Why We Procrastinate
What the Science of the Brain Can Teach Us About Getting Things Done
One of the multimedia hats I wear (aside from writing this Substack and being a documentary filmmaker) is serving as an episode producer for the neuroscience podcast This is Your Brain. The series, hosted by Dr. Phil Stieg from his office at Weill Cornell in New York City, is a fascinating exploration of the human brain.
As you may have noticed from previous posts, I often draw on neuroscience to help make sense of how we think and behave. I owe this perspective to my experience working for this podcast. Producing neuroscience episodes on everything from music therapy to the neuroscience of sleep - and most recently, procrastination - has truly changed the lens through which I try to understand human behavior as well as my own.
Season 6 of the podcast launched on Friday, kicking off with an episode I produced on why we procrastinate. You can listen to it here:
Procrastination is a topic that is of interest to me because throughout my life I have had to do battle with this beast.
Procrastination isn’t just laziness - it’s behaviour rooted in how we process emotion, reward, and self-control. It’s the push-pull between our immediate impulses and our long-term goals, between perfectionism and self sabotage, often leaving us stressed with unintended outcomes. The good news is that procrastination is a learned behaviour, and that means it can be unlearned. Understanding why we procrastinate can help us break the cycle and get things done with less mental drag.
If you’ve ever struggled with putting things off (and who hasn’t?), I think you’ll find this one especially insightful.
If you’d like to listen to other episodes of the podcast, you can check them out here.