Productivity, Procrastination, and Cat Reels

Success blogs and LinkedIn influencers never stop talking about how to finally stop scrolling your Instagram feed and increase your work efficiency. If you want to achieve your goals, work hard, work all the time, and don’t waste a second not working — that’s almost a mantra we keep hearing. There is, of course, logic behind it. Why can some people work hard and a lot while others slack off? Are there maybe some magic beans that keep you focused, or are some people just inherently lazy?

We Are Not Lazy

Fundamentally, our brain isn’t lazy. In fact, it never stops working. What it doesn’t appreciate, however, is to waste energy on irrelevant things. Our brain likes to work efficiently, to spend less effort on achieving maximum results. Is that lazy? Not at all, and let’s be thankful for that at least.

But if this is the case, then how come we procrastinate so often? Knowing full well that the deadline is approaching, and the workload isn’t decreasing, we still watch another True Crime doc on YouTube.

Multiple studies have been conducted on the issue. Many believe that it’s a failure of self-regulation, (Hen and Goroshit) and others attribute it to multiple factors, including environment and personality (Harris and Sutton). But most agree that it can be an impediment to success and even negatively affect the whole society (Miraj). There are many theories, and I won’t get deeper into them.

Instead, let’s take a look at a simple example. How often do you postpone a simple task like dusting a table or counting the money in your wallet? Those are simple things that take seconds unlike, say, writing a thesis which is likely one of the most popular causes for procrastination.

What is the major difference between the two tasks?

The first two tasks are very basic: you know exactly why they need to be done, and you can instantly see the result. Your brain knows it.

Now, a thesis is an investment in your future, which virtually means nothing. Your brain knows that too.

This isn’t about instant gratification, even if it may seem so. This is about knowing the result rather than seeing it immediately. To make matters worse, a brain doesn’t know how to start writing a thesis. It’s not as simple as writing, say, a letter to your neighbor. It’s a complex multi-step task.

How to know that you can do it?

This brings me to the point or, rather, two points. To prevent your brain from slacking off, to motivate it for work, you have to convince it that:

1. The goal is important
2. It knows how to do the task to reach this goal.

Knowing that the goal matters has more to do with you being able to convince your brain it can be achieved. According to psychologists, to do so, you have to rely on three points:

• It’s important to you and your survival.
• It’s important to your hierarchy and social standing within the pack (community).
• It’s important for the community.

“My colleagues and those relying on me might suffer if I fail to do what I have to” is a stronger argument than any hypothetical profit.

The second part, though, requires necessary research. You need to possess all the information for your brain to come up with the solution and approach. According to neurophysiologists, the human brain needs approximately 23 minutes to gather the required information.

This idea gave way to many techniques, for instance, the Pomodoro technique. The technique suggests that to achieve maximum efficiency, you have to work in small (10-25-minute) intervals. Then you can take a five-minute break. Some psychologists suggest that the brain requires approximately 27 minutes to upload information about the issue and start thinking up solutions. That’s not a lot. More importantly, that’s absolutely doable.

The technique works so well, that many tools have been developed to help with defeating procrastination. I like cats, so I chose one with a cat to make it more fun. This is an extension for the Google Chrome browser which helps set specific time frames for shorter tasks. For example, you can set the timer for 27 minutes to let your brain gather the info and start working.

If you think about it, productivity is pretty simple. It’s all about making your brain comfortable with the pace. Besides, you never know what you can do till you try.

We have just launched our productivity timer on Product Hunt, where you can test the expansion and leave a review sharing your experience with the tracker. Check it out here.