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  • Alright, let's be honest!

  • Is there something else you're supposed to be doing right now?

  • Do you have a paper due in 10 hours?

  • Is there a stinky pile of laundry slowly inching its way across your bedroom floor?

  • You should be doing those things but instead, you're here listening to me lecture you on YouTube.

  • Wait wait wait wait wait, don't go away just yet.

  • The next five minutes will be the most productive bit of procrastination you have done all day.

  • And you're not the only one procrastinating.

  • Thanks to a suggestion by one of our viewers, today's episode of WellCast is going to bring you a three step program to wrangle your monster of procrastination into submission.

  • About 20 percent of the population identifies themselves as chronic procrastinators.

  • People who constantly put off the things that they really need to do.

  • And that is because procrastination is about lying to yourself.

  • You know, telling yourself, "Uhh! I will have plenty of time to finish that paper tomorrow," when you know you are way behind.

  • In a recent study, two groups of university students were signed to write three papers in three weeks.

  • Group A was given the opportunity to turn in all papers in at any point during those three weeks.

  • Group B, on the other hand, had strict weekly deadlines for each paper.

  • Ultimately, the ones who did the best on the papers were the ones given the strict deadlines.

  • Group A, the students who had to pick their own deadlines, they did pretty poorly.

  • Clearly, humans are not the best at regulating themselves.

  • So when it comes to procrastination, you have to trick yourself in getting the job done.

  • And this brings us to our WellCast three step method for stopping procrastination.

  • Please pause and print out your worksheet at watchwellcast.com.

  • Okay, are you ready?

  • Step one: eat an elephant.

  • Hey, how do you eat an elephant?

  • One bite at a time?

  • Look, what I'm saying is, you need time to digest or you are gonna make yourself sick.

  • Reward yourself for getting through parts of the project rather than waiting to reward yourself after the whole thing's over.

  • Okay procrastinator, think about that one project that you really need to get done, but calm down.

  • Instead of letting it overwhelm you, organize that project into small bite-size manageable segments.

  • Think about what needs to get done and write down what you're going to be doing to tackle this project hour by hour, and make it specific.

  • By breaking down this giant project into smaller tasks, this elephant will become a lot less daunting.

  • Step two: pick off the itsy-bitsy Goblins instead of going for the whole dragon.

  • The hardest part about starting any project is always starting a project.

  • A good way to get around this is to start a project off with the task you like the best.

  • Listen, when you do something that you like, your brain releases dopamines which makes you happy.

  • Maybe it's decorating a cover of a report, writing a snappy intro into an otherwise incredibly boring paper.

  • Step three: ignore the iren's songs.

  • Seriously.

  • This step is straight out of Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey.

  • In The Odyssey, our protagonist Ulysses is trying to get home.

  • Unfortunately, this requires maneuvering through a strait of water where sailors are often lured under the rocks by creatures called "sirens."

  • Instead of giving up, Ulysses instructs his crew to tie him to the mast of the ship and for all of them to plug their ears.

  • No matter how much he yells and screams to head towards the beautiful sirens, the sailors must keep on track.

  • We're not saying that you need to actually tie yourself up to anything,

  • But you should plan to clear any distractions that will hamper your ability to procrastinate later.

  • For example, if you're a sucker for Facebook or online video games, have your parents or your roommates change the internet password to keep you on track for studying.

  • The less temptations you give in to or have the ability to give in to, the better you'll be at acing that exam.

  • Okay kiddos, let's recap.

  • The best way to get around procrastination is to trick yourself into doing the work.

  • Haha, it's true though.

  • We recommend that you do this in one of three ways.

  • Number one: breaking your tasks into segments, in other words, you got had to eat that elephant.

  • Number two: start with the most enjoyable part of the project.

  • Go for those itsy-bitsy goblins.

  • And number three: avoid that siren song.

  • Clear out those distractions and see you can get the job done.

  • Are these tips of help?

  • Leave us a message below or email us at watchwWellCast.com.

  • Tweet us at watchWellCast.

  • Email us at watchWellCast@gmail.com

  • Or leave a comment down below.

  • We'll see you next time.

Alright, let's be honest!

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