M.Scott Peck began his famous book The Road Less Traveled with one short sentence: Life is difficult.
This is a simple truth that we have devised a myriad of methods to avoid but one of the most elegant and equally simple is procrastination. Got a problem? Do it tomorrow, and tomorrow you will take care of it perfectly It even sounds more responsible: “I need to think about it more.” “I don’t want to be rash, haste or careless. The truth is that procrastination is just like a fast-acting drug or charge card. Like all bad habits it brings quick and effortless relief. This is extremely reinforcing because it actually works to solve today’s problem or difficulty. All bad habits work or they would never become habits.
The big difference is that bad habits are all short lived. The solution is extremely quick and easy but is just as ephemeral, here today, gone tomorrow. Good habits are slow acting and difficult. However, a good solution lasts and lasts. The thing is we all pretty much know all of this so why don’t we do as Scott Peck recommends and accept that life is difficult and get on with it? Well, it’s because we get conditioned to procrastinate. It’s much easier to get relief from procrastination than from working our problems out. Therefore, we can get relief eight times if we procrastinate for eight days. Conversely, if I actually work my problem out it may take eight days to complete and I only then get relief once. The power that drives bad habits is the reinforcement schedule. In the example, the reinforcement for bad verse good habits is 8:1 Moreover, bad habits are quick and easy. We get relief now and with very little suffering. It’s just plain old operant conditioning. The more promptly a behavior is reinforced, the more likely we are to continue to do it.
Of course, in the long run, we begin to experience unwanted consequences from procrastination but by that time we are hooked on putting things off. But, what if we could erase that conditioning from our emotional history? That would give us a fresh start and with the long-term consequences to encourage a change things would turn around at least little by little. This is what Enlight can do, access the positive reinforcement history of bad habits and neutralize it. Then with a clean slate as well as greater wisdom regarding the long-term consequences we can try again. Why not clean up your emotional history and try again!