Procrastination is an interesting psychological phenomenon that consists of premeditated self-deception, in which the person who suffers from it becomes both victim and executioner. For people with a tendency to procrastinate, getting things done on time is a Herculean sacrifice, as it is for anyone who wants to overcome a bad habit.

The “Ulysses Contract” is a method by which your present conscious and rational ‘I’ undertakes to impose a set of conditions and limitations on your future ‘I’, which it avoids at all costs in order to achieve its goal. loss of control over temptations the person will subject himself to it.

A hero’s remedies against the siren song

The “Ulysses Contract” or “Ulysses Rule” is a technique inspired by the return of King Ulysses to the island of Ithaca after the Trojan war, described in .Odyssey‘ From Homer. In his adventure, Circe advises the hero to protect himself in advance against the siren songs that will draw him into the depths of the sea.

Mermaids will delight you with their fresh voices. After plugging your friends’ ears with soft wax so that no one can hear them, pass without stopping! You can only hear them if you want, but with your hands and feet tied and standing in the cockpit, tie yourself to the mast to enjoy hearing their songs. Odyssey

Following Circe’s advice, Homer’s hero plugged his crew’s ears with wax and ordered their hands and feet to be bound; this stated that they should not untie him no matter how much he begs them. Thus no temptation could dissuade the Greek hero and his crew from their goal of returning home.

Heroes of productivity and good habits

Applying the Ulysses Contract to your daily routine will help. Don’t subject yourself to the “siren songs” of future temptations This will try to prevent you from achieving your goals, whether it’s completing a task, studying, going to the gym, or stopping eating sugar.

The secret is to create a self-proving system, so you must adopt the role of Circe, identify your vulnerabilities and foresee the risks your future self will surely be exposed to, and propose a countermeasure so that future Ulysses does not happen. They fall in front of them.

This system attacks the core of what is known in psychology as the ability to delay gratification and resist impulses. What most of us mortals call willpower. Human will is variable and its flesh is weak. Therefore, the Ulysses contract maintains commitment to the goal by strengthening cracks in the capacity for resistance that may arise at certain moments.

If your problem is that social networks are draining your attention by demanding a small dose of dopamine every five minutes, the solution may be to turn off your mobile phone, leave it in another room, or even enforce public liability by transferring custody of your mobile phone to someone else. a third person until you complete your task.

According to a study by the University of Oulu (Finland), third-party commitments and public disclosure of these commitments are an important step to achieve them. For example, publicly announcing that you have quit smoking and involving third parties in this process increases the chances of success.

For example, if your goal is not to skip your diet, today’s hero will not buy industrial pastries from the supermarket, so tomorrow’s Ulysses will not succumb to temptation and pursue his goal when he is subjected to a boredom-induced whim.

in Xataka | A Stanford professor has revealed which morning habits increase productivity. Now we understand what it means to get up at five

Image | Wikimedia Commons (National Archaeological Museum of Venice), Unsplash (
bruce mars)