How to Stop Procrastinating and Start Taking Action. Overcoming Fears
In most cases, the situation that really scares us will never happen. This is an ancient protective mechanism of our brain. Sometimes it works so subtly, almost imperceptibly. The brain catastrophizes some event to hide deep fears. That is why it is so important to get to them. However, they are also usually unlikely. Let's take an example of calculating the probability of a deep frightening event and see for ourselves.
To do this, we will present the probability in values from 0 to 1, where 0 corresponds to 0 percent, and 1 = 100 percent.
Each event must be offered a probability in the form of any fractional number greater than zero, for example, 0.1 (10 percent), 0.3 (30 percent), 0.7 (70 percent), etc.
So: 1. When I am on stage, they will start shouting "Shame" at me - 0.3. Next. People will stop communicating - 0.4. Next. I am left alone - 0.1. Next. I will lose my job forever - 0.01. Next. I will be left without money and die of hunger - 0.01.
After that, we multiply the resulting values: 0.3 x 0.4 x 0.1 x 0.01 x 0.01 = 0.00000012
As you may have noticed, the probability of such an outcome is negligible. But the brain draws a short cause-and-effect relationship inside itself: “Performed poorly - died of hunger.”
We often do this exercise with my clients to once again make sure that their limiting fears are greatly exaggerated.
You can learn more about the “vertical descent” technique from the video on my YouTube channel “The Central Idea in A. Ellis's Psychotherapy. How It Will Help You.”
Undoubtedly, procrastination is based on other reasons. We will talk about them in the following videos. If you liked this video, then subscribe to the channel and you will not miss a lot of new, interesting and useful. I will be glad to see you on my channel!