Procrastination is your brain telling you that the task in front of you is going to be painful / tough, and more importantly, ambiguous. The way forward is not clear, figuring it out is going to be a source of cognitive strain, so your brain is shifting your focus to other things that you know how to do easily, and that will give you one of two things: instant gratification (dopamine), or a feeling of productivity / accomplishment.
This is why you either waste time on social media or email or other random urgent ‘busywork’; all inconsequential activities.
Let Procrastination (or Resistance) be your compass. Any worthy creative pursuit will feel ambiguous, undefined, uncomfortable, uneasy. Everything worth working for is on the other side of this feeling. The pot of gold, the flow state, your life’s work – these are all found once you push through the initial inertia.
You are procrastinating on something consistently? You are putting it off for days or weeks or months on end, but it is still on your mind? That’s exactly what you should be working on.
How to get started, you ask? Once you define the problem well and identify the immediate next step (INS), your brain becomes more at ease.
Ask yourself these questions: 1) How much work is involved? 2) Am I capable of doing it? If not what do I need to learn to become capable? 3) What is the potential outcome and how will it positively impact my life?. And then identify the INS and take the first step.
Once you push through with what you really want to do, you can enjoy guilt-free leisure time, without the constant feeling of nagging disappointment.