane Wade had an excellent quote in his book. He said, “The greatest battles you will ever fight are with yourself, and you must always be your toughest opponent”. This really resonated with me because it is so true. It’s you against you every day. These tools for motivation are great, but all I can do is tell you them. If you want to be great, you have to take action yourself. Hopefully you can use some of the tools I talked about today against yourself.  Thanks for reading.

Side Note

I added a comment system to the blog! You can let me know how incredible I am at writing, or you can let me know if there’s something I’m doing wrong. Always great to hear constructive criticism, I’m trying to get better at writing.

But more importantly, I would love to hear from people about what they want to hear from me. If you have any topics that you might want me to dive more deeply into, I would love to hear about it. I want to cultivate a community here, and I want to hear what topics people are enjoying.

If you have any topics that you think I would find interesting or books that I should read, let me know! Anything that you would like for me to know, the comment section is there for you to do so. I appreciate everyone who’s been reading, thank you all!

References

Most of this article was inspired by Ali Abdaal’s article “How to Stop Procrastination”. He talks about procrastination, how to stop it, and provides tips and tricks that he uses to help himself. Ali has a great page with a lot of blogs and YouTube videos on productivity as well as entrepreneurialism. Check him out if you were interested in those topics.

I also referenced the book Atomic Habits by James Clear a couple times here. James talks about the science of habits and how to have the best habits come easy and the bad habits be avoided. The summary on the cover is short but perfect: “An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones”. If you want to improve yourself as much as you can, habits are essential for doing that and I highly recommend reading this book to learn more about them.

Finally, in the conclusion I talk about the book Relentless by Tim Groover. He is a trainer for top NBA talent and writes about what it takes to become an MJ, a Kobe, or a D-Wade. Really cool read for people interested in stuff like that, but also is a great motivation for becoming absolutely relentless with yourself and your goals.