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The Akrasia Effect: How to Overcome Your Resistance Brain
Approaching Akrasia With Mindfulness
While the much-hyped motivation and willpower have little effect against Akrasia, mindfulness meditation has the power to refocus your actions, and stop the mindless time-wasting.
Mindfulness acts as a foundation for conquering procrastination. We need to proactively take control of our feelings and act towards our goals, something which is possible only with a mind sharpened with mindfulness.
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Key Ideas
In need of a makeover
A to-do list can be helpful but is often not used successfully. If you end the day with things undone or if you regularly carry tasks forward, you need a to-do list makeover.
Get clear on what's important
Most people are unaware of their priorities. Our priorities are the things that are most important to us right now. Not serving them is non-negotiable.
People are capable of having two or three priorities. More priorities leave them scattered and unfulfilled, filling their time with stuff that doesn't matter.
Once you know your priorities, everything on your to-do list should serve them. Look out for the 'shoulds' - they are not serving your priorities.
Give tasks a value
Look over your to-do list and assign every task a value, such as a dollar-per-hour amount that you might have to pay someone else to do it. Score tasks from $10 per hour for administrative tasks up to $10,000 per hour for high-level strategy and sales-related tasks.
By giving dollar-per-hour values to specific tasks, you ensure you use your resources correctly.
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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 trans...
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.
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Key Ideas
Procrastination as a coping mechanism
People tend to procrastinate to avoid emotionally unpleasant tasks - so they choose to focus on something that provides a temporary mood boost.
This creates a vicious cycl...
The science behind getting started
Progress on our goals feeds our well-being. So the most important thing to do is bootstrap a little progress: get a little progress, and that’s going to fuel your well-being and your motivation.
Implementation intentions for better focus
This is a self-regulatory strategy in the form of an "if-then plan": "If the phone rings, then I’m not going to answer it." "If my friends call me to say we’re going out, I’m going to say no." So you’ve already made these pre-commitments.