Physics actually plays a big role in procrastination.
You're an ambitious person. You've got big dreams and lofty aspirations. You know you're capable of success. You envision reaching or even exceeding your goals, and you know All The Things you need to do to make it happen.
But your couch is so comfy. And Netflix has all the Gilmore Girls seasons. And you're just going to check the news on social media real quick. And you should probably do some laundry because you're out of underwear, so you don't do All The Things. You're lucky if you do any of The Things to reach your goals.
You wake up an ambitious dreamer and go to bed a lazy procrastinator, over and over, and the cycle of wanting-to-but-not-willing-to continues.
Join the ambitious-but-lazy club.Photo credit: Canva
Don't worry. You're not the first person to be stuck in the ambitious-but-lazy rut, and you certainly won't be the last. There's a good chance you've tried various methods to motivate yourself or boost your willpower without lasting success. Quick dopamine hits trump ambitious dreams nine times out of ten.
But is it really laziness? A three-minute video from The Blurb explains how the cycle of knowing what you need to do but not doing it over and over again leads to a cycle of procrastination, creates guilt, and causes you to label yourself as a lazy person. And most methods of addressing the problem only deal with the symptoms—turn off your phone so don't get distracted, etc.—but don't deal with the root cause of procrastination.
What is that root cause, according to The Blurb? One word: Inertia.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
In physics, inertia is Newton's first law of motion—an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an external force.
"This applies just as much to tasks as it does to object," the video states. "Getting started on any task, no matter how small, requires an initial push and some amount of energy to overcome the resting state of inertia, and this precisely is the issue. We make this initial push so big and difficult in our minds that instead we just avoid the task entirely and distract ourselves with cheap dopamine-inducing activities. So to break break procrastination, we need to break inertia."
So many ways to procrastinate.Photo credit: Canva
The video explains that there are two ways to break inertia:
1. Reduce the stakes
We tend to build things up in our minds, which can overwhelm us. Thinking about the entirety of a task can cause us to not want to act at all because it seems so daunting. Reducing the stakes by breaking tasks down into tiny steps and only focusing on the step in front of you is often enough to break inertia. Instead of thinking, "I have to write a 5,000 word essay," tell yourself you just have to write the first 50 words. That feels much more doable, which makes inertia much lower.
2. The two-minute rule
Again, the getting started is the biggest hurdle, so tell yourself you only have to do the thing you need to do for two minutes and give yourself permission to stop after that. Need to clean your room? Put on a song, start cleaning and stop as soon as the song stops. It's unlikely that you'll not want to continue at that point.
2 Minutes Close Enough GIF by Overlook HorizonGiphy
"The best part is usually you'll continue longer than two minutes or you'll end up writing more than 50 words," the video states. "And this is because objects in motion stay in motion, meaning once we get started, we start gaining momentum and this momentum keeps us going for longer. Initially, it's like pushing a ball uphill but once we pass the point of inertia, it's downhill from there and that's why it's important that the initial push is small and easy."
There are lots of examples of reducing the stakes and utilizing the two-minute rule to get yourself past inertia:
Having a hard time consistently working out? Tell yourself you just have to put your workout clothes on and step out the door. That's it. Once you're outside or at the gym (because once you're out the door in your workout clothes, you'll might as well head to the gym if you belong to one) tell yourself you only have to exercise for two minutes.
Once you break inertia, tasks become easier. Photo credit: Canva
Need to work on a school or work project? Break it down into small parts and just do the first small part. Write one paragraph. Make the first presentation slide. Spend two minutes doing research. Just take the first step.
It might sound overly simple, but sometimes the simplest solutions are the most effective and you might be surprised by how well this works. Instead of searching for motivation, think of creating momentum. All it takes that first tiny push to break inertia and get the ball rolling, literally and figuratively.
You can find more helpful videos on The Blurb's YouTube channel.