न कार्यकालमतिपातयेत्
संदर्भ: चरक – सूत्र स्थान – अध्याय ८
One should not be in a habit of postponing things at the time of action.
This is called procrastination. Advise is not just about avoiding procrastination at work but by that maintain the healthy senses.
Don’t postpone. If the deadline is next Monday, complete it on Friday end of the day. Work on your goals on daily basis. Once this become habit, the mind turns into perpetual procrastinator – it postpones our resolutions to someday, then some decade and then some lifetime. The baggage of postpone makes mind suffer. Mind consumes more prana when loaded with all those postponed items.
Why do we procrastinate?
We don’t have enough skills to take action
Task is not aligned with the life goal
As per this research[1], those who don’t focus on “How” “When” “Where” of task, usually procrastinates. According to construal-level theory, events that are distant in time tend to be represented more abstractly than are events that are close in time. So if you keep thinking about long term vision, you will fall into procrastination trap due to over-doing abstract thinking.
Once it becomes habit, it hardwires brain for same type of responses. In term of Ayurveda, it shapes इंद्रिय अधिष्ठान (in brain) for repeating same delayed responses. As per this research[2],
Procrastination is the thief of time. Not everyone finds this fact deterring. Two different brain areas might be the reason for this.
Researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum have analysed why certain people tend to put tasks off rather than tackling them directly. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), they identified two brain areas whose volume and functional connectivity are linked to an individual’s ability to control their actions.
Individuals with poor action control had a larger amygdala.
This research[3] aligned with Charak prescription. Do it now. Set shorter deadline. Do things in smaller chunk.
“New research from the University of Otago has found that if you want someone to help you out with something, it is best not to set a deadline at all. But if you do set a deadline, make it short.”
[1] Construal Level and Procrastination – Sean M. McCrea, Nira Liberman, Yaacov Trope, Steven J. Sherman, 2008 (sagepub.com)
[2] How brains of doers differ from those of procrastinators – Newsportal – Ruhr-Universität Bochum (rub.de)
[3] 12 November 2021, Otago researchers discover best way to avoid procrastination, News, University of Otago, New Zealand
