Stop procrastination with the One Crumb Rule

What is harder to do?

A two hour full body work-out or…

doing one push-up?

What is harder to do?

I want to read a book per week or…

today I am going to read one page.

What is harder to do?

Today I am going to study for my mathematics exam for 8 hours or…

today I am going to fill out one exercise?

You get the point.

Instead of burdening your mind with big goals focus on just one crumb.

Why?

Because there is very big chance that if you do one push-up you will do more push-ups later (or immediately).

Because STARTING IS THE HARDEST PART.

Starting equals pains, starting equals discomfort.

MAKE THE START EASY.

You do that by setting a very small goal.

CRITICALLY IMPORTANT:

Really set that small goal. Don’t try to trick yourself by going: I set this small goal and then I will study for 8 hours straight.

No, then you are just setting your expectations too high again.

Be ok with the one push-up.

Maybe on some days you will indeed do only one push-up, but that’s ok.

At least you set yourself a goal and you stuck to it.

In most cases you will do more than bite off the crumb IF you are ok with just biting off the crumb.

Procrastination basically comes from burdening yourself too much with expectations. Your brain just takes that as ‘oh, shit, we are in for a whole lot of fucking pain today let’s totally distract the person (meaning you) trying to inflict so much pain on us!!!!

But if you say: ‘just one push-up today’, your brain will be like: ok, then.

And later: well, this wasn’t so bad, let’s do some more.

Imagine your brain is a child.

Imagine you tell the child: we are going on a two hour hike.

The child will protest: two hours? Fuck that.

But now tell the child: let’s just walk to that big tree over there. It’s only 50 yards away. Maybe we’ll spot a squirrel.

The child will be excited. Once you reach the the tree you set some other goal.

Eventually you will have covered an impressive distance and the child won’t even have noticed.

I also don’t sit down going: NOW I HAVE TO WRITE AN AWARD WINNING BLOG POST.

There would never be more than 2,000 blog posts on this website if I told myself that.

There are actually days I tell myself something similar. Those are the days not much happens on this website.

Also important: it’s not just you. EVERYONE struggles with procrastination. Our brains are machines and one of their aims is to avoid giving us pain and giving us pleasure mainly in the short term.

Since starting is the hardest make the start easy by setting the bar pretty low.

Chew off just one crumb.

What happens after is not your concern anymore. Your task is to jump start your operating system by breaking off that one crumb.




What is harder to do?

A two hour full body work-out or…

doing one push-up?

What is harder to do?

I want to read a book per week or…

today I am going to read one page.

What is harder to do?

Today I am going to study for my mathematics exam for 8 hours or…

today I am going to fill out one exercise?

You get the point.

Instead of burdening your mind with big goals focus on just one crumb.

Why?

Because there is very big chance that if you do one push-up you will do more push-ups later (or immediately).

Because STARTING IS THE HARDEST PART.

Starting equals pains, starting equals discomfort.

MAKE THE START EASY.

You do that by setting a very small goal.

CRITICALLY IMPORTANT:

Really set that small goal. Don’t try to trick yourself by going: I set this small goal and then I will study for 8 hours straight.

No, then you are just setting your expectations too high again.

Be ok with the one push-up.

Maybe on some days you will indeed do only one push-up, but that’s ok.

At least you set yourself a goal and you stuck to it.

In most cases you will do more than bite off the crumb IF you are ok with just biting off the crumb.

Procrastination basically comes from burdening yourself too much with expectations. Your brain just takes that as ‘oh, shit, we are in for a whole lot of fucking pain today let’s totally distract the person (meaning you) trying to inflict so much pain on us!!!!

But if you say: ‘just one push-up today’, your brain will be like: ok, then.

And later: well, this wasn’t so bad, let’s do some more.

Imagine your brain is a child.

Imagine you tell the child: we are going on a two hour hike.

The child will protest: two hours? Fuck that.

But now tell the child: let’s just walk to that big tree over there. It’s only 50 yards away. Maybe we’ll spot a squirrel.

The child will be excited. Once you reach the the tree you set some other goal.

Eventually you will have covered an impressive distance and the child won’t even have noticed.

I also don’t sit down going: NOW I HAVE TO WRITE AN AWARD WINNING BLOG POST.

There would never be more than 2,000 blog posts on this website if I told myself that.

There are actually days I tell myself something similar. Those are the days not much happens on this website.

Also important: it’s not just you. EVERYONE struggles with procrastination. Our brains are machines and one of their aims is to avoid giving us pain and giving us pleasure mainly in the short term.

Since starting is the hardest make the start easy by setting the bar pretty low.

Chew off just one crumb.

What happens after is not your concern anymore. Your task is to jump start your operating system by breaking off that one crumb.