"What can I learn right now in just 10 minutes that could be useful for the rest of my life?" appeared as a question on Quora. Below we are printing one of the top answers.
Taking 10 minutes to learn why you procrastinate can be extremely helpful.
I was a very bad procrastinator for a very long time, until I really understood the basics of why I procrastinate.
In order to understand why you procrastinate, you should have a strong desire to eliminate procrastination in your life. Once you do that, following the methods mentioned below can help you change your ways.
1. Track your daily activities
When I first started making a list of everything that I do each day, it felt like a waste of time. But later, while analyzing a month's worth of data, I clearly understood why I don't have enough time to do necessary activities. It helped me identify the bad habits I had created over time.
I was spending most of my time in Facebook and was affected by the "chain-clicking curse" — where watching a video from Facebook leads to YouTube which leads to Twitter ... and it goes on and on into loads of unnecessary browsing and time-wasting.
2. Understanding why we procrastinate
We procrastinate because of the habits that we create over time.
When we work, a random thought can strike us — it might be as simple as, "Where should I go for my next vacation?"
First, I go online to check out where I may want to go, then I head to Facebook to see where my friends have been, then something unrelated catches my eye and suddenly I'm clicking endlessly.
3. How we create habits
I had been following this routine every day, which forced me to do overtime in order to complete my work and left me with no time for the essential things in life. All of these made sense to me when I read "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg.
Understanding the basics of habits was a huge help to me:
- It starts with a cue/signal: In my case, a random thought I wanted to learn more about.
- The routine that followed was to search about it online, eventually falling into endless clicking.
- The reward that solidified this cycle was getting away from the stress of work for a moment and the satisfaction of answering my random thought.
Now, the trick is to replace the bad routine with a good routine, which will lead to greater productivity in life. Looking at how runners reward themselves can act as a good example.
The cue is the running shoe, which leads to the routine of running regularly, which, over time, leads to the reward — a sense of accomplishment on completing a run and the satisfaction of the endorphin craving that you get by looking at the running shoe.
4. How I cured myself by changing my routine
Keeping myself distraction free:
- Turning off the internet: Most of my work doesn't require internet, so I turn off my WiFi whenever I'm working.
- Notepad: Whenever a random thought strikes, rather than searching it online, I record them in a small notepad and research them later.
- Setting time limits: I started setting deadlines to complete my work, which helps me focus. I even limit things like socializing with my colleagues — I make sure I don't spend more than five minutes on unnecessary talks.
Sustaining the habits:
- Tracking activities: It's quite tough for me to record every activity as I do it, so I spend half an hour each day before I go to bed writing down what I did that day. Then I do a quick analysis, including how I can improve the next day.
- Prioritizing activities for tomorrow: The summary helps me prioritize the activities that I should concentrate on tomorrow, and I write down the top three things I should complete the following day.
- Monthly and quarterly review: I started analyzing my monthly and quarterly data to continuously improve my productivity.
The method above worked perfectly for me, and I found more time to do the necessary things in life.
For more from Suresh, check out his Quora blog.
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