In this video, Nir Eyal, an author and thought leader who teaches about the intersection of psychology, technology and business, offers us a powerful strategy for beating procrastination.

It’s no secret that in a social-media-dominated age, our daily lives are rife with distractions, which feed the tendency to procrastinate in starting or completing less-than-desirable tasks.

But as Eyal explains, while most of us think of distraction as arising from external triggers, in fact it is due to internal triggers – uncomfortable emotional states from which we seek to escape. Such internal triggers are the dominant cause for our seeking escape, which leaves us vulnerable to procrastination.

Ordinarily, we try to control such procrastination with harsh commands to ourselves to resist the distraction. Rarely, however, does this work. So, here, Eyal offers a simple, and surprisingly effective, alternative tactic.

View the original video here.

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