I’ve just stumbled upon a mega strategy for beating procrastination. And it comes from (a) my experience in learning Muay Thai, and (b) my attempts at cold plunge.
In Muay Thai, when you learn to throw a punch, you want to “punch through” the target. As in: you don’t actually want to aim AT the target. You want to aim your punch just beyond the target, THROUGH the target. The rationale is that if you aim to hit the target, you’ll have a less powerful punch than if you aim slightly beyond the target. Makes sense. I’ve been doing Muay Thai lessons for the past few months, and this was one of the earlier ones.
Separately, I live in one of those buildings in Hong Kong that has a mini-spa within it. It’s awesome. There’s a sauna, steam room, jacuzzi, showers. And also a cold plunge (a small pool of very cold water, in case you’re not on that side of the algorithm).
Doing a cold plunge a few times a week is supposed to be good for your health, longevity, recovery etc. Don’t quote me on that, haven’t looked at the research myself, but all the “optimiser productivity” bros seem to do it, including my friend Sahil Bloom. I hadn’t set foot inside the cold plunge for months, but when he visited me in Hong Kong earlier this year, we did a session together.
The first time I got in to the cold plunge, I was hesitating a LOT. It’s cold water. And I didn’t want to go in. He talked me into going in gently, we did some breathing exercises etc. And I went in, thought “this is unpleasant” and promptly came back out again.
I thought to myself: “okay I’m going to do a cold plunge every day like Sahil does!”. But each time I’d go to the spa area thingy, I’d look at the freezing cold plunge. Then I’d look at the lovely, warm, inviting jacuzzi. Then back at the cold plunge. Then back at the jacuzzi. And I’d get into the jacuzzi, totally ignoring the cold plunge.
And so this pattern continued for many months. UNTIL a couple of weeks ago when my friends Sam, Naed, Saf and Suhail visited Hong Kong. (Side note: Suhail and I recorded a long-ass 2h40m YouTube video breaking down how he quit his corporate consulting job and built a $1m/year business in short order thereafter).
Anyway, while the boys were here, we did a few spa sessions because why not. And I saw Naed do something that blew my mind: he got into the cold plunge, immediately dunked his head in the water, took his head out of the water, ran his fingers through his hair, leaned back, submerged himself fully up to his neck, put his hands under his armpits and took a few deep breaths.
I promise this is going somewhere, and won’t turn into one of the scenes from Fourth Wing.
After this series of actions, Naed stayed in the water for a minute or two, eyes closed, before getting out and joining the rest of us in the jacuzzi.
Why on earth am I telling you about this?
Well… since the day I saw this happen, I haven’t been able to get the image out of my mind. Not the image of a tall, south asian male in swimming shorts getting into the cold plunge. But the image of the SERIES OF ACTIONS that Naed took as soon as he got into the cold plunge.
This series of actions is VERY different to how I try to get in. Here’s what my routine looks like: I walk up to the cold plunge. I have a mental battle with myself about whether I’m going to try to get in. I dip my fingers in. Yep it’s cold. I take another deep breath. I continue the mental battle with myself. I dip my feet in. Yep, still cold. Hmm. Okay I’m going to TRY to get in… ahh too cold, nah let’s forget about this.
In other words: I procrastinate heavily when thinking about maybe getting into the cold plunge. And so I end up almost never doing it. In contrast, Naed didn’t hesitate: he got straight in, and then did his series of actions (dunking head, deep breath, hands in armpits etc) like it was no big deal.
Huh.
The day after the boys left, I decided to try Naed’s method. I walked up to the cold plunge, I got in, it was cold. But I immediately dunked my head, still cold. Then I took my head out, and ran my fingers through my hair. Still cold. Then I took a deep breath, submerged myself to my neck, and put my hands under my armpits. Still cold. I took a few deep breaths, closed my eyes, and waited for my feet to really start hurting. When they did, I got out.
It was still cold of course, but I didn’t procrastinate from going in, like I’d been doing for literally months at that point.
And I realised it’s because I was punching THROUGH the cold plunge.
Before I saw The Naed Method of Cold Plunge Entry, my target would always be “just getting in the water”. And I’d procrastinate from doing that. Because the target was: “We just need to Try to Get In”, I almost always under-shot it.
But after I saw The Naed Method of Cold Plunge Entry, my target shifted from “just getting into the water” to “completing the series of actions that include dunking my head, running my fingers through my hair, submerging myself up to my neck, putting my hands under my armpits, and taking a few deep breaths”.
And suddenly, getting into the cold plunge became way easier. Because I wasn’t aiming to “just get in” anymore – I was aiming to complete the full sequence. I was punching THROUGH the cold plunge, not just AT it. And case in point – I’ve used the cold plunge more times in the last few weeks than in my 8+ months of living here previously.
So this is my ultimate cure for procrastination. Don’t aim AT the target. Aim THROUGH the target.
Instead of “I just need to sit down and start working”, it’s “I just need to sit down, open my laptop, open up Notion, find the link to the last thing I was working on, scroll down to where I was last working on it, and write 200 crappy words”.
Instead of “I just need to sit down and film this video”, it’s “I just need to sit down, turn the camera on, get the monitor to show me what’s on there, turn on the light, tidy my desk, hit record on the camera, hit record on my external mic, and talk for 5 minutes to myself which is all going to be cut from the video anyway…”
The sequence of “stuff” that you do doesn’t really matter. It’s more about actually having a sequence in the first place. The sequence helps you aim THROUGH the target instead of AT the target, and so you end up bypassing the mental and emotional negotiation that lies at the heart of procrastination.
Hopefully, your brain starts to treat the thing as a PROCESS rather than as a DECISION. Making decisions is hard. Following processes is way easier.
Have a great week!
Ali xx
