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Current Neuroscience: The Big Ideas
When we said in the first edition of our book, "There is no such thing as a procrastination gene," we were right according to the current knowledge at that time. But since 1983, there has been an explosion of progress in the field of neuroscience, which enables researchers to study specific parts of the brain and how they function separately and together. While we still don't believe there is a single gene that creates a procrastinator, we now understand enough about the workings of the brain to say with confidence that indeed there are biological factors that contribute to procrastination. Some are general factors, integral to how the brain works, develops, and changes over time, which indirectly relate to putting things off. Other factors involve specific functions (or dysfunctions) that lead quite directly to procrastination. For example, if you have some degree of attention deficit disorder, executive dysfunction, seasonal affective disorder, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, chronic stress, or sleep deprivation, what's going on in your brain is likely to be closely tied to your procrastinating. We discuss those conditions in the next chapter, but first we want to summarize a few of the "big ideas" from recent developments in neuroscience, so that you better understand how your brain works. All of us can benefit from understanding this complex part of our body, and you can use this knowledge to bolster your efforts at overcoming procrastination.
BIG IDEA #1: YOUR BRAIN IS CONSTANTLY CHANGING
Scientists used to think our brain develops in a predictable, predetermined way: certain attributes are "hardwired" from birth, then the brain grows through childhood, peaks at about the age of eighteen, and it's all downhill from there. It is now absolutely clear that this is not true. Research has shown that your brain is a dynamic, living system that is constantly changing and being rewired until the day you die. The brain's ability to reorganize, break old neural links, and form new neural connections throughout life is referred to as "neuroplasticity." We now know that your brain changes every day: what you do today, for good or ill, affects the structure and function of your brain tomorrow. How does this happen?
Our lived experience activates our brain cells (neurons), sending electrical impulses from neuron to neuron, releasing biochemical signals and priming them to grow both in number and in connectedness to each other. As hypothesized by Sigmund Freud in 1888 and so aptly expressed by psychologist Donald Hebb in 1949, "Neurons that fire together, wire together." The more you do something, the more your brain responds to support that activity; it learns to do what is asked of it faster and better (whether it's good for you or not).
The brain is always changing. The good news is that it can generate new, flexible behavior. The bad news is that it can also strengthen old, rigid behaviors. This is called the "plastic paradox." The classic metaphor to describe getting stuck in old patterns is the image of sledding down a hill on fresh snow. The first time you sled downhill, there are many routes available. The more you go down your chosen path or one close to it, the more tracks you create and the deeper the tracks will be, until you are going down very quickly—but in a rut. In the brain, repetition means that we lay down "mental tracks," which, once established, "tend to become self-sustaining" and increasingly difficult to get out of. It takes a lot of conscious awareness and effort to interfere with old habits, to break recurring neural networks, but it can be done. Our book is intended to help you increase your conscious awareness of what you're doing and why you're doing it when you put things off, so that you can help your brain shift out of its ruts. Thinking about your procrastination in new ways and using the techniques we suggest for taking action can help you break old neural patterns of delay and develop new patterns of getting things done on time.