Our free will is sometimes a hindrance and sometimes it is what distinguishes our human race from other species. Free will seated in our frontal lobe of neocortex is one of the major reasons why we are flourishing as a species and are at the top of the food chain.

But sometimes we are shackled by the chains of our own brain. Even the chains stop bothering us after a while and they start appearing more of jewels to us rather than chains. This is when you fall prey to habit of being “you”. We procrastinate things, delay them over and over again to the point till they become history.

I was in a similar situation. But I decided to take over the situation. I wanted to know why was this happening? I did a thorough research and read a number of books on mind and its evolution. I found out that over a certain span of time, our brain become comfortable doing routine things. In the long run, it wires itself in such a way that it becomes hardwired to old patterns and chores. This is the reason we go on procrastinating to join dance classes, going to gym or writing a blog.

Mind is a complex entity. Eckhart Tolle once gave a very beautiful example to demonstrate the nature of mind.  Suppose we are given two choices and we have to choose one of them. On the one side is a beautifully carved park lined with nicely pruned trees and Chrysanthemum flowers. And on the other side is a dense forest with tress crowding together forming a thick canopy whose roots are going deep under the ground. Where would one like to go for an evening stroll?  Even though the forest is covered by the colors of trees never seen before yet one would choose to stroll in the park. The mind is complacent with the routine and it identifies itself with the patterns it has often seen. It gets uncomfortable with the speculations of a snakes and other wildlife hiding under the thick vegetation. Mind does not want to relinquish the old as it perceives the new as a risk.

We fall into repetitive, habitual and unhealthy reactions towards situations that are produced as result of our past experiences and external environment. We tend to not try new things and procrastinate it over and over.

Procrastination is also part of anxiety resulted from our over thinking. We think about doing a thing day and night but in reality we are not thinking anything. We keep on planning lot many things in our mind but we are unable to do anything. The result of thinking about number of things is that we become scared of doing everything and we end up doing nothing. Even we are not sure of the reason why we delay things. We just delay them.

Fear is also one of the causes of procrastination. We think so much about doing a thing and as we have done it in our mind 100 of times, we become afraid of doing it in reality. Fear is like a shadow which does not have its own identity but it feeds on our own thoughts. When fear cripples us then we give up on the task and leave it for some other day.

As I had gotten to the root of the problem, now the question was how to trick our mind to avoid becoming prey to delaying. It was then, when I found out this “5 second rule”. One day I wanted to try a cake recipe which I had seen another day but to my surprise I did not try it for 10 days in a row and in all these days I was continuously thinking about trying this cake. I was delaying it like never before. Then I tried this five second rule which I had heard from an expert in an interview. All you have to do is shut the brain for few seconds. When you want to do something then within next five seconds you start doing what you want to do. One fine day I again wanted to try this recipe. Then, this time, in next 5 seconds I was in kitchen taking out the pan to pour some oil in it and within an hour the cake was ready. Believe me that was not less than a miracle. I never thought it could have been so easy. That was the day my life changed. I got over my old habit of delaying.

Now what is happening here is that we are tricking the biochemistry of the brain. We are not giving time to the brain to activate those millions of neurological circuits which fire a unique sequence and trigger those circuits which out of customary habit lead you to procrastination. We act before our mind act against us. Mind is given to us for our convenience. We should know how to properly use our mind. Mind should not use us.

Change is inconvenient. But it is all about breaking the usual habits. If we act within first five seconds our work is done. It is question of choice. To change is not a comfortable process, it takes will and determination. But once we overcome our propensity of delaying there is a whole new world in front of us. So why not leave the old and embrace the new. Let us try this “5 second rule”.

Navkiran Brar

Thinker, Mind Body healer , Writer

Bank officer by profession