Activation Energy

The reason we procrastinate more often than not is because the activation energy is too high compared to the results. Or the perception of it at least. The higher the activation energy we think something needs, the more friction there is for us to start something, then it is less likely for us to actually start doing shit.

To quickly explain this chart:

1. where we are: this is before you start doing anything related to the task. Usually at a lower point because we have not gotten any results of doing things/reaping the benefits of doing things.

2. the results: this is where you perceive yourself to be after doing that thing. Usually at a higher energy level because you will experience joy/happiness after doing the things that benefit you.

3. activation energy: this is the perceived energy needed to start/do the task. Note that I use `perceived` because usually we are wrong about it. Most of the time we overestimate EA.

Procrastination

Generally, when we look at our pile of homework or long list of Jira tickets, what we see is the high activation energy needed to finish everything. And then we think to ourselves, do we really want to do that? The amount of work is just too much. And then we boot up Minecraft instead and build sky bases.

I think that's fine. Because I don't think your pile of homework or Jira tickets are that important anyways. But the problem lies in procrastinating when we are supposed to chase our goals.

Idk what your goal is. But I think it's important enough to the extent you call it `your goal`. It could be retiring your parents. It could be building the next Apple. Heck, it could be finishing the whole One Piece series. When you call something a goal, I think it's reasonable to stake your life to achieving it.

It's important enough to not let procrastination ruin your chances.

Lowering the activation energy

The amount of work you need to do usually is not as high as you think. And usually it is not as difficult as it seems. We tend to overestimate it. How many times have you looked at a task and think about how difficult it is, but realize it's pretty easy after starting it? Remember this the next time you are confronted with a task that is daunting.

Another way to lower the activation energy is by breaking shit down. It seems cliche but it works. For the leetcoders, we call it divide-and-conquer.

When you have one big goal that spans across a long timeline, no shit it seems daunting. On top of that you are faced with a lot of uncertainty that could come in your way. Breaking the big goal down into smaller, more manageable and usually more familiar tasks makes the EA of each step smaller. Then you literally just do the thing.

Increase the result

Another thing that can help is to increase the perceived value of the task. Sometimes we underestimate this as well. That's why when we do a cost-benefit analysis, we tend to think doing something might not be worth it. I'll leave it up to you to figure this out. (Trivial)

What's left for you to do now is to surpass your limits.