deepstash
Beta
The Akrasia Effect: Why We Don't Follow Through on Things
Beating Procrastination
- Design your future actions, using a commitment device (a choice you make in the present that controls your actions in the future).
- Reduce the friction of starting. Once you begin, it's often less painful to do the work. Make the beginning easy.
- Utilize implementation intentions: State your intention to implement a particular behavior at a specific time in the future (with date, place and time).
652 SAVES
This is a professional note extracted from an online article.
Read more efficiently
Save what inspires you
Remember anything
IDEA EXTRACTED FROM:
5
Key Ideas
The Akrasia Effect
Akrasia happens when you do one thing even though you know you should do something else.
It's what prevents you from following through on what you set out to do. It could be translated into procrastination or a lack of self-control.
Time Inconsistency
It refers to our tendency to choose immediate rewards over future rewards. It's why we make plans, but don't take action.
When we make plans, we are actually making plans for our future selves. But when the time comes to make a decision, we are in the moment and our brain is thinking about the present self.
Delayed Gratification and Success
The ability to delay gratification is a great predictor of success in life.
If you really understand how to resist the attraction of instant gratification, you'll be able to bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be.
Beating Procrastination
- Design your future actions, using a commitment device (a choice you make in the present that controls your actions in the future).
- Reduce the friction of starting. Once you begin, it's often less painful to do the work. Make the beginning easy.
- Utilize implementation intentions: State your intention to implement a particular behavior at a specific time in the future (with date, place and time).
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
3
Key Ideas
The lifelong passport
Nowadays, everybody is aware of the importance a university diploma has for one's future. However, the fact that learning goes beyond the five years spent at university is just started to be taken ...
Learning practical skills
Subjects like maths and physics provide you with an appropriate base for lifelong learning.
Another major component of this process refers to the high importance of learning through projects, which eventually enables students to gather up practical skills, that can easily be kept and improved throughout their life.
Advantages and disadvantages of lifelong learning
While resorting to lifelong learning may provide some advantages, such as enabling individuals of different ages and professional experience levels to share their knowledge, it also has certain disadvantages like the fact that the time the learners are supposed to devote to learning is decreasing the moments spent with their family.
12
Key Ideas
Why you procrastinate
Procrastination is fundamentally an emotional reaction to what you have to do. The more aversive a task is to you, the more you’ll resist it, and the more likely you are to procrastinate.
Make a task less aversive
When you notice yourself procrastinating, use your procrastination as a trigger to examine a task’s characteristics and think about what you should change.
By breaking down exactly which attributes an aversive task has (boring, frustrating, difficult, meaningless, ambiguous, unstructured), you can take those qualities and turn them around to make the task more appealing to you.
Unproductive responses
... people have when they procrastinate:
- Distracting yourself, and thinking about other things
- Forgetting what you have to do, either actively or passively
- Downplaying the importance of what you have to do
- Focusing on your other values and qualities that will solidify your sense of self
- Denying responsibility to distance yourself from what you have to do
- Seeking out new information that supports your procrastination.
9 more ideas
4
Key Ideas
Procrastinating and emotions
According to traditional thinking, procrastinators have a time-management problem. They are unable to understand how long a task will take and need to learn how to schedule their time better.
Short-term mood lifters
Studies show low mood only increases procrastination if enjoyable activities are available as a distraction. In other words, we're drawn to other activities to avoid the discomfort of applying ourselves.
Adverse consequences
Procrastination leads to two primary consequences.
- It's stressful to keep putting off important tasks and failing to meet your goals.
- Procrastination often involves delaying important health behaviors, such as taking up exercise or visiting a doctor.
one more idea