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Delaying things for instant gratification.
Procrastination addiction is a thing.
Everyone procrastinates, but procrastination addiciton is different. For someone who is addicted to something, he is dependent on that thing to funciton normally. If it is taken away, he struggles. If you struggle with this, you may struggle with anything meaningful for your entire life.
Procrastination addiction damages your ability to focus and self-regulate.
With dopamine spikes, you get rewarded very little for doing very little.
"Low-frequency": social media, etc.
There is no such thing as a high-frequency & high-dopamine & low-effort task.
Successful people: hard-working. Enjoy their difficult tasks, have their up's and down's (and is a normal part of daily lives.)
But in the case of procrastination addicted people: It is very abnormal to have an up every 30 seconds! If the brain is wired to a 30-second timer, it is very difficult to achieve anything meaningful.
How To Defuse Procrastination And Be Productive (Without Using Willpower)
"Do the next best thing!" (important) Ask yourself what you can do, instead of what you should be doing (the other end of the proc. spectrum) Look into the area of working memory.
Forget about completely breaking away from the distraction and embark on the great duty; at least finish a small task you can do that consists of the big scheme before you get back to your distraction.
Notice, however, that contrary to popular belief, at least getting started (by doing the simplest first-step task) is the worst thing you can do! 10:04
Why? Two problems.
Reason 1. Because 'getting started' creates resistance, as we think it is "not enough".
My working memory: "What is the point of doing something if it does not solve the problem? If I have a final on Friday, what is the point of reading one line of a textbook?" There is no point of digging 5 feet down if the water is 100 feet deep. It is a waste of effort!
Reason 2. We are actually capable of so much more.
Q. What is harder: Reading 1 line of a textbook, or 5 lines of a textbook?
A. The pain in the ass is in getting the textbook out and opening it,
so if I'm going to read one, I might as well do five.
a very important cognitive difference: The work of pulling out the textbook and reading 1 line = the work of pulling out the textbook and reading 5 lines.
The difference: your fried short-circuited brain, your nuclear succumbence and your working memory say that one gains more benefit than the other. so it actually increases motivation.
This is why "do the next best thing". Don't do the "first" thing, don't do the "weakest" thing. We don't ask people to do the smallest thing, instead we ask people "what can you do?" the former does not give our brain enough gain from the action.
So let's say...
Lying on bed ~~~ Finishing a physics degree
Instead of: "just open the elementary physics book ffs" (direction: →)
We should ask: "if you can finish the physics degree, can you finish junior year?"
"if you cannot, can you finish sophomore year?" (direction: ← ← ←)
This is like a negotiation/fight between what we want to do vs. what we should do. IF YOU START FROM THE EASIEST EXTREME, WE LOOSE SO MUCH MIDDLE GROUND! Negotiate from the biggest extreme and gradually move towards the middle!
Another tip: The Doorway Effect
"We move to another room and we forget what we have come in here for. - The working memory has reset
Reset your working memmory by taking a walk.