JOY STEALER - PROCRASTINATION

CHAPTER FOUR (STEP FOUR)

Have you ever been in a place where you have tons and tons of work to do, but you feel lazy to even think about how to do it? It's a common feeling we all get now and then. We feel we can do it later and that we have enough time left to finish the work, which we can even finish it at one go if we sit and do. I just read an article ( the reference has been attached at the end of this post )from the internet which says that our brain is a drug addict, and we are so hung up on procrastination. I am sure you guys are also shocked to hear it, just like I was when I read it. So let me share it with you guys in my word now.

The science of avoiding: our brains are drug addicts.

Brain first tests a situation and if by any means, it seems as threatening or risky, the brain then immediately triggers an emotional response to safeguard the person’s well being.

There is a section in our brain called the amygdala, which is linked with an automatic emotional reaction to a situation. In times of being overwhelmed by some things or situations, such as having an obligation to perform many tasks or to do a difficult one, if not many, it gives two options, namely a fight( resistance) or flight (ignore) reactions.

Both are procrastination, and the hidden reason behind it is that our brain is protecting us against the negative feelings we might experience

. Here comes the biology stuff: The norepinephrine is a stress hormone which gets released into the blood when the brain foresees something as a stressful one. This chemical takes over, which in turn cause increased levels of fear and anxiety. Adrenalin gets pumped in.

We as humans are addicted to dopamine, the happiness hormone. It is produced when a pleasurable event occurs. As long as a task or a work has a higher level of perceived future likelihood of producing dopamine, our brain is addicted to reproducing those kinds of activities and it tries it’s best to avoid the rest. 1/32 per second is how fast the amygdala can send an emotional reaction out. The emotion reaction brainwashes us not to do a task or work. By being faster, it often defeats the reasonable part of our brain, which takes three whole seconds to engage. This is why the amygdala often wins.

“In 1/32 of a second we become fearful and we can’t think! That is what procrastination really is.” – Maribeth Blunt

This is the reason why we procrastinate.

Enough with the biology stuff, now let’s come to our lifestyle: We all procrastinate a lot and we know how it would make us feel on the inside when we are procrastinating, it would be like a real joy stealer right? Like we know, we have tons of work to do but still, we prefer doing some leisure activity or something which we like. When we are doing something other than our work, we feel like something is knocking on our door, or ringing our doorbell now and then just to remind us that we have a heap of work left to be done. Though this might seem like a disturbance preventing us from enjoying our time, this helps us by reminding important things, which otherwise would be forgotten. Forgetting to do the important tasks would leave us to regret later.

So, the anxiety which we get when we are procrastinating is our friend. To understand the previous statement, let us look into a situation: Have you guys ever been so scared of some exam or some assignment handled by a strict staff in your college or school? What will you guys do? Will you study well, at least for that exam? Will you all complete the assignment and submit it before the last date? You would finish them all because you fear the consequences. The guilt which develops by Procrastinating reminds us of the consequences and helps us do the assigned task.

Do this activity and see the result for yourselves: One day, just write all the tasks which you have to do in a paper and complete everything one by one. Yes, by having breaks in between. Once you complete a task, give yourself the pleasure of striking it off the list and when you are all done with the work, you surely would have more time than you thought you would need to complete them all. You now can use the free time to do your favourite leisurely activities with a hundred per cent peaceful mind. Ever experienced that? Wow, that would be the best feeling, right? Just try it. You would not only have completed your tasks earlier but also you would feel proud of yourself and maybe you can even help others and that in turn, could elevate your mood to a brighter shade and improve your self-esteem.

Step four view: You all must have watched in movies, how a person who feels excited to drink some glasses of alcoholic beverages at first, ends up with bad headache and regrets drinking the next day. Just like that, Procrastination might feel good the moment you are indulging in it but would feel worse at the end. Also, if you can do the tasks before itself and get a superb feeling from it why not do it instead of procrastinating and regretting because of it? Just go for it. Sometimes, things are not as bad or as hard as they might seem to be. So, go do your work and try to attain that unexplainable satisfaction.

Reference :https://thenextweb.com/lifehacks/2014/03/27/brain-freeze-science-procrastination-smart-brains/