Using boredom to fight procrastination
I used to procrastinate a lot.
Days, weeks and sometimes even months would go by without me studying. I played games, browsed the internet and did all sorts of things when I should have been studying. It was bad.
Here's my attempt at explaining how you can beat procrastination when trying to study:
I like to think of studying as a two part process:
1. You have to sit down at your desk for a period of time
2. You actually have to study
To solve the problems I like to use two tools - Fogg's behavior model and boredom.
Let me explain.
Fogg's behavior model
Fogg's behavior model is a tool that's supposedly used by many social media companies (and other companies) to get you to do the things they want you to do. If you've ever used any of them, you've probably experienced the effect of the model.
Here's a quote from the article describing the model: "The FBM asserts that for a person to perform a target behavior, he or she must (1) be sufficiently motivated, (2) have the ability to perform the behavior, and (3) be triggered to perform the behavior. These three factors must occur at the same moment, else the behavior will not happen."
Written as an equation: Behavior = Motivation x Ability x Trigger
Lets break it down a little bit more.
- Motivation:
There are three main sources of motivation. They call them Core Motivators - pleasure/pain, hope/fear, acceptance/rejection.
- Ability:
Your ability to do the thing depends on how simple it is to do. The simpler it is, the higher your ability. When studying, the main factors impacting your ability are Time - how long it takes, Brain cycles - how mentally intense it is and how Routine it is or isn't. The more it interferes with your established routines, the harder it is.
- Trigger:
Trigger is the thing that.. triggers your behavior. It could be an alarm, an emotional state or a habit. Some examples:
- Alarm: You hear a notification sound and check your phone.
- Emotional state: You wake up afraid thinking you've overslept your alarm, so you check the time.
- Habit: You make a cup of coffee and then without thinking sit down on the couch to read the news.
Problem 1: Sitting down at your desk for a period of time
Studying may seem like a daunting task that you're not motivated to do. So I would suggest using the little motivation you may have to use it on the first problem - just sitting down at your desk. Ignore the studying part for now. To get you to sit at your desk we have to increase your Ability and create a very clear Trigger to give you the best chance.
How do we increase Ability?
Create a dedicated study space where you have all your notes and other material ready to go. Remove everything else from this space. No distractions, no other projects, no trinkets, nothing. Create a dedicated space for studying and take care of it like it's a holy shrine. That will reduce the friction you may experience when starting.
Imagine the opposite; if you thought about studying but you first had to clean up your desk and find your notes before starting. It's so much more difficult that way. That's why we set the space up beforehand, to make starting as easy as possible.
Choose an amount of time to sit behind your desk. How long do you think you can sit at your desk without studying, but also without doing anything else? How long can you just sit there? 1 minute? 5? 30 minutes? An hour? Choose an amount of time that feels easy for you. An amount you can do even on your worst day. When you're busy, tired, maybe even sick, how long do you think you can just sit at your desk? Choose a simple goal and start small.
Time and Routine are two key factors here - the shorter the time the easier it is. And the less time it takes, the less it impacts your routine. So start small and plant the seed of your new Sitting down habit. You can then grow from here.
There's just one rule you have to follow when sitting down. You don't have to study, you just can't do anything else.
So that's how we increase Ability - dedicated space that reduces friction to getting started and a small, manageable amount of time to make it easy to start.
Now for the Trigger. The easiest way to start a new behavior is to attach it to an existing behavior.
First make a list of the things you do on a normal day. For example, a Saturday may look like this: Wake up, brush teeth, shower, get dressed, make coffee, eat breakfast, play games... Once you have your list of your existing behaviors, use this to create a trigger.
For example: After I make my cup of coffee, I will sit down at my desk and start a 5 minute timer. I will <new behavior> after <old behavior>. Be as specific as you can. The more clear the trigger, the better it will serve you.
Okay, so you've improved your Ability and set a clear Trigger. Your chances of sitting down at your desk regularly will be much better if you do these two things.
Problem 2: Actually studying
Notice, we haven't even talked about studying yet. Studying is much harder than just sitting down at your desk. It requires a lot of brain power so your Ability to study will be lower than your Ability to sit down at your desk.
This is where we're going to use the second tool we mentioned at the start - boredom.
When trying to study your Motivation may be low and your Ability will be lower, because studying is hard. So the chances of you studying are low. Remember, Behavior = Motivation x Ability x Trigger.
But we've solved the first problem. You're sitting down at your desk regularly and consistently. You're gradually increasing the amount of time you're spending at your desk. And you're following the rule "You don't have to study, you just can't do anything else". Once you do that, you unlock the power of boredom.
Boredom is a strong motivator. As you just sit there doing nothing, you'll get bored sooner or later. Slowly the feeling will build up to the point where you'd do anything to not be bored anymore.
Pain is a core motivator. And the pain of boredom will keep increasing until it will be too much to handle and it will trigger you to do something. In this case, that something will be studying. Remember, you don't have to study, you just can't do anything else. But once that pain is strong enough, studying will seem like a blessing.
Eventually as you study for a bit, the boredom will wear off and the pain of studying will be greater than the pain of boredom, at which point you'll stop. That's okay. As soon as you stop, boredom will slowly build up again.
Your only job to build your studying habit is to follow the Golden rule - You don't have to study, you just can't do anything else (for the duration of the timer). If you do that, boredom will help you get the motivation you need to study. With time your studying skills will improve, your time at the desk will become more routine and things will get easier. The better we become at a thing, the easier it is to do.
But to start, your job is to show up regularly and stick to the Golden rule. No matter how short the time you choose, just make sure to stick to the rule and build from there. If you do other things when you start feeling bored the whole thing will fall apart. Remove any distractions as they appear. Focus on showing up consistently and stick to the rule.
If you do that you'll look back in a few months and you'll be shocked by the progress you have made.
This approach helped me get from a struggling student to finishing med school with good grades. I noticed a big change in a few months and the system kept improving until I finished school.
I used the same tools to start writing things like this after I stopped studying for exams. So the skills of sitting down are transferable to other things you may do later in life. This has helped me a lot, and I hope it could help you too.
If this made any sense to you and you decide to follow the advice, I would love to see your Trigger for sitting down at your desk. If you're comfortable, please share your list of existing behaviors and how you'll trigger your new habit. And if you have any questions let me know.