How to stop procrastinating?
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/2884893
I always put everything off for later so i end up with my house uncleaned, books unread, meals uncooked, programming not learned etc. Could anyone offer advice on how to stop procrastinating?
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Dopamine is the get-shit-done neurotransmitter. Our brain's dopamine system is broken. Normies complete a task and get a satisfying feeling of accomplishment, that's dopamine. You complete a task and get nothing. When you did those tasks before, and got no dopamine, your brain labeled them as useless. Your brain is literally telling you that doing nothing is better than the tasks you need to do. Better to be lazy and save calories for important tasks. You're not procrastinating, that's something normies do, you won't ever do those things. You're not putting off an unpleasant task, you're conditioned not to do them.
You need to condition your brain to expect a reward when you complete a task. Figure out what things do give you dopamine, and reward your brain with them.
Clean the house - play video games for 15 minutes.
Do laundry - 15 minutes on social media.
I've had varying results combining activities, like cleaning while listening to my favorite podcasts.
It also helps me to spend a moment being mindful of the results of the task. "Look how much better this room is now that it's clean. I'm proud of myself for accomplishing this task." It sounds dumb but it works.