The ONLY Way To Stop Procrastinating | Mel Robbins

You're not a procrastinator; you have a habit of procrastinating. Big difference, because if it's a habit, I can teach you to use science to break it. So let's talk a little bit about procrastination.

Who in here struggles with procrastination? Yeah, and the rest of you that are raising your hands are just procrastinating on doing it, aren't you? I know.

You see, I always thought procrastination had to do with the thing I was procrastinating around, right? Like, that procrastination has something to do with work. Believe it or not, procrastination has nothing to do with your work; procrastination is a form of stress relief.

Let me explain this. So, let's say that you've got some stuff going on in your life, and heck, who doesn't have stuff going on in their life? Maybe you're fighting with your significant other, maybe Mom's or Dad's health is failing and it's really, really upsetting you, or maybe you've got some financial stuff; you put too much of your savings into Bitcoin and now that that's crashed, you're stressed out about it, right?

And so, you go into work, and when you get into work, you've got stuff to do. You kind of walk in, and you've got this big stress ball that subconsciously is hanging over your head. You walk in, and you sit down, and you know you've got 13 phone calls you need to make.

You also know that you've been chickening out—you've been making easy calls, and there are a bunch of CIOs or other people who are higher-level that you haven't been calling. As you sit down to do it, you've got the stress on your shoulders, and your brain starts to go, "Wait a minute, what? You want me to make a call to somebody that I'm scared to make?

Absolutely not! I'm so stressed out about this. Can we just watch some cat videos for a minute?

" And next thing you know, an hour's gone by. Then, of course, what do you do? You beat yourself up.

So, the only way that you can break this habit—and that's an important word for you to hear—is that you're not a procrastinator; you have a habit of procrastinating. Big difference, because if it's a habit, I can teach you to use science to break it. You see, all habits have three parts: there's a trigger, and in the case of procrastination, the trigger's always stress.

Then there's a pattern you repeat, and in the case of procrastination, it is to avoid doing something. Finally, there's a reward—you get a little stress relief. The only way to break a habit, you guys, is not to deal with the triggers.

You're never gonna get rid of the stress in your life, but you can 100% change your pattern of avoiding work. So, next time that you're in a situation where you feel yourself hesitate, you spent way too much time checking out the highlights from last night's scores, what you're gonna do is you're gonna go, "Ah, I must be stressed out about something. " Acknowledge the stress, then go 5-4-3-2-1.

I want you to count to yourself because I want you to interrupt the habit that's stored here, and I want you to awaken your prefrontal cortex. Then I want you to just work, just for five minutes. The reason why I want you to only work for five minutes is because your problem isn't working; it's the habit of avoiding.

I just need you to start. And here's the other cool thing: we know based on research that if we can get you to start, 80% of you are going to keep going.