Procrastination

• Good learning is a bit by bit activity
• Willpower uses a lot of neural resources
• Procrastination can be a bad habit; it shares a lot of similarities with addictions
• It's easy to fool yourself on what the best use of any given moment is 
• Chunking is related to habit
• Habits save energy. They are composed of 4 parts:

1. The cue (trigger that launches you into zombie mode)
2. The routine (habitual response to a cue)
3. The reward
4. The belief

• Start with positive thoughts whenever you're about to learn something
• Focus on process, not product. 
• Process = Flow of time & habits and actions associated with it. Ex: I'll spend 25 minutes programming
• Product = Outcome 
• Avoid concentrating on product
• The product triggers the pain that causes you to procrastinate
• Use small chunks of time to prepare for something in particular
• Focused on a pomodoro (25-minute session). In other words, focus on riding the wave ~

* Don't try to change everything at once. 

1. Write a weekly list of to-do's [the nigh before]. Remember to make these process-oriented
2. Add some physical activity to the list
3. Plan your quitting time as well as your working time
4. Always squeeze a little break time in
5. Start with the most disliked task first –at least one Pomodoro as soon as I wake up

1. You get a cue.
2. Routine: response you're used to when your brain receives the que.
3. Reward Habits develop and continue because it rewards us (makes us feel pleasure).
4. Belief. Habits have power because of your belief in them.

1. Identify your cues. They usually fall into one of these categories:
   • Location
   • Time
   • How you Feel
   • Reactions
2. Spend your willpower changing your routine. Devise a plan for how to react when you notice your cue. Develop a new ritual: Put your phone on Do Not Disturb before starting a programming session.
3. Investigate what motivates you, what should and should not be your reward. Remember that the better you get at something, the more enjoyable it becomes.
4. The most important part of changing your habit is your belief that you can change your habits, that your new systems work. A good way of reinforcing beliefs is to hang-out with like-minded people.

• Write key tasks for the week (e.g. finish reading X book).
• Write a daily to-do list the evening before, try to keep the items process-oriented. (Barbara even uses tasks like cleaning-up or doing laundry as breaks between learning sessions, to provide a space for diffuse-mode thinking.)
• Plan your quitting time! Plan leisure and break time – it'll make you a better learning.
• Eat your frogs early in the morning. Do 1 Pomodoro as soon as you wake up. Get the most important and most disliked task done first.

• Keep a planner journal. Learn what helps you accomplish goals and what doesn't.
• Commit yourself to daily tasks and routines.
• Delay rewards until you finish the task. But don't forget rewarding yourself.
• Watch for procrastination cues.
• Gain trust in your new system.
• Have backup plans for when you procrastinate. Eat your frogs first thing in the morning.

• To store items in long term memory, practice on repeat over several days.
• You can only hold about 4 items in your working memory. Chunk concepts so you can free mental thinking space.
• Our Visual and Spacial memory systems are strong. Think of evocative and memorable images (a flying donkey).
• Make meaningful groups and abbreviations. (e.g. NOSE = Norte Oeste Sur Este)

• You procrastinate when something makes you uncomfortable. It causes a type of physical pain in your brain and it causes you to want to focus on other things.

• The way it works is you get a cue, something that triggers the feeling of uncomfortable and that causes a reaction. In order to focus you want to train yourself so that you react differently when you receive that cue.

For example: If someone saying its hard makes you want to avoid it, then you can train yourself that when someone says its hard, you start working on it right away.

The pomodoro technique is great for helping you not procrastinate.

Usually once you push through that initial pain it gets easier.

Another key to procrastination is focusing on one thing at a time. Multitasking takes away your focus and just prolongs the pain.

Memory
- Practice a little bit everyday.
- Add an evocative outrageous picture to something you want to remember. The brain works better with images and physical objects.
- For better brain health stay physically active, learn new things, practice remembering things and eat fish or take fish oil.
- When you are trying to remember abstract concepts, turn those concepts into a picture, something visual you are familiar with.