Start Getting Sh•t Done

When the motivational circuit is turned on, we have a motive for action, right? And when the fear circuit is on, we have a motivation to not act. I talked to so many people who ask me, why do I procrastinate so much? Do you procrastinate? I know I do, but I also catch myself procrastinating. So what causes procrastination? Let's get like right down into the nitty gritty. Is procrastination a cause or effect? If there is a behavior called procrastination, Right. Procrastination is a behavior. Not behaving, not taking action is a behavior. Right? So let's think of it from maybe a slightly different perspective, okay? Do you like this topic, by the way? Do you like the topic of procrastinating and getting shit done? I can tell you that according to the latest research, 25, 30% of people procrastinate on a day by day basis. And that obviously leads them to what? Not achieve their goals and dreams. Who can give me the number one reason why you procrastinate? Conditioning. Okay, so you could be a procrastinator that can become part of your identity. But. But what's the number one reason we procrastinate? Is it because we want to? Have you ever heard of the law of secondary gain? So think about this for just a minute. When you procrastinate, is there a benefit? When you procrastinate, is there a benefit? Think of a secondary benefit. Is it possible? Pay close attention. Is it possible that when we procrastinate, maybe we're protecting ourselves? Have you ever thought about that? When I procrastinate, maybe I'm protecting myself. And so the question is protecting myself from what? When I procrastinate, maybe I'm not doing what I need to do or want to do. I get that. But maybe I'm also protecting myself. The question is protecting myself from what? Right? So think about this. Let me put a little meat around the bone for you, okay? When we procrastinate, a secondary benefit could be that we are fearful of, let's say, being embarrassed. I'll give you a couple of examples. So if I take the action that I need to take or want to take, whether it's asking for a raise, whether it's leaving my job and trying to find something new, leaving a relationship I'm not happy in. Going across the room and asking a man or a woman what their name is. Starting a new career, doing something sometimes has known and unknown consequences associated with it. So if we are afraid that if we take action and the action doesn't result in the desired outcome that we want, Is it possible that the fear of failing or the fear of disappointing yourself, or the fear of being embarrassed, or the fear of being ashamed, or the fear of being ridiculed, or the fear of disappointing yourself one more time, or the fear of losing money, Is it possible that when your subconscious mind, okay, is processing the potential consequences of the behavior, is it possible that as a protective mechanism, we procrastinate? Is it possible that, hold on, our hundred billion dollar bio computer, $100 billion biocomputer, what I call is the Frankenstein's monster part of the brain, right? Is it possible that that part of the brain is causing the behavior we call procrastination? Right? So is it possible that procrastination is in many cases a secondary gain mechanism to protect us? So we want to do what we want to do the behavior, but our brain is always processing what, what is the potential negative consequence now or in the future? And if we deem that there's any chance of being embarrassed, ashamed, ridiculed, judged, disappointed, failure, loss, pain, discomfort, any of those types of potential feelings, potential results, causes us to do what to do to put the brakes on motivation, the motive for the action. Put the brakes on behavior, the motor cortex in the brain. And then what do we do? We then go do something else that we feel is safer and easier for us because we already know what that behavior will give us. And usually we will move towards something pleasurable, something that's common, something that we've always done that makes sense. That's number one. Does that make sense to you? If it makes sense, Give me a little type in. Yeah, John, that makes sense. Because I can share with you if you understand the neuromechanics, right, the way that your brain works, you understand that there's three different networks, okay? Like computer networks. There's three different networks and there's a bunch of circuits, like light circuits, like switches that flip on or off when the motivational circuit is turned on. We have a motive for action, right? And when the fear circuit is on, we have a motivation to not act in many cases. So what we do on an ongoing basis, we protect ourselves. We protect ourselves. And the question is, what are we protecting ourselves from? Because this leads to the second reason why, why we procrastinate, right? So Laura says it's easier to stay with the familiar. Yeah, the comfort zone. Is it possible to be miserable? Is it possible to not achieve our goals and to be comfortable? Question Is it possible to not achieve our goals, to be miserable? And still that's our comfort zone? Think about this. Lottery winners. Why do Most lottery winners, 87%, lose the money that they win? Why do most lottery winners lose the money that they win? They bought the ticket. They. They made the millions, right? And now they have the nice house and the car. Why do they sabotage their success? Is it possible it's a protective mechanism? Is it possible it's a protective mechanism that they feel safer and more comfortable without any money? Is it possible that our brain is making 100% certain that our outside world of results matches our internal map of reality? So, number one, when we have a fear of being embarrassed, ashamed, ridiculed, judge, disappointed, losing money, not feeling the way we want to feel, as a protective mechanism, we will procrastinate. Number two, why are so many people afraid of failing? Why are so many people afraid of being embarrassed? Why are so many people afraid of being judged by other people? Why are you afraid, okay, of what other people think of you? Like, why do you think it bothers you? Okay, if you make a mistake and somebody says something, why do you think it bothers you? If you try your best and it doesn't work out, why do you think it bothers you, okay, if you call somebody because you're in sales and they hang up on you, why do you think it bothers you? Because it's the second reason why people procrastinate. It's their self image, right? Their self image can't handle it. Their ego and self image can't handle it. And that means that the way that they see themselves is what? Not enough. I'm not good enough, not smart enough, not worthy enough, not capable, not skilled enough? And if I take action and I'm embarrassed, ashamed, ridicule, Judge. That verifies my deepest concern and worry about what I think about myself at a subconscious level. So procrastination is in many cases a protective behavioral pattern. A protective behavioral pattern. If somebody attacks me because I want to do something, I want to go after my vision and goals, and they attack me, then, oh my God, it's going to minimize me. It's going to augment them and minimize me. So now we have fear as a dominant pattern that causes procrastination. Now we have self image, self worth, self esteem, self confidence as a secondary cause of procrastination. And so what do we do about it? Like, what do you do about it when these are debilitating your performance, debilitating your vision, your goals, your Dreams like why? What should we do about it? Were you born with any of these fears? Were you born with any lack of self image, self worth or self esteem or self confidence? Were you born that way? When you were born? Okay, did that come programmed into your cells, into your DNA? Is it possible that fears are nothing more than neural networks and patterns that are connected to a variety of associations, experiences, people, et cetera? And the same reason one person may be afraid of a snake and another person wants to take a selfie with it. All right, we can unlearn so that we are not worried about what other people think of us. We can think enough of ourselves to be able to do what? To fail and just say that what I tried was a failure, right? To have enough of a self image that if somebody says you're stupid, you're an idiot. You're never going to be able to achieve it. You won't amount to much. It goes off of you like water, right on a duck. What can you do about it? What can you do? How do you augment your self image, self worth, self esteem? Okay, let me ask you a question. What if I'm going to give you a little technique that I use. What if every time you had to do something and you didn't feel like it and you caught yourself, you were aware that you're procrastinating? What if you caught yourself? Okay, Awareness is what gives you choice. Choice is what gives you freedom. If you take this one little step. All right, here's what I do when I don't feel like it, when I don't feel like it. When I catch myself procrastinating, I do some self talk. First, I'm aware, right? And many of you know my, my Inner Size book. Many of you know my best selling book, the new science, unlock your brains in power. But one of the first inner sizes that I do is called aya, which is awareness, intention, action. So when I'm aware that I'm procrastinating, I then set an intention to take one small action step. No matter what. Think about this is procrastination. A reinforced pattern. Is procrastination a reinforced pattern that we just keep doing to protect ourselves either fears or self image. So if I notice that this pattern is happening around a book, a job, a relationship, a career, making more money, if I can become aware of this procrastination pattern and I can say I know I don't feel like it and I'm going to take one little micro step towards what it is that I want to do. So if you have a bunch of work you need to do, whether it's writing a book, write one sentence, take one action steps towards what it is that you're procrastinating doing. Why? Why do we want to take one little action step? Is it true, all right, that anytime I interrupt any pattern, the pattern's interrupted? Think about how simple that is. Anytime I interrupt any pattern, the pattern is interrupted? So if I interrupt the procrastination pattern, the habit of procrastinating, and I just take one little action step, doesn't that build my self confidence because I took action? Doesn't that build augment my self esteem? Doesn't that show me that I took action even though I wanted to procrastinate? Doesn't doing those things release the dopamine, the reward neurochemical in the brain? When I am aware of a disempowering, destructive negative pattern and I interrupt it and take one little action step, that is easy. I have just shown myself that I am in control instead of the pattern controlling me. How many of you have heard this? We are all creatures of habit. Procrastination is a habit, awareness is a skill. So when we could become more aware, we can set an intention to break the pattern, interrupt the pattern and take one action step. We by default have just changed the pattern. But we've also moved into a positive, constructive pattern that helps us achieve the goals and dreams that we want, right? So when we do that action, we're back in control. When we don't, we reinforce the very pattern that we don't want to reinforce. Does that make sense? So there's a lot of research on the science of habits. And one of the things that is really the most important to learn is initially the habit is more important than the intensity or the duration or complexity. What does that mean? It means that if I could just make some small minor adjustments over time, I could then add more time, more complexity. You know, I can add a little bit more. No differently than if you start to exercise and you do a little bit each day. A little bit. One minute a day. One minute leads to 3, 3 leads to 5, 5 leads to 10, 10 leads to 20. Right? So when we are looking at getting shit done, a lot of us, you know, take the things that we have to do and we, we make it look so big. We. What if we just reduced it to the ridiculously small? So we eliminate the neural and emotional resistance to what our brain is doing. Now what is our brain doing? Our brain is projecting into the Future, a potential negative consequence, and that we're feeling it now, but when we're feeling it now, that means that the neurochemistry has already been activated in our brain. This Frankenstein's monster part of our brain, the right prefrontal cortex, is always thinking in advance. Okay, what if negative. What if I fail? What if I succeed and fail? What if I disappoint myself? What if I'm embarrassed, ashamed, ridiculed, judged, rejected? And if there is a consequence, then we are going to procrastinate because it's the law of secondary gain. We actually gain in not taking action. Does this make sense? There's so much more I can share with you, and that's why you can sign up for the free training. All right? And my team has put up a link in the bio on Instagram and in the Facebook communities. And here is the question I want for you. Is it true, and I've asked this on thousands of stages around the world. Is it true that mindset is what separates the best from the rest? Is it true, okay, that when you manage your brain better, you're in control? But if you allow. All right, if you allow your old patterns to control you, then maybe your old patterns are negative or destructive or disempowering, Right? Maybe we need to understand how do we focus our attention and mindset and awareness and behavior. Because behavior is an effect. 97% of what you and I do every single day. 97%, is based on automatic patterns that are triggered without you even aware of it. All right, I'm glad that many of you have ordered my. How many of you have read my book, Inner Size? You. It comes with nine brain training audios for free. How many of you have read this? And how many of you have been doing some of the brain training audios that I have here? It's like 15 bucks for the book on Amazon, Inner Size, the new science will unlock your brain. How many of you have got the book already? Angel, you are so welcome. So when we're procrastinating, I don't want you to be concerned with procrastinating, because procrastination is an effect. I want you to be focused on the awareness. And then be a master of your own destiny. Be a master of your own destiny so that you can eliminate procrastination as a habit that you have. Right? Right. So as a habit that you have. All right, so listen, there's one other reason that people procrastinate. And yesterday I was filming a new movie that's likely to come out next March or April on Netflix. And it's called Coach. And they were filming some of the top coaches and consultants in the world. They were here for a whole day. And one of the individuals that was here, we were talking about procrastination. And I gave him the three reasons to procrastinate, and he happened to be in the third category. Do you know what the third category is? I've only got one minute before I need to get on with a private client. Right. What's the third category? The third reason that some people procrastinate. And I think all of us do this at some time. All of us do this at times. At some time. It is arousal. Now, I'm not talking about sexual arousal. I know that's where your head went first. Or maybe my head went there first. I'm talking about neurological arousal. Okay? Neurological arousal. So sometimes when we wait, we wait. We wait. We wait. We wait. We wait. The creative circuits activate. Sometimes when we wait, we wait. We wait. We wait. The Einstein part of our brain, the left prefrontal cortex activates because we are forced to into a behavior. We are forced into coming up with the imagination, the tools, the skills, the strategy. So sometimes, and this is good sometimes. All right, when we wait, okay, sometimes for a test, a paper, a project, it's actually called eustress. Right. It's actually good stress that forces us to perform at our best. But 98% of people are procrastinating because of one kind of fear or another. Fear of failure, being embarrassed, ashamed, ridiculed, judged, disappointed, succeeding and failing, rejected. Some people are procrastinating because of their self image. There's a disconnect and a lower self image, self worth, self esteem that they want. And then other people are procrastinating because it actually arouses them and it causes them to work hard on, you know, or to do their best. So those are your three main categories. If you enjoyed this, would you share this on the social media channel that you're on right now? Did you enjoy it? Give me a like or a love over here or give me a little. A little comment. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing this. Hey, this is John. And if you like that video, watch the next video because it is packed with things that you can do right now to achieve success way faster than ever before.