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  • Hello and welcome to another video.

  • By the end of this video, you will learn how to stop procrastinating once for all.

  • If you're watching this video, there was something else you're supposed to do

  • but then you decided to spend five minutes on Facebook or YouTube

  • and somehow you ended up watching this video.

  • It has been probably an hour or two since you have decided to spend only five minutes.

  • I wonder what kind of five minutes are there.

  • Of course you are not planning to waste two hours of your time,

  • but then you wanted to know who liked a recent picture on Instagram or Facebook

  • or maybe you wanted to know if I have uploaded a new video and that's how it all started.

  • In fact, it always starts like that and then you end up wasting your whole day doing nothing.

  • In short, we just procrastinate, and in this video, we'll see how procrastination works

  • and I will show you a practical way to defeat it.

  • And please, please, for God's sake, don't procrastinate on watching this video till the end,

  • otherwise I won't be able to help you.

  • Just be patient for the next few minutes and I promise you that this is the only video you will ever need to watch about how to end procrastination,

  • because you will find whatever you are looking for.

  • Before we move on, don't forget to hit the subscribe button and the bell besides it to never miss another video.

  • Let's first understand how procrastination works in the first place.

  • Look, your brain always wants to relax.

  • It tries to avoid anything that will force him to work by promising that you will get a better opportunity in the future,

  • for example, if someone would give you a hundred bucks now or two hundred bucks after a year.

  • What would you choose? Of course, a hundred bucks now, because your brain starts telling you:

  • imagine all the great things you can do with this money right now,

  • and if you live until next year, you will make more than that.

  • You can take that money now and invest it, whatever.

  • If you could get this money now, you will certainly get it next year as well.

  • Your brain will always choose short-term gains over the long-term gains, even if they are hundred times more.

  • The same thing happens in every other situation that you are procrastinating.

  • But this time, it's not about the hundred bucks,

  • but it's about your time or your life, because each time you procrastinate, you waste your time.

  • When you want to start going to the gym, you always decide to do it tomorrow.

  • Because today you're tired, you don't feel like exercising.

  • You will find thousands of reasons where it's better to do it tomorrow

  • because that's what your brain wants.

  • Your brain will give you a short-term solution but in the long run you are messed up.

  • Let's say you want to start working, your brain realizes that you're about to put some energy,

  • so it starts looking for things you enjoyed the most

  • and starts reminding you about them over and over until you do that.

  • So, if your brain realizes that you enjoy spending your time on Instagram,

  • it will tell you - Why don't you check who liked your recent picture on Instagram?

  • And then you will start working.

  • If it's YouTube, why don't you watch a video to free up your mind and you will be able to focus better on your work?

  • Or why don't you get first a cup of coffee? It will certainly keep you awake.

  • Or why don't you take a nap? It will make you feel fresh and you will work faster.

  • Your brain will always give you reasons why it's better to do it in the future, so the idea is not to let your brain to trick you.

  • I love coffee myself and every now and then my brain is trying to convince me to make a cup of coffee as I'm working on this video,

  • although that I had one an hour ago.

  • But luckily, I know a practical way how not to let my brain to trick me,

  • which I will be sharing with you in this video right now

  • The first step is to break up the task into small pieces.

  • Remember that your brain is trying to avoid a lot of work,

  • so when the task looks so big that it literally needs a lot of work

  • and you don't even know where to start, your brain will automatically start coming with every reason to avoid it.

  • So, you have to trick your brain and let him know that you're not going to do anything tough,

  • you're simply going to do a simple task that requires 15 to 20 minutes maybe.

  • You're not going to spend a lot of energy or time there.

  • That's why when you break up the task and focus only a small piece of it, your brain isn't going to bother about it.

  • The same thing happens when you try to wake up in the morning.

  • Your brain is constantly telling you - the day is going to be too long and tiring,

  • you have to take shower, drive to your job, work for hours, attend meetings...

  • and another five minutes of sleep isn't going to make a difference.

  • So, you'll hit that snooze button.

  • Now imagine if you focus only on a small piece of it.

  • Just tell yourself - Forget everything.

  • I'm going to take a shower.

  • And if I feel sleepy after that I'll get back to sleep and you will find it much easier to get up,

  • Because your brain isn't going to come up with another excuse.

  • It's like when you wake up in the middle of night and you want to go to the bathroom.

  • It's pretty simple to wake up at that time because you know you'll get back to sleep after that.

  • So, once you're done with the shower, tackle the next problem and so on and so forth.

  • When I feel lazy to go to the gym,

  • I just tell myself that I'm only going to exercise for ten minutes, and I really mean it.

  • But once I go there,

  • and I am done with the ten minutes of training, it gets much easier to stay for another twenty minutes.

  • So, if you have a test tomorrow

  • and you're procrastinating to study, instead of focusing on studying the entire textbook,

  • just break it into little chapters.

  • Focus on one part at a time and forget all other chapters like you don't even have to study them.

  • Just make sure that you break them into little small pieces

  • that your brain won't feel that you do need a lot of hard work there.

  • And that drives me to the second step, which is create time blocks.

  • Remember the example if you would choose a hundred bucks now or two hundred bucks after a year?

  • What if it's a hundred bucks now or two hundred bucks after 30 minutes?

  • Of course you will choose two hundred bucks after 30 minutes

  • because another a hundred bucks is a good reward for waiting 30 minutes.

  • The same thing you can do with other things.

  • Just decide to study or work for 30 minutes regardless of whether it's enough or not,

  • and then reward yourself with five minutes of break and then you can check your Instagram, Facebook, watch a video, whatever.

  • Set your timer and start working.

  • Remember that within these 30 minutes you cannot do anything other than working, whether it is checking your phone, talking to someone else.

  • Once you learn to stay focused for 30 minutes, upgrade it to 45 minutes and eventually to an hour or more.

  • And lastly, write down your distractions.

  • Your brain is a master at reminding you of all the things you have to do once you start working.

  • I mean, you could not even think about them,

  • and now suddenly, the moment you start working, you remember everything you had to do for the past week:

  • you have to send that email, you're supposed to call Sam and ask him about the finals.

  • You promised your mom to give her a visit. What about the clothes you wanted to wash yesterday?

  • You start remembering things that you would not otherwise.

  • Some of them are really important, and you have to do them, but a lot of them are just there to distract you.

  • Regardless of what it is, your brain keeps thinking about it until you get it done and you will procrastinate again on your work.

  • Here is a simple way to deal with this.

  • Have a pencil and a piece of paper in front of you and write down everything that comes to your mind.

  • Once you're done with your 30 minutes, you can send that email or make that call.

  • Writing it down will help you to stop thinking about it because you know you will deal with it in 15 or 20 minutes.

  • So, remember, step number one: break up the task into small pieces and focus only on one small part of it.

  • Step number two: work for 30 minutes and then reward yourself with five minutes of break.

  • And step number three: write down your distractions.

  • I can give you my word that, with these three simple steps, you will stop procrastinating as long as you practice them.

  • And now I would love to know your opinion. How do you deal with procrastination?

  • Do you know any secret recipe?

  • Let me know in the comments below and if you have found this video helpful, then consider subscribing to see more of these videos, and I will see you in the next one.

Hello and welcome to another video.

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