5-4 Harnessing Your Zombies to Help You

 In this video, we're going to get into the specifics of harnessing your zombie powers of habit to help you avoid procrastination while minimizing your use of willpower. You don't want to do a full scale change of old habits. You just want to override parts of them and develop a few new ones. The trick to overriding a habit is to look to change your reaction to a cue. The only place you need to apply willpower is to change your reaction to the cue. To understand that, it helps to go back through the four components of habit and re-analyze them from the perspective of procrastination.

 

 The first one is the cue. Recognize what launches you into your zombie procrastination mode. Cues usually fall into one of the four following categories:

1. Location

2. Time

3. How you feel, and

4. Reactions either to other people or to something that just happened

 

Do you look something up on the web and then find yourself web surfing? Does a text message disturb your studying taking you 10 minutes to get back into the flow of things even when you try to keep yourself on task? The issue with procrastination is that because it's an automatic habit, you're often unaware that you've begun to procrastinate. You can prevent the most damaging cues by shutting off your cell phone or keeping yourself away from the internet and other distractions for brief periods of time, as when you're doing a pomodoro.

 

 Number two, the routine. Let's say then instead of doing your studies you often divert your attention to something less painful. Your brain wants to automatically go into this routine when you've gotten your cue. So this, is the reaction clue where you must actively focus on re-wiring your old habit. The key to re-wiring is to have a plan. Developing a new ritual can be helpful. Some students make it a habit to leave their phone in their car when they head in for class which removes a potent distraction. Many students discovered the value of settling into a quiet spot in the library or closer to home, the productive effects of simply sitting in a favorite chair at the proper time with all Internet access disconnected. Your plan may not work perfectly at first, but just keep at it. Adjust the plan if necessary, and savor those victories when your plan works. Don't try to change everything at once. The Pomodoro technique can be especially helpful in shifting your reaction to the cues.

 

 Number three is the reward. This can sometimes require a little bit of investigation. Why are you procrastinating? Can you substitute an emotional payoff, maybe a feeling of pride for accomplishing something, even if it's small, a sense of satisfaction? Can you win a small internal bet or a contest about something you've turned into a personal game or allow yourself to indulge in a latte or read a favorite web site, provide yourself, maybe, with an evening of mindless television or web surfing without guilt, and will you give yourself a bigger reward for a bigger achievement? Maybe movie tickets or a sweater or an utterly frivolous purchase. Remember that habits are powerful because they create neurological cravings. It helps to add a new reward if you want to overcome your previous cravings. Only once your brain starts expecting that reward will the important rewiring take place that will allow you to create new habits. Many people find that setting a reward at a specific time, for example, breaking for lunch with a friend at the deli at noon or stopping the main task at 5 p.m., gives a solid, mini deadline that can help spur work. Don't feel bad if you find you have trouble getting into a flow state at first. I sometimes find it takes a few days of drudgery, through a few cycles of the Pomodoro technique before flow begins to unfold. And I find myself starting to enjoy work on a new topic. Also remember that the better you get at something, the more enjoyable it can become.

 

 Number four is the belief. The most important part of changing your procrastination habit is the belief that you can do it. You may find that when the going gets stressful. You long to fall back into old, more comfortable habits. Belief that your new system works is what can get you through. Part of what can underpin is to develop a new community. Hang out with classmates, or virtually hang out with MOOCmates, who may have that can-do philosophy that you too want to develop. Developing and encouraging culture with like-minded friends can help us remember the values that in moments of weakness we tend to forget.

 

 I'm Barbara Oakley, thanks for learning how to learn.