Drake Just Did Something Crazy...

Drake just taught me the WEIRD reason we actually procrastinate.

(Let me explain)

So the pressure of a deadline had managed to force me into actually doing some Maths homework.

But as soon as I hit a slightly difficult question, negative thoughts swirled up in my head:

“I should know this”

“why don’t I know this?”

“how do you do this?”

“why is it so hard?”

And instinctively I opened up Instagram, to see Drake’s goofy face smiling back at me.

But in that moment, I realised what was actually happening - and from then on, my life changed forever.

This is when I first realized the weird truth about procrastination: it’s a coping mechanism.

It is a habit that our minds have developed to avoid negative thoughts. There’s nothing wrong with you if you procrastinate - it’s a natural defence mechanism.

When you have negative thoughts around a task, you build it up to be this huge, scary mountain.

Maybe you have a fear of failure, you think you’re not good enough, you don’t know how to get started, and all these thoughts overwhelm you with anxiety and noise.

Which your mind then instinctively distracts you from by doing something else.

The first step to freedom is simply awareness. Now that you know this, you can look out for it happening. You can catch your brain in the act.

So as I was just opening up Instagram, I literally stopped in my tracks as I realised what was happening, and said to my own brain - “nice try bro, but there’s no point distracting me”.

The problem will still be there after the distraction is over. This is literally like an ostrich sticking its head in the sand when it sees a predator.

You’ve got to tackle the problem head-on for it to go away.

Are you going to go through your entire life, avoiding any sort of challenge, and distracting yourself as soon as any difficulty comes up, which is actually when the most growth happens?

Hopefully this gave you something to think about.

Speak to you soon,

Yvan

P.S. Almost forgot to mention!

Simply knowing this might help, and you can just discipline yourself into using willpower to hold yourself back from distractions.

But this is not enough.

Most of us have ingrained this habit so deeply into our subconscious that it’s nearly instinctive.

This is where the problem arises - but also when an unusual solution can make all the difference.

But I don’t want this email to turn into a short novel, so I’ll send that over to you on Thursday!