1252: Undone: How to Change Our Procrastination Patterns by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits on Habits, Personal Development & Mindfulness

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Work Daily, episode 1252, Undone, How to Change Our Procrastination Patterns,

[00:00:07] by Leo Babouda of Zenhabits.net. And I am Dan, I am your host here, welcome to Optimal Work Daily,

[00:00:14] and today we are going to get right to our post and start optimizing your life.

[00:00:22] Undone, How to Change Our Procrastination Patterns by Leo Babauda of Zenhabits.net

[00:00:30] Procrastination starts from an avoidance of something from fear, then becomes a pattern

[00:00:35] that hardens into a habit.

[00:00:37] We reinforce this procrastination habit through years of practice, and it hurts us in so

[00:00:42] many ways in our lives, not only with

[00:00:45] work tasks, but much more.

[00:00:47] The procrastination habit affects dealing with our finances head on, health habits,

[00:00:53] putting off exercise, for example, dealing with our health problems, putting it off makes

[00:00:58] it much worse, relationships, putting off difficult conversations, creating art, meaningful work, decluttering

[00:01:06] and simplifying, being on time and being late can cause us stress, learning new things, and much more.

[00:01:14] Those are just some of the most visible examples, but we procrastinate all day long

[00:01:19] by checking our phones, favorite websites, email, messages, news, watching TV, playing

[00:01:26] games, and well, you all know your favorite procrastination techniques.

[00:01:31] So the question becomes, how do we stop hurting ourselves after all these years?

[00:01:35] How do we start to unravel our hardened procrastination habits and create more helpful patterns?

[00:01:41] The answer is to start thinking of these hardened patterns as grooves.

[00:01:50] The Grooves of Our Habits When you first procrastinated, you didn't have a hardened pattern. You had a choice. You could do your homework, or pick up your toys, perhaps.

[00:01:57] Or you could put that off until later and do something else that's perhaps more fun.

[00:02:01] You felt fear or resistance with one task which made the other option more fun. You felt fear or resistance with one task, which made the other option

[00:02:05] more appealing. You chose the easy route, and that felt good in the moment. There was

[00:02:10] immediate reward. There was difficulty later, but that was something future you had to deal

[00:02:15] with.

[00:02:16] All other choices like this were rewarded with immediate gratification. So, by repeating

[00:02:21] this choice over and over, you start to wear a groove into the ground.

[00:02:25] After a while, the reward isn't even needed.

[00:02:28] The groove becomes so much easier to follow, and getting out of the groove is so much harder.

[00:02:32] The longer we keep sticking with the groove, the harder it is to change.

[00:02:36] Habits are grooves.

[00:02:38] You stick to the old ones until you're willing to put in the effort to get out of the grooves

[00:02:42] and make new choices.

[00:02:43] How do you get out of the groove you've made?

[00:02:46] Conscious effort.

[00:02:47] How to change your patterns or get your groove on?

[00:02:51] The steps of breaking out of a groove are simple, but they require a concentrated effort.

[00:02:56] 1.

[00:02:58] Decide that you're tired of the old groove.

[00:03:00] The old groove isn't serving you, it's hurting you.

[00:03:03] When you decide you're tired of hurting yourself with this particular pattern, you're ready

[00:03:07] to change.

[00:03:09] Assess whether you're ready right now.

[00:03:11] 2.

[00:03:12] Commit to conscious change

[00:03:14] When you're ready to stop hurting yourself with the old pattern, make a commitment to

[00:03:18] practice and to be very conscious in changing your groove.

[00:03:22] Making the commitment to someone else or a small group of friends or family is a powerful

[00:03:26] way to commit.

[00:03:28] 3.

[00:03:29] Set aside time for deliberate practice.

[00:03:31] You're not going to change your groove haphazardly.

[00:03:34] You have to practice consciously and with deliberate effort.

[00:03:38] Set aside a small practice period each day, just 5 minutes to start with.

[00:03:42] Don't put off the task of blocking off your practice period. Remember, you're deliberately practicing a new pattern. I recommend five to ten minutes

[00:03:50] every day of the week, first thing in the morning before you check email or your phone

[00:03:53] or computer. Have a reminder where you'll see it first thing in the morning.

[00:03:58] 4. Set an intention for your practice. Before you start, tap into your reason by remembering

[00:04:04] why you're practicing.

[00:04:06] In what ways is this hurting you in your life?

[00:04:08] Is it hurting your career, health, happiness, relationships, finances, meaningful work,

[00:04:14] or your loved ones?

[00:04:16] Set an intention to practice in order to make these things better.

[00:04:20] 5.

[00:04:21] Set yourself a task.

[00:04:23] Pick something you've been putting off, but perhaps not your hardest

[00:04:26] or most uncomfortable tasks to start with. Commit to doing that task for just 5 minutes.

[00:04:33] And 6. Let yourself do nothing else and watch your patterns. Sit there and do nothing but

[00:04:39] that task, or do nothing at all. Notice when you have the urge to switch to something else,

[00:04:44] to get up and get away.

[00:04:45] Those are your old patterns showing themselves, which in itself is hugely valuable.

[00:04:50] But just observe the urges, without acting on them, but also without judgment.

[00:04:56] They're just urges, just feelings that arise, not anything to worry about.

[00:05:00] Just watch, don't act, just sit and face the urges. Then return to the

[00:05:05] task. Over and over until this is your new groove. It's possible to create new grooves,

[00:05:11] new patterns that serve you better. I've done it dozens of times in my life, perhaps

[00:05:15] more than a hundred in the last decade. I'm no stronger than anyone else, and so if I

[00:05:20] can do it, you can too.

[00:05:26] You just listened to the post titled, Undone, How to Change Our Procrastination Patterns

[00:05:31] by Leo Babouta of Zenhabits.net.

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[00:07:46] And I want to say thank you to Leo and to Zen Habits, which is about finding simplicity

[00:07:50] and mindfulness in the daily chaos of our lives.

[00:07:53] It's about clearing the clutter, so we can focus on what's important, create something

[00:07:57] amazing, and find happiness.

[00:08:00] It has over a million readers and was named one of the top 25 blogs by Time Magazine.

[00:08:05] And if you enjoy Leo's work, do come check out our other shows where we narrate more

[00:08:08] of his content since he writes on so many different subjects.

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[00:08:25] we have plus more content.

[00:08:27] But that's going to do it for episode 1252.

[00:08:30] I hope you enjoyed it.

[00:08:31] I hope you're having a great day out there and I'll see you back here tomorrow where

[00:08:34] your optimal life awaits.