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💥🚀 How to procrastinate, less

💥🚀 How to procrastinate, less

and feel more calm

Ian Tenenbaum
March 24, 2024 • Read Time: 5 minutes

Hey guys,

I hate to read.

I struggle to read.

So why do I make you guys read so much?!

Many of us are visual learners so I’m working on replacing as much of the weekly lesson with images as possible

It’s a process but I’m excited to bring you better and better visual lessons each week.

Let’s get to work…

Ian

Today’s Pillar

Today’s Skill

✅ How to procrastinate, less

The Struggle is Real:

Any of this sound familiar?

❝

“You could do it if you really wanted to!”

“You are so talented, when you apply yourself”

“If you started earlier you could have done it much better”

“If you really cared you would do it right away”

Do people think we are just “living the good life” and intentionally not “applying ourselves”?

😝 We create “time blocks” but skip them all

😝 We think about it 75 times before starting

😝 We scramble and do 20 hours of work in the last 20 minutes

If it was SO EASY don’t you think we could be doing it already!! Jeez.

Why it’s harder for us:

#1) Time Blindness:

Imagine being so in the zone on a project that you lose track of time and realize you've missed another deadline.

That's time blindness.

With ADHD, it's like planning to finish a presentation way before the due date, then suddenly it's the night before, and we’re scrambling.

🔬The Science: Research shows people with ADHD have differences in the prefrontal cortex, affecting perception of time and making time management more challenging.

#2) Lack of Accountability or Structure:

With ADHD, navigating tasks without clear structure or external accountability feels like a road trip without a GPS.

It's near impossible to stay on course without clear, immediate goals or someone checking in on us constantly (which we also hate).

🔬 The Science:

ADHD is associated with lower levels of dopamine, a neurotransmitter involved in motivation and reward.

Structured environments and accountability can help counterbalance this by providing external cues and more immediate short term rewards.

Effective ADHD Strategy

We want to architect “scaffolding” or structure that we create for ourselves.

First lets look at what we DON’T want to do:

That sucks.

A simple way to create structure and “scaffolding” for ourselves would be to create more deadlines along the way.

How to “Fabricate” Mini Deadlines

| Step 1

Identify a high value project or activity

| Step 2

Break into the 3 main steps

| Step 3

“Architect” external accountability check points to create a sense of urgency at each step. Someone you have to show or collaborate with in some way.

Here’s what it could look like:

This creates urgency several times which propels us into action in smaller sprints.

Well that looks much better!

Did you notice all the empty squares?

Ya. Those days you get your sanity back and don’t waste energy “thinking” about what you aren’t doing.

I help my clients create structure on a weekly basis and they consistently tell me what a transformation it makes.

Give it a try and report back to me!

If you get stuck, reply to me and I’ll guide you over email.

If you need more support, there are 2 ways I can help:

1) 1:1 coaching with me. You can schedule time with me here.

2) Accountable: ADHD Productivity Club is launching soon on Skool! To join the waitlist, click here.

🐰 The “Rabbit Hole” 🐰

Actual science from Dr. Russell Barkley who literally “wrote the book” on ADHD:

Fun videos to make you feel less alone:

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