https://beacons.page/adityamulukuri Procrastination is so relatable and universal because the human brain is actually wired for it.
What causes Procrastination
Science explains procrastination as the fight sparked between two parts of the brain when it’s faced with an unpleasant activity or assignment: It's a battle of the limbic system (the unconscious zone that includes the pleasure center) and the prefrontal cortex (a much more recently evolved part of the brain that's basically your internal "planner"). When the limbic system wins, which is often, the result is putting off for tomorrow what could be done today. It offers temporary relief from that unpleasant feeling for whatever reason, not wanting to do something.
Here’s a bit more scientific backup, so you can stop blaming yourself. The limbic system, one of the oldest and most dominant portions of the brain, is on automatic. For example, it tells you to pull your hand away from a flame, and also to flee from unpleasant tasks. It's set up to perform your basic survival instincts. In other words, it directs you to opt for "immediate mood repair”
How to Break the Habit of Procrastination
One of the best solutions for procrastination is outsmarting it. You can retrain your brain to react differently to an unpleasant assignment or task.
How? Mindfulness.
It is something you can start practicing anywhere, any time, simply by letting your self become fully aware of what's going on, both around you and within you at a given moment. This act of simply becoming aware of and curious about the sensations (e.g. I'm hungry; I don't want to send this email; being near this person makes me nervous), is the key to curbing anxiety and breaking negative habit loops— like procrastination.
Our minds learn through reward based learning. Mindfulness taps right into the reward-based process to help us step out of Procrastination.