The actual reason why you procrastinate and how to fix it

it's 6:00 p.m. you just got back home and you've got a task that have been lingering in your mind waiting to be checked off your list it could be a project for work or school house chores that can't be ignored any longer or maybe it's about spending quality time with your loved ones the intentions are there but so is the overwhelming sensation of having too much on your plate you realize that you have a deadline due date tomorrow you sit down their mind to start but then distractions begin a quick glance at your phone turns into a deep diet through social media a video binge on YouTube or maybe just staring into space lost in thoughts before you know it time has slipped away you find yourself cooking a meal taking an unplanned nap getting lost in small less important Tas anything but the main thing you intended to do this is the cycle of procrastination and it's not just about being lazy when you're feeling like lazy you're more likely to just lounge around instead of filling your time with less important activities but why do we procrastinate even when it feels bad and more importantly how can we break free from it everyone procrastinates sometimes and there are several reasons behind that just because you procrastinate it doesn't mean automatically that you have ADHD ADHD procrastination is different than normal procrastination and it's more extreme we will get into the difference of ADHD procrastination and normal procrastination pretty soon but before that we need to understand the common reasons for procrastinations even if you don't have ADHD most common reason why you're procrastinating is because you're overwhelmed this isn't just about the volume of tasks but also about their complexity or maybe the emotional weight when we are overwhelmed it becomes difficult to know where to start what to do and it leads to procrastination everyone talks about task management but in my opinion energy management is far more important than getting everything done I used to think being constantly busy and getting getting more done was the answer for success and fulfillment in life but I completely disagree now we don't get satisfied when we finish everything on our to-do list we get satisfied when we work on what truly matters how can we make sure that we focus on what truly matters I use a method called daily highlight and Eisenhower metric every day when I wake up I open my notion template kaisen system and I set my daily highlight even if I procrastinate the whole day I make sure to get my daily highlight done and when I set my daily highlight I'm more intentional and also focused with my time and I might have a shitty day but if I get my daily highlight done I usually feel satisfied and fulfilled for the day there are three ways to pick your daily highlight urgency what's the most pressing thing I have to do today if you have something that absolutely must be accomplished today make it your highlight two satisfaction at the end of the day which highlight will bring me most satisfaction maybe you have a particular thing you wanted to to try out for a long time you know picking a daily highlight for satisfaction helped me break the someday cycle when I reflect on today what will bring me the most Joy not every hour has to be optimized at the end of the day our goal is just to be happy it can be anything like reading a book at a cafe hanging out with a friend or maybe just going for a silent walk some days my daily highlight is based on urgency some days it's joy and some days it's satisfaction A good rule of thumb is to choose a highlight that that takes around like 60 to 90 minutes choosing my daily highlight according to these three criteria helps me focus on what truly matters for today but to manage the broader spectrum of tasks and responsibilities I use the Eisenhower Matrix and because my ADHD brain is so bad at prioritizing it has helped me so much with the Eisen hover metric basically you organize the tasks based on their urgency and importance so you can effectively prioritize your most important work we are going to divide tasks B based on their urgency and importance urgent and important may seem like similar words but understanding the difference between the two is crucial urgent tasks require your immediate action so those have like clear deadlines important tasks will bring you closer to your goals based on this we divide all the tasks into four quadrants quadrant one is do you'll place any tasks that are both urgent and important these are the things with clear deadlines and consequence for not taking immediate action so let's say finishing a last minute deadline is assigned to you or let's say your sink spring leaks and your whole kitchen float into water so this is quadrant one quadrant one tasks are inevitable there should be no question about which tasks fall into this quadrant because these are the tasks that are at the front of your mind and are likely stressing you the most spending too much time on quad one task leads to stress burnout and the sense that your day is out of your control TR I found myself yesterday crying in a shower for literally no reason that's why we make time for the quadon 2 schedule not urgent but important tasks are the activities that help you achieve long-term goals these might not have a deadline so it's easy to put them off in favor of more urgent tasks for example exercising socializing learning a new skill or maybe a hobby or maybe more traveling you will tackle these tasks right after you tackle the tasks in quadrant one this is a sweet spot of time management and this is kind of like a spot where you're focused on problems but also on opportunities and also on growth that's why every single week on Sunday I try to do my weekly reflection using my Kaizen system because it automatically tells you based on the task inputs you've done during the week how much time you've spend on each quadrant and what to do the next quadrant is delegate where you will put any tasks that are urgent but not important these are the things that needs to be done but don't require your specific skills or or affect your long-term goals like getting the groceries or cleaning your house like booking flights if you have the choice invest money on delegating 2 by time so that you can focus more on quadrant 2 if you can't delegate these tasks try to keep them from taking over your day save quadron three tasks four times when you are low in energy rather than putting them first in the morning so do them at the end of the day and don't spend your most precious time here try to batch them all together and have just like a Sprint of time where you do these quadrant three once you've gone through your to-do list and added to the first three quadrants you will notice that some tasks are left over the tasks left over are the tasks that were urgent or important place these remaining items onto your to list in the fourth quadrant which is delete these unimporta