we’ve all been there, procrastinating.
i’ll listen to that subliminal later,
maybe i’ll attempt to shift tomorrow or the day after,
eh, i’ll work on my manifestations soon…
the funny thing is, i’ve literally been procrastinating this post aswell—and it’s about a method to STOP procrastination once and for all.
to behead it effectively, light it on fire and watch it rotate like a damn rotisserie chicken.
i decided to use this method to gain the motivation to make this post, so… here’s your proof it works? heh heh
THE MICRO-ACTIVATION INTERVAL METHOD!
i’ll first explain it’s steps, and why it works; scientifically, biologically, neurologically, etc.
choose something you’d like to do, but sometimes naturally resist. could be due to laziness, fear, or any reason you may have.
since this is, obviously, an LOA/shifting blog—
your task could be doing a technique you’ve put off for a while, listening to a subliminal or literally just attempting to shift and manifest regularly.
be clear on what you’d like to do,
the brain hates unclear tasks and avoids them.
SHRINK IT INTO A TEN SECOND WINDOW
tell yourself, “i only have to do this for ten seconds.”
this instantly reduces the amygdala’s threat prediction, the task becomes “safe” instead of overwhelming. i’ll explain this soon, not to worry!
no planning, no thinking, no checking anything. count down or up for ten seconds whilst doing the task—your method, technique, as we’ve established.
when the first ten are over, tell yourself; ten more.
not even “finish the task”, just… ten more. it’s simple enough, and it builds an almost biochemical cycle.
— small progress detected
STOP ANYTIME, BUT START AGAIN IF YOU CAN
please do not ignore this step, as it’s literally CRUCIAL to not let your brain feel as if this is forced. tell yourself, if i want to stop, i can stop after…
ten seconds! woohoo, ya got it!
before you could even realize it, ten seconds become thirty.
thirty becomes two minutes.
the habit neural pathways form in the basal ganglia, the brain itself learns; oh! starting is… easy?
and starting becomes automatic.
now, i’ll try my best to repeat all i’ve mentioned and reasons why it works!
did you know that your, or maybe some people’s brains, just HATE big tasks? they prefer small, easy to handle. this is due to the fact that when face a difficult task, your amygdala activates. that creates threat detection, avoidance signals, increased cortisol, reduced motivation… a handful, amiright?!
a large or long task makes the amygdala scream at the very top of it’s lungs,
“DANGER! TOO MUCH EFFORT, DON’T START.”
and ofcourse, not everyone’s brain is like this.
you all have different variations of that thinking meat-computer! this is just for the people that can see themselves in what i’m explaining—so if it resonates, take it, if it doesn’t; don’t!
you can still try this regardless, though.
back to.. uhm, where were we?
unlike something that you may perceive to have “too much effort”, a 10-second task is too small to trigger the threat response.
THIS, is called task chunking. it reduces amygdala activity! how cool is THAT?!?
secondly, dophamine can come AFTER you start.
most people believe that dophamine appears before action, but biologically, we can see that—
dophamine spikes when progress is detected.
by breaking things into 10 second chunks, you create a dopamine reward every 10 seconds; the sense of small wins, and most importantly?
the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which is responsible for focus and discipline, has trouble turning on under stress or laziness. yet! once the PFC is activated for just a few seconds, it becomes easier to stay engaged. my method could possibly activate it by……
lowering the activation energy, reducing cognitive load, bypassing hesitation, YADDA YADDA YADDA!
for cortisol, tasks that that feel overwhelming trigger the freeze part of fight-or-flight, micro-starts signal safety and shrink cortisol output.
ergo (it’s LATIN, DEREK.)
lower cortisol makes it easier to keep going!
psychologically speaking, this method covers the following aswell!
REMOVING THE “FOREVER” ILLUSION—big big reason people can’t start tasks is the internal fear of, “this’ll take forever.” the 10 second rule kills that illusion, your brain believes you only have to survive through TEN. SECONDS. it stops resisting! even if you keep repeating the 10 second blocks, the brain never feels the weight of the full task.
PERFECTIONISM—i could make an entire paragraph about my hate for perfectionism, but i’d be a liar if i didn’t admit i also am a victim of it. did you know, though, that perfectionism IS a fear based procrastination? this method replaces “perfect task” with “tiny action”, see it as focusing on movement, not outcome, whilst doing this. reduces self-criticism and cognitive paralysis!
TRAINING THE BRAIN—the method could create habit formation and easier automatic behaviour, it repeats, repeats, repeats.. and, repetition trains the basal ganglia.
BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION ANGLE—our ancestors, as complex as they were, also survived through; micro actions, short bursts of effort, immediate responses, you get the gist and i’m honestly tired of not having a good punchline in this post. all i’ve been doing is listing things… cries
the reason we managed to survive through that is:
“small action → quick reward → repeat”
this aligns with the way the human nervous system evolved.
ps. ya boy is FUCKING. DYING. in these exams they’re genuinely neverending, so do excuse my lack of enthusiasm or regular formatting… send prayers, good grades and better sleep i beg 😞
