Jim Kwik shares five ways to beat procrastination: reframe it playfully, break tasks into tiny chunks, use the Zeigarnik effect by starting anywhere to create momentum, practice self-compassion, and connect to your why through the H³ model.
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The question is, how do I stop procrastinating? How do you stop putting things off that are important that you need to be able to do? So I'm going to give you a few quick tips on how to eliminate procrastination. The first tip I would say is put it off. Procrastinate. Procrastinating. I kind of put that tongue in cheek. But if you're so good at putting things off, then put off putting things off. The second tip I would say on how to overcome procrastination is this thing called break things into chunks. Break things into chunks. They call them tiny habits. And here's the thing. Sometimes we have it in our mind that it's a big monster that we need to slay or a big mountain that we need to be able to climb. The best thing to do is to break it down into individual tasks. The third tip on how to overcome and beat procrastination is begin the Zeigarnic effect. What's a Zeigarnik effect? In our memory training that we do and teaching people how to remember names and faces and languages and so on, we talk about the Zeigarnik effect. And basically there was this psychiatrist, Dr. Zeigarnik, and she was in Europe at a cafe and she noticed that the waitstaff would remember everyone's orders. Have you ever had somebody like that at a restaurant, remembered all the orders by using their memory and she wanted to find out how. And she called it the Zeigardic effect. And basically it says that they would remember things for as long as that order wasn't delivered. But as soon as that order was delivered, it closed the loop and all of a sudden they forgot. How do you apply that to procrastination? If you start somewhere, anywhere, just one place, you have this open loop and you're more likely to finish it and close that loop. The next thing I would recommend on how to overcome procrastination is be kind to yourself. What do I mean when I say be kind to yourself? Studies and self compassion reveal something interesting. That when you're hard on yourself and you beat yourself up because you didn't work out, because you didn't write in your journal, because you didn't meditate that day, because of whatever you didn't do, you think that it would help you to be able to overcome it the next time and be more motivated to do it, but that it actually has the opposite effect. When you are actually kind to yourself and you exhibit self compassion, you're more likely to follow through in the future and the last quick tip I would recommend is really to tune into your why. One of my very favorite books is a book called Start with why by Simon Sinek. And really, I believe there's a success formula that if you're not getting yourself to do the things you need to do, I call it H cubed. It goes from your head to your heart to your hands. You can affirm things and think about all the things and set goals in your head. But if you're not acting with your hands, you're procrastinating. You're usually not tapping into the second age, which is your heart, your emotion, the energy of motion. One of my early martial arts teachers taught me that you can't steer a parked car right? You need fuel, you need energy. So tap into your why. So what I want you to do is think about all the rewards that come from doing this activity. The things that you're going to incentivize yourself, the things that motivate you, all the benefits that come from doing this thing that you're putting off. Because remember, this reasons why reap results. So I hope one of these quick tips helps you to be able to end this thing called procrastination and you can live the life that you desire and that you most deserve.
Hi, my name is Jim Kwik. And growing up I was labeled the boy with a broken brain with all these learning challenges and disabilities. And I went from that to become the world's leading memory and brain coach for the world's top universities, CEOs and celebrities. Over the past 25 years, I've developed.
All these strategies and techniques.
Unleash the power of your super brain. I want to share these techniques and methods with you. I hope you'll join me.
