Are you addicted to procrastination?

Procrastination is a coping mechanism. We do it to avoid feeling what our brain perceives as unpleasant emotions or a potential threat (boredom, overwhelm, fear, nervousness, etc).

So the moment you CHOOSE to avoid feeling the emotion associated with a certain task by putting that task off, you get a sense of relief. This relief is produced by the release of dopamine in your brain.

Dopamine is associated with rewards. The more we do something that rewards us, the more we want to do it because our brain thinks it is important for our survival.

However, that is the primitive part of our brain that has evolved in this way to keep us safe. Whenever dopamine is released, it gives itself feedback that that thing must be important for our survival so we should do more of it. It’s how it works with food, sex, warmth, etc. Each time we do it, we feel a sense of satisfaction and relief so we learn to do more of it.

So the same thing happens when we procrastinate over and over again. Our brain begins being conditioned that each time we feel the urge to procrastinate to avoid feeling certain negative emotions, we did so, and it was good because we got a reward. So now it will remind us to do it again, and again, and again until we break the cycle. (That’s why procrastination also feels like a vicious cycle). The more we do it, the more we perpetuate it, and the more we perpetuate it, the more we do it.

So then what is the solution to breaking the cycle?

If we procrastinate in order to avoid feeling negative emotions, then we do that to stay unconscious because that seems like the easier choice. The answer to breaking the cycle then is consciousness. Taking the conscious choice of experiencing our emotions instead of running away from them knowing that they can’t harm us and that it is totally fine to allow them to run through our bodies and let them go. 

It takes practice to be mindful and conscious in your everyday life but the more you do it, the better you become at it, and the more control you have over your emotions, and therefore over your life. You've got this ;)