We have a rational decision-making “driver” inside our head that helps us do things in a systematic and rational way. It’s based on reasoning, prioritizing, effort estimation, and time requirement.
The driver does a lot of calculations subconsciously, and we don’t realize what all happens inside our mind after we have made a decision and want to go ahead with its execution.
We also have a “monkey” along with the driver inside our head, and what does that monkey want? It wants to play with the driver.
It distracts us. It doesn’t want to let the driver continue on the execution path. It tells the driver: “You have made the decision, now we can play. The execution can wait.”
And many of us go along with the monkey: we play. We play with the monkey to feel accomplished in the short term. The monkey wants us to do things that will make us happy by the end of the day, and we look for instant gratification.
The monkey wants only two things: ease and fun.
The monkey wants you to wait until the last moment before you execute and accomplish what you had decided.
It wants you to procrastinate on the execution of the decision you made.
Want to be super productive? Accomplish all that you decided you wanted to do? Don’t want to keep things hanging till the last moment?
Then, ask the monkey to wait, and let the driver take control of how you live your days.