Akrasia: Why You Keep Procrastinating

Warning: Your brain is literally sabotaging your future self right now. I discovered this

at 2 AM, staring at my laptop with a paper due in six hours, three seasons deep

into a show I didn't even like. That's when I learned about akrasia, this ancient Greek

concept that explains why we do things we know we shouldn't. Your present self craves instant gratification

like a donut, while your future self wants long-term rewards. They're at war inside

your head. The pain of procrastinating is actually worse than doing the work, but we can't see

that until we cross what researchers call the action line. I started using

the two-minute rule. If something takes less than two minutes to start, just begin.