What is the motivation barrier?
In short, it means it’s hard for you to gain enough momentum to start something. Procrastination is one of the symptoms.
If the metric for procrastination is 1–10 (1 is the least, 10 is the most), then I am in between 8 to 9.
Procrastination becomes more and more “serious” when I grow up. I tried to figure what causes procrastination.
Most of the time, I know there is a deadline and I also understand that if I can start earlier, my life will be much easier when the deadline is approaching. However, even though I know, it ends up the same every time.
For myself, I observe a pattern over time. Whenever I switch to a new environment, I actually get better. I am not quite sure if this is because I need time to explore or adjust to the new environment. Once the new environment becomes a comfort zone, I will back to the old “me”.
Another observation is that I usually get better when there is pressure. One of the cases is that I know there will be punishment if I cannot finish the goals on time.
To fix my procrastination, my partner set a list of goals for me. The list is full of items that I don’t want to do but I know they are good for me. Some of them are even goals that I set for myself a few years ago but I have never achieved. To make sure that I will complete the tasks, I need to hand over some of my precious items to him. If I cannot complete the target on time, those precious items will be gone forever. (He is very serious about that)
Because of this, I starting working on those goals and complete the task on time. The punishment fixes part of my procrastination but not it hasn’t gone completely.
I still only start working on those goals one day before the deadline. Indeed, I have a whole week to work on it.
So I thought about it again and asked for a change in the plan. I am going to share it in the next article.
