Greetings, SuperFriends!

Welcome to this week's episode, where we have a very special guest! In fact, today you are going to meet one of the members of my executive team, who just so happens to be an expert and thought leader on the topic of procrastination. His name is Dimitris Gkiokas (say that three times fast) and he has an incredible story which he shares throughout this podcast episode.

Dimitris is an award-winning podcaster, he runs the most successful podcast in Greece, he has his own business, and is a core member of the leadership team in my business. No one would look at someone with that much amazing stuff going on and realize that he is actually a recovering gaming addict – and I'm talking about an actual addiction, as you will see.

He is a recovering chronic procrastinator and is someone who has had an incredible journey just to be able to achieve a fraction of the things that he wants to achieve in life. So in this podcast episode, we talk about the incredible journey that Dimitris has gone through to be able to achieve so much, and what you can learn from it.

He shares how so many of us, many more than I think we realize, are also suffering from procrastination – maybe not as badly. But we are suffering from procrastination in our day to day lives. And he talks about how you can change your relationship to procrastination, and how you can overcome many of the negative effects.

I really enjoyed this episode. I've learned a lot from Dimitris around this topic and learned how even I, yes, even me, with the podcasts and the courses and the million other things going on, even I have a procrastination problem that I would be served to change.

Please enjoy!

-Jonathan Levi

Click here to grab a free copy of my new book, The Only Skill That Matters! I've purchased a lot of copies, and I want to send you one for free – I'm only asking for you to cover shipping costs. Click on the banner to find out more!

In this episode, we discuss:

• Who is Dimitris Gkiokas, what does he do, and how did he get here? [4:00]
• How did Dimitris sustain himself during his gaming addiction? [6:00]
• What were the consequences of Dimitris' gaming addiction? [7:10]
• When did Dimitris hit rock-bottom? [8:20]
• The difference between Dimitris' gaming addiction and his procrastination struggles [9:50]
• What was hiding behind Dimitris' gaming and procrastination addictions? [12:10]
• What are some other causes that are often hiding behind procrastination [14:30]
• Why do we still procrastinate even after doing the internal work? [16:00]
• Can we ever eliminate procrastination? [17:30]
• How do you get your procrastination under control? [18:50]
• When does procrastination become a problem? [23:30]
• The amazing strategy of precommitment [25:40]
• What is the most important step for dealing with your procrastination? [28:20]
• What is “productive procrastination”, and how does Dimitris' life look like now? [31:00]
• How Dimitris came to build a masterclass on procrastination [33:30]
• Where can you learn more about the upcoming course on procrastination? [37:30]
• Where can you learn more about Dimitris? [38:40]
• Dimitris Gkiokas' final takeaway message [39:30]

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Willpower Doesn't Work: Discover the Hidden Keys to Success by Benjamin Hardy
• kSafe
• The Brain Hacking Academy
• The Metalearners
• Learn more about our upcoming course on procrastination

Favorite Quotes from Dimitris Gkiokas:

Transcript:

Welcome to the award-winning SuperHuman Academy podcast where we interview extraordinary people to give you the skills and strategies to overcome the impossible. And now here’s your host, Jonathan Levi. 

Jonathan Levi: Hey, listen up and don't skip over this. Before we get started, I want to let you know that I am giving away completely free copies of my latest best selling book – The Only Skill That Matters. This book is going to teach you how to upgrade your memory, read faster, learn more, and conquer your dreams, and it contains all new content written for 2020. Now again, I am giving away completely free copies of this book, all you need to do is pay shipping and handling. So to pick up your free copy as a listener of this podcast, visit freelearningbook.com, that's freelearningbook.com.

Greeting, super friends and welcome. Welcome to this week's episode, where this week we have a very special guest. In fact, today you are going to meet one of the members of my executive team who just so happens to be an expert and thought leader on the topic of procrastination. His name is Demetrius . Say that three times fast, and he has an incredible story which he shares throughout this podcast.

Episode C. Most people today would not believe it. When they look at Dimitris. This award-winning podcaster has the most successful podcast in Greece, has his own business, and is a core member of the leadership team. In my business, no one would look at someone with that much amazing stuff going on and realize that he is actually a recovering gaming addict, and I'm talking addicts.

As you will see, he is a recovering chronic procrastinator. And as someone who has had an incredible journey, just to be able to achieve a fraction of the things that he wanted to achieve in life. So in this podcast episode, we talk about the incredible. Journey that Demetrius has gone through to be able to achieve so much and what you can learn from it.

He shares how so many of us, many more than I think we realize are also suffering from procrastination. Maybe not as badly, but we are suffering from procrastination in our day to day lives. And he talks about how you can change your relationship to procrastination and how you can overcome many of the negative effects.

I really enjoyed this episode. I've learned a lot from Demetrius around this topic and learn how even I, yes, even me with the podcasts and the courses and a million other things going on, even I have a procrastination problem that I would be served to change. So without any further ado, please welcome my dear friend Dimitris

Mr , how are you my 

Dimitris Gkiokas: friend? I'm doing pretty good. Jonathan, how about you? 

Jonathan Levi: I'm doing fine, man. I'm a, I'm relaxing, got my quarantine beard on. I got my sweat pants. So I'm, uh, I'm in kind of my happy place, but I'm really excited to talk about today's episode because I think what we're going to be talking about is really, really pertinent for a lot of people stuck at home right now.

And that's why we moved heaven and earth to get this episode out this week instead of three months in advance. And, uh, and I think we're going to, I think we're going to help people a lot today. So welcome. And I'm glad to have you here. 

Dimitris Gkiokas: Thank you and thank you for your very kind words and I'm really looking forward to giving people more information on today's topic, 

Jonathan Levi: which is, so before we go in, I'm going to keep people on the edge of their seat.

I think people have probably seen you heard of you because you work with us and you do the blog notes and many other things behind the scenes. But for those who don't know about you or maybe don't know about your story, I didn't know about your story when we started working together. Take me through.

This journey of how you came to be an expert in today's topic, which I guess we could tell them is procrastination. 

Dimitris Gkiokas: He pulled starts back in second grade. Yeah, that's soon. Uh, we were at school, I was in Athens, in Greece, and we had an English class, and as part of our weekly English class, we had to copy an English text, and that was to learn how to spell correctly and get used to writing in English.

And one fateful day, I just forgot to do that. Copy assignment. Remember I was a 70 year old and I forgot to do the copy assignment and they amazing thing happened. No one called me. No one never realized I didn't do my assignment. And as a, as a second grader, that really. Really surprised me. And I went the whole year after that without ever doing my copy assignment again, and I never got called.

So 

Jonathan Levi: you basically had a license to kill at this point. It's like exactly, 

Dimitris Gkiokas: exactly when it was still seven years old. I mean, that's too early to make this connection. You know that there are no consequences when you procrastinate effectively. So I took that. And I continued, I continued procrastinating throughout primary school, middle school, high school, college, and even in the early stages of my career with very, very severe consequences, unlike my, uh, second grade experience.

Um, but that wasn't the only problem. A little later on in life, I looked into gaming and then I got more into gaming and eventually I went full blown gaming addiction. Um, so until the age of 20, I would just gain more than 60 hours a day, pretty much. I didn't do anything else. I would just 

Jonathan Levi: 16 hours a day.

Dimitris Gkiokas: More than that. 20 hours. Yeah. 

Jonathan Levi: Wow. That's a proper addiction. How did you sustain yourself during that time? I mean, how did you like pay rent? 

Dimitris Gkiokas: I was still, you know, in my early college years and my high school year, so I was mostly supporting myself from my parents. There was a lot of guilt in me that I'm not doing anything and being supported by my parents, but that's how it was back then.

And you know, I would just eat one meal a day that I would order from, you know, from the restaurant or something. Um, and that's, that's how, that's what I did. I would eat one meal. I would game all day long. I would go to sleep, rinse and repeat. 

Jonathan Levi: Crazy. So I mean, really the only way I can even put that into context is thinking of it as an addiction, right?

It's like, and it's maybe it's one of these addictions that doesn't stand out to people as much. Like if you were doing meth and your teeth were falling out, people would have maybe stepped in and helped you. Because I think a lot of addictions are still closeted or are still. People will say, Oh, that's not a real addiction, you know, like exercise addiction or a food addiction to unhealthy food.

So tell me more about that. I mean, I imagine what, what were the repercussions like for you? Were there repercussions? 

Dimitris Gkiokas: Well, yeah. Everything in my life suffered. I mean, I was way overweight, way overweight. Um, my studies suffered actually, I didn't study anything adult for the first two years of college. Um, my relationships suffered.

And the problem was that everything in my life supported my gaming addiction. All of my friends were also addicted, and we were all gaming together all day long. So I had the community that supported my addiction, which is like the number one. Factor in addictions. And uh, there was another thing I was telling myself that I was going to be any sports professional athlete.

So in my head I was giving myself justifications for what I was doing. I was saying that what I do make sense because I have a goal, but at the same time, I now realize that back then I, I never did anything that would actually get me there. I was gaming all day long, but I wasn't doing deliberate practice or actually deliberately trying to, let's see, a very high level of 

Jonathan Levi: gaming.

How funny. So when did you know you hit rock bottom? I would love to hear, I don't know if you want to share, but I'd love to hear some instances where it's like, you know, this relationship ended or I got this grade, or I had this conversation like what were some of the signs for you that you were way out of control that you were hitting rock bottom.

Dimitris Gkiokas: That's a very good question. I think, um, the very first thing happened when I first realized I hated myself. That's a big statement to make, but I clearly remember calling myself a parasite for the first time. It goes, I was being sustained without doing anything. And that's happened after a 36 hour world of Warcraft session.

Jonathan Levi: Oh my gosh. You did 36, 36 hours. 

Dimitris Gkiokas: I was gaming. I was playing world of Warcraft for 36 hours in a row, and then went to sleep. Um, at the end of that, at the end of that, with the terrible mood that being tired gives you. I, for the first time felt like I hated my habits of gaming and that was an important, not turning point necessarily, but like that was an important point because I started talking to the people around me, telling them what am I doing with my life?

And I feel like if bar side, then I want something different. It took another year to actually change my gaming habit, but that was the point where I started having second thoughts. Got that make sense? 

Jonathan Levi: Yeah. Now I want to separate out, Demetrius, because we're talking about two things here. One of them is.

A very legitimate addiction, and one of them is procrastination. Can you break down for me a little bit the difference? Because I think people in the audience might be listening and going, well, I'm not addicted to, and I think we're all addicted. Right? And you and I have talked like, I'm addicted to TV. My favorite thing to do is turn on, on the weekend, I'll watch just, you know, 20 minutes of a Netflix explained documentary and it becomes watching the whole season.

So I have to have a lot of the controls around me. But yeah. Regardless of whether or not people are cognizant of the real life addictions that they suffer from. I think a lot of people go, well, my problem isn't, isn't addiction. It's just procrastination. What? Where did the two fit together? 

Dimitris Gkiokas: Okay, so exactly.

How's it? You said they are different and I think it's pretty clear in everyone's head whether they're different. Let's talk about where they are, why they are the same, or why they are similar. Gaming addiction, like almost every other addiction is not. The actual problem. It's a symptom, right? There's something inside, something deeper that gets you addicted or gets you, um, not doing what you want to be doing.

Right? What people don't. Yeah. So what people don't really know is that procrastination is most times, or I should say all times, is a symptom. It's not the actual problem. And I should know because when I stopped gaming. I felt I had sold all of my problems, but it took me one or two months to get addicted again.

Only now I was addicted to procrastination. Right. 

Jonathan Levi: And what was your next poison? 

Dimitris Gkiokas: Pretty much everything. Like I would do YouTube videos all day long and then I would do TV series and then I just partied all day long. I went through that phase. I did everything other than what I wanted to be doing. Yeah.

Well, let's see my goals, everything else. That 

Jonathan Levi: is a powerful statement I want, we're now doing quote cards for these episodes, so whoever, whoever's doing quote cards on our team, that's a powerful statement. I did everything except for what I wanted to be doing. Yeah, that's incredible. So talk to me about what the problem actually was because you just told us your problem was never a gaming addiction.

It was what caused the gaming 

Dimitris Gkiokas: addiction. Yeah. So the top layer of the problem was that I had associated at a young age that being a procrastinator meant no consequences, but at the deeper layer, I started researching after many years of trying to figure out what was wrong, and the first things I discovered were a very deep fear of failure.

Right. And then it very severe perfectionism that got me, you know. Uh, procrastinating very hard. But what I figured out, what I figured out over time is that there was a deeper layer on these two. And it will sound simple, but it wasn't really when I was 15 years old, I met a young kid and, uh, that kid did everything in his power to pick up together attention.

Right? And, uh, it would lie, it literally told me so a dragon. Uh, it was a Yankee and I can't really blame the kid, but at the time I saw in the kid and need, I had a need for attention from others are really, really needed to be liked. I'm an only child, didn't really have many young children in my childhood, so I had some deeper needs for attention.

And an amazing thing that happened at that point was that I identified with that kid. And I didn't like that. So at the tender age of 15 I realized I don't like myself. I literally did not like myself 

Jonathan Levi: at all. Oh, I can relate to that. 

Dimitris Gkiokas: I 

Jonathan Levi: share that. 

Dimitris Gkiokas: So not liking myself. Caused a whole ton of problems later on it, um, it was like a little voice in my head telling me that I'm not worthy, but that I should end up, if anything, that, um, it's much better to find a way to escape rather than actually do the work.

So that deeper negative set of feelings for myself, uh, which took a long, long time to deal with, to realize first to become aware of and then deal with. That was actually the true cause of problems underlying my gaming addiction than my procrastination addiction. 

Jonathan Levi: So could this problem have been any other problem?

Because I know you said procrastination is always just the symptom. And yet lots of people procrastinate. You know, most people I think procrastinate and uh, and not all of them. Hate themselves or dislike themselves. So what are some of the other causes that maybe people, other people are being victimized by?

Dimitris Gkiokas: So like, I'll go with the most common ones. First of all, we have low self esteem and low confidence. Self confidence, right? When you don't believe you're worthy, you don't really do the work. You don't really commit to doing the work industry procrastinate. Then I'd say the fear of failure that I said before, and the perfectionism are like two of the biggest triggers for procrastination.

And then I think another very big is that we constantly compare ourselves to other people, right? So what I'm saying right now is like the middle layer, there's usually a deeper layer why we compare ourselves to other people. But. The more we compare ourselves to others, the more we feel inadequate. And I guess it all comes down to that feeling inadequate and feeling like we are overwhelmed by what we have to do, that we're not capable of doing it, that we're not worth of achieving our dreams.

These are like the main reasons why we get to procrastinate. 

Jonathan Levi: Right. So it almost sounds like the solution to procrastination is just go see a therapist, but I know it's not anywhere near that simple. Yeah. So why is that? Why have we, why do we still procrastinate? Uh, even once we've done the work, I mean, it could it be that also sometimes the symptom of procrastination is the dissonance between what we say we want and what we actually want.

Could it be, you know, maybe that we don't enjoy the work that we're doing, things like that. 

Dimitris Gkiokas: Yeah. That's obviously a very important first layer. We procrastinate when we don't like what we're doing. Right? I never procrastinated on gaming when I was addicted and games. 

Jonathan Levi: Right? 

Dimitris Gkiokas: But I think the most important reason why we keep procrastinating even after we do some of the work is because procrastination is a habit.

Most of us think that procrastination is any native trait, that we are born to be intense procrastinators or other people are born to be extremely productive people. But that's simply not true. As, as I said, I know when my procrastination started and it wasn't in second grade. There is something similar for everyone that procrastinates and has procrastination as a habit.

So even after we do some of the work, we still have the habit of procrastinating. And unless we do the work on the habit, which I know in these podcasts there has have been a lot of conversations on habits. We do the work that seems to have be to actually change our procrastination. We need to figure out what our accuser, what our routines are, what our rewards are that make us continue doing that habit.

Jonathan Levi: So it really is about learning about our habits and changing it. Can we ever, can we ever completely eliminate procrastination? Is that even possible? 

Dimitris Gkiokas: Now we go. That's a very, very good question. And now we go to one of the biggest beefs I have with, uh, every work there is a procrastination. Practically. I think every, almost all things people say about procrastination are wrong because everyone approaches procrastination as an enemy.

We have to win over or add DCS. We have to cure. Right. So even saying that we want to eliminate procrastination completely is like their own way to see it. Because procrastination amidst other things can also be a useful thing. It can tell you that you know what you're working on is not what you want us to be working on, right?

I think there are two stages in overcoming procrastination, right? Eventually we want to get to a point where we have enough control over our behavior and our procrastination. That doesn't ever become a problem. We will procrastinate. Once in a while, but it won't ever be a problem. But to get there, we need Don self awareness dawns of trial and error and a lot of time years, and we can't afford to wait until we get to that point, right?

So my work on procrastination is all about what we can do in that first state. 

Jonathan Levi: So what can we do in that first stage? Walk me through it because you know, we, we went on a tangent from your story in the peak of. Really or I should say the trough, the Valley of your dark place. And, uh, and so tell me about the intermediary steps that you take to get things under control.

Cause I love this approach of yours. Two things I love about it. One is, is. So we're not all David Goggins, and we're not all Jocko Willink, and we can't all just say, I'm not going to procrastinate. You know, it's like that, uh, that clip that you see on the internet where the guy's like the five minutes psychiatrist, you know, a hundred a hundred percent money back guarantee.

I solve your problem in five minutes. People tell him the problem and his answer, he goes, just stop it. Stop it. You know, it's not, it doesn't work that way. And so I love this. Like, look, this is a fact. This is just like. You know, sexual desire, like you're not going to cure someone's sex addiction by telling them have no sexual desire.

You need to find that right balance because this is part of the human experience, this procrastination reality. And I also, what I love about it is you saying like, look. This is not one of those things. I mean, I'm the learning guy, right? So everything to me is like we need to find a way to, to get the benefits while we're learning and accelerate our progress.

But I love that. It's like, don't wait until you've mastered this to get the benefits, because then you're never going to go down this journey and path. The journey is too hard to wait to the end to get all those benefits and the cost is too high. So what are those. Intermediate steps to start figuring out and start solving our procrastination today, right now, because people are at home right now and it is easier than ever to procrastinate when you're working from home, I think.

Dimitris Gkiokas: Okay, so I'll answer your question in queue. This things sections, right? One is good we can do to eventually get to the second state. And the other is what we can do today to actually perform today if we need to. Right. Which is more short term for the long term. There is one piece of advice that has literally changed my life, and it's a quote actually, and it goes like this.

They'll key thing that you do is Mott's better than the perfect thing that you don't. And so for me changed my life because being a perfectionist on top of everything else, if I didn't feel something was out of the grid and as I didn't feel I was worthy, I never did anything. It kind of made sense if you think about it, but when I realized that doing something, even if it's not perfect, it's much better than not doing it at all.

And I started actually applying that. It literally changed my life. For example, let's say you want to start meditating. And you want to start meditating for 10 minutes a day and you can't write, you procrastinate on it. Start meditating for two minutes a day for one of many today. First of all, it will help build a habit and then it will get you some of the results.

And as I said, the okay thing that you do is much better than the perfect thing that you don't. 

Jonathan Levi: Absolutely. And that's so well backed by the scientific literature. I know you just like me are a student of psychology and neuroscience and habit change and behavior. We, you and I geek out so often on all the research and books.

And it's so deeply rooted that that is the way to build habits. And, and this, it sounds like from everything I'm learning from you, this is very much a habit that we have to learn over time to change. 

Dimitris Gkiokas: Yeah. 

Jonathan Levi: Incredible. Okay. What's the second piece? 

Dimitris Gkiokas: So still on the first piece, there's another thing, and that's.

The bar of deadlines, right? I mean, there's nothing more powerful for a procrastinator not having deadlines. We all have a story where we procrastinated on something until the very last mimic. And then we pulled a SuperHuman, which is a very fitting name on this podcast, and actually got everything done like a day or an hour or whatever.

So anyway, we can figure out to bring deadlines closer to us. That can help with getting work done. So that's another very big strategy using our of to do that. 

Jonathan Levi: Yeah, those are both really, really powerful. And I know there's a whole lot more. I've read your work, I've studied your work, so I know there's a whole lot more.

Dimitris Gkiokas: How do people 

Jonathan Levi: move towards option two and also I want to, before we go there, I want to point out, we're not just talking about chronic procrastinators who have an addiction here. We're talking about also the everyday. I mean, at what point is this enough of a problem where people should start implementing these solutions.

Because we all procrastinate. So at what point is it in the same way that, you know, we all notice attractive members of the opposite sex, even if we're in a committed relationship, like it's not a problem until it's a problem. When does this become a problem? 

Dimitris Gkiokas: I think at any point where we start feeling like we are not achieving what we want, or we're not doing what we want.

There are multiple levels on procrastination. There are people who just. You know, fall a little short on what they want to achieve. And there are people who feel like they're spectators in their own lives. For me, I think points where we feel like we're not doing what we want to be doing. That's a point where procrastination starts becoming a problem.

That's where it starts actually affecting our life. 

Jonathan Levi: That's huge. I mean by that definition, and I think our audience knows that I, I am by no means SuperHuman, which is why we originally called the podcast. You're coming SuperHuman not became SuperHuman, but by that definition, this is something I need to work on as well.

Because I would love to be much more talented at the piano to have much better conversation skills in Russian. You know, these hobbies and learning projects, and yet I to procrastinate, I'll end up playing piano two times a week max, and if I really wanted to get where I want to go, I would be playing every single day.

Dimitris Gkiokas: Yeah, I totally get what you're saying. Just let me say that there is something like a balance, right? You can't. Realistically expect of yourself to work all morning until the afternoon and then start the Russian and then learn how to play the piano and then do the other thing and never rest or relax or what it the meat that you enjoy watching.

Right? So you need to keep the bottle. And that's important in every, in everything, especially when you try to make, you know, sayings, this initiative, goals in life. Yeah. But on the sharp man, because I know you two are eager to hear about that part. The thing we can do on the sort term for our procrastination, let's say you have a project at work that you need to finish by the end of the week.

By the way, you should be doing that project right now and not listening to this podcast.

In that case. The strategy. The best strategy there is, it's called pre-commitment. Pre-commitment is all about committing when you're sober. Air quotes. To do the work, because you know, tomorrow, for example, you'll be procrastinating on it, right? So let's say right now you want to get this project done. You find ways to come meet right now.

So tomorrow you don't really have to worry about your procrastination. And there are many, many interesting ways to do that, right? And here, I love Benjamin Hardy's work. Uh, from his book, willpower doesn't work where he talks about forcing functions. And, um, for example, my dear life, I use a lot of them. Uh, first of all, we need to limit the distractions.

We need to turn off the notifications on our phone, turn off a TV, maybe throw the remote out of the window for a while, uh, or look ourselves in the room. These are things we can do to actually limit the cues that will get us into procrastination mode. Right? Then there are things like the case safe, which is a physical box where you can log for a specific amount of time and you can't really override it unless you break it, and that can be used in all sorts of creative ways.

You can look in your smartphone, your remote control, your PlayStation controllers, food, if that's your problem. It has really saved my life with gaming. Actually, even today, I still use it on a consistent basis. 

Jonathan Levi: That's awesome. Am I the one who told you about the case? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's awesome. I actually found about it from a hardcore pothead, believe it or not, that I invited to dinner.

She came with a friend and she was like, I discovered this new thing, so I don't smoke all my weed before the weekend, and I was like, Oh, here we go. And she told me about it and I, I've sent them to, I mean, Joe Polish uses it now near AI, Ben Hardy, I've sent it to, like, I literally sent hundreds of them all over the world since discovering it.

So thank you, anonymous pothead for revealing this thing to me. 

Dimitris Gkiokas: Thank you, Jonathan, for revealing it to me because it really, really helps, you know, because the physical things, it's amazing. Yeah, 

Jonathan Levi: absolutely. Absolutely. So it sounds like a lot of this journey really comes down and a lot of this podcast in general, this whole podcast in the broader sense, it comes down to knowledge of self and learning to work with yourself, learning to understand your triggers.

It sounds like there's a very clear process that we need to go through to really understand how we tick and then what makes us tick and what makes us not tick in this case. And solving. That piece by piece again, so that willpower is no longer an issue. 

Dimitris Gkiokas: Oh yeah. Sorry. I thought there was a question at the end of this a hundred percent you're absolutely right.

Might be a thing is awareness. In fact, the biggest thing I teach on procrastination is that more than half of the work is building awareness. You need to be aware of the problem to understand procrastination and what really triggers it. Then you need to apply that awareness to yourself. Why do you procrastinate?

What are your underlying triggers that gets you there? Is it the fear of failure? Is it perfectionism? Is it something else? And then since procrastination is a habit, we really need to work on building awareness on the parts that build a habit. What are the cues that get us into procrastination? That could be in a dedication on our phone.

That could be the smell of food in the kitchen. What are 

Jonathan Levi: could be something negative. A mail from someone we don't really like to interact with. 

Dimitris Gkiokas: Exactly. Exactly. It could even be a thought, which you can't really control that easily. That's why is true. That's why you need to also be aware of the next step, which are like the routines.

What do you do once you procrastinate? And I will say one of my favorite things right after this, when it comes to their things. For example, my biggest routine on procrastination is gaming. If I go into gaming, given today, I've lost the day. It's really, really scary sometimes. So all of my forcing functions, or almost all of my first in functions are in place.

So I limit myself from games. And that works wonders because that's my big procrastination routine. And almost everyone has their own big procrastination routine. 

Jonathan Levi: Oh, yeah. Oh, I know mine already.

Netflix is one of them. I've got a few other ones I'm even less proud of. They're not bad. They're not, you know, internet porn or anything like that. But, uh, I like some funny video websites and some, you know, just junk, garbage, complete garbage. Um. So do we just give us the, the after picture, because I meant to go into it a little bit before, but you are a self proclaimed, you know, chronic procrastinator and recovering video game addict, and yet you've, you've achieved quite a bit.

Uh, what did it look like turning your life around and, and what are, what have you done since then and been able to do that you're most proud of? 

Dimitris Gkiokas: Yeah. So I, um, actually first of all, developed a ton of skills while procrastinating. And that's one of the most unexpected things anyone has ever heard them.

Procrastination with sculpted, productive procrastination. Where I, um, when you know what, sometimes you will procrastinate no matter how much you control your procrastination. So what do you do when you procrastinate really matters. Going into YouTube and what's in cat videos is way worse than actually learning how to code while you procrastinate.

I'm studying math, right? And that's what I did. Most of the skills I build, I build them while procrastinating on something else. So when it was, I think the procrastination, I didn't know it. I didn't know about it then, but I developed a lot of skills that later on click together, and that way I managed to build.

I now am the cohost and cofounder of the most successful Greek podcast on self-improvement called the brain, the brain hiking Academy. I found it a few different. Thank you. Thank you. I found it a few different businesses. Uh, the most notable of which is my main brand, the metal learners on their weights.

I now do most of my work work on procrastination, and I'm also a core member of your team in SuperHuman Academy, which is where I've learned so many things. I'm very grateful for that. I want to say that on the air, and it thinks to you that I've also been able to go to the next step. We've been together for two and a half years now, approximately.

Yeah, 

Jonathan Levi: definitely. I did not know that you were a chronic procrastinator until I read through your work and, uh, and the course that you created and I was like, huh, should I be worried? And then I was like, well, I never noticed any procrastination before. Uh, so that's definitely a Testament that what you have done, uh, certainly, certainly works.

And you've definitely done the research. You've done the trial and error, you've done the practice, and you have a lot to say and a lot to teach on the topic. 

Dimitris Gkiokas: Um. 

Jonathan Levi: You and I worked together. Mostly. You worked. I helped, uh, you know, 

Dimitris Gkiokas: yeah. 

Jonathan Levi: Add the SuperHuman Academy touch, but you and I worked together on a course.

Tell the audience a little bit about that course. Uh, I know they can't actually buy it right now, but that's about to change pretty soon for a very limited time. 

Dimitris Gkiokas: Yeah. Um, so. As I said, I figured out at some point that most things people teach about procrastination our own, and they are wrong because they start from their own angle.

And it was very, very frustrating to me before anyone else, as I tried to solve my procrastination with that advice. And I started a lot of things over over the course of many years and nothing worked. And that was the most demotivating and memorializing thing ever. So when I figured it out. I really wanted to help people.

And I started really small. I healed the people around me, and I saw the impact that these mindsets saved on procrastination made to people. So I decide to share that with the world. And I started creating a course. Um, I have you in my life, thankfully. So I was able to put aside my perfection. Knowing that you, uh, helped me with that.

So thank you for that. And we built and masterclass on procrastination effectively, right? And it goes through everything with that stock. It goes through what procrastination needs was the science behind it. It goes really nitty gritty into how to build awareness on our procrastination. And then we're talking about all the strategies on how to work around your procrastination in the longterm and how to actually beat it in the sorter.

So you can do the work today. Um, and then, you know, the, at the end that we really talk about how to maintain that momentum in your life going forward. So effectively we built the course. I wish I had all these years. 

Jonathan Levi: Yeah. Yeah. And it, it definitely delivers on that. Who do you think is the right audience for this course?

I mean, uh, again, it, we talked about at what level. People should maybe intervene in their own procrastination. But who do you think is the right, the right audience for this? 

Dimitris Gkiokas: I may be a little biased 

Jonathan Levi: maybe, 

Dimitris Gkiokas: but I took, when I talk about procrastination, I ask people, what percent of the world do you think are procrastinators?

And most people will answer something like 8% or something like that. But the truth is for my research and not only for my research, every single one of us is a procrastinator. What we sometimes don't realize is that we don't procrastinate on our work. So some people do get work done, but everyone procrastinates on something.

It could be building a good relationship. It could be working on their body. It could be executing on an idea that's not their main work. It could be getting out of a toxic relationship. Everyone procrastinates on something that would make a huge difference in their life. So I think. Everyone, every single person can benefit from working with their procrastination.

That's the journey of building that awareness of yourself and your thoughts and your feelings and your deeper motivators. Not alone contains your life. Nevermind solving procrastination. 

Jonathan Levi: I would agree. And, and although I've obviously already been through the course and helped produce it, uh, I'm excited to go through it as a student and implement more of what is in the course.

Cause there's a lot of worksheets, a lot of content. Uh, that's very hands on that to help people and empower them without needing to spend, uh, five decades at a, at a shrink, just solve some of the underlying issues that, that are causing their procrastination. Now. People can't actually buy this course right now.

It is not publicly for sale. We are only going to be making it available for a very short time next week when this episode comes out. So in may. Of 2020. Where can people go? I think we haven't set this up yet, but, uh, maybe we've procrastinated setting this up. Just kidding. But where can people go to sign up and get notified when this becomes available?

Do you know what our, uh, our opt in page is going to be for that. 

Dimitris Gkiokas: So I, we don't know that right now because we've procrastinated. Donate a little bit. That's true. But, uh, seriously talking. Aye, let's go to superhumanacademy.com/procrastination. Sounds good. I think we'll set that up to get you wherever you need to go to get notified for the course when it launches and before we actually open.

Open the the course and you can enroll in it. We'll probably do some content extra Connor procrastination, so make sure you don't miss that 

Jonathan Levi: too, right? Yeah. I mean, we have that call after this call. It's important to us and know we're doing this podcast weeks in advance, so we really haven't actually procrastinated, but we have a call next to talk about how we can deliver.

Three free training sessions and free masterclasses and all kinds of free Q and A's and free content. So people definitely don't want to miss out on that. Uh, but you do need to go ahead and notify us if you want to be made aware. So make sure to do that. Folks. superhumanacademy.com/procrastination is going to be the answer.

And Demetrius, where can people reach out and learn more about you? See your credentials. Maybe if they are a, a Greek. A speaker, they can check out your podcast. 

Dimitris Gkiokas: And so, uh, my website is the metal learners.com. Uh, you can go there. You can find a lot of my articles and you can contact me through there. And, uh, for Greek speaking people, my podcast is called the brain hiking Academy.

And you can check it out as well, but it's in Greek. So sorry to everyone who's not the Greek speaker. 

Jonathan Levi: Fair enough. Well, there's a learning project. Go ahead and learn some Greek Dimitris before I let you go and thank you. I do want to ask if people take away one big message from this podcast episode and they carry it with them for the rest of their lives, no pressure.

What would you hope for that to be. 

Dimitris Gkiokas: Thankfully I had time to repair for that question. Right. And I'll, I'll go back to the big, big quote, big mantra, maybe I should call it that I live my life by the okay thing that you do is much better than the perfect thing that you don't. This is a piece of advice that can be applied to almost everything, and it's just procrastination.

And it will lead early teens. Your life. Ozzy tanks mine. 

Jonathan Levi: Incredible. Dimitris, thank you so much for coming on the show. It's been an absolute pleasure and I'm really excited about all the free trainings we're going to be doing, so meet you, man. 

Dimitris Gkiokas: I hope people will very much for having me. Um, this was amazing.

And, uh, I'm looking forward to talking to you a little bit after this one. 

Jonathan Levi: Likewise. 

Dimitris Gkiokas: Thank you. 

Thanks for tuning in to the award winning SuperHuman Academy Podcast. For more great skills and strategies or for links to any of the resources mentioned in this episode, visit SuperHuman.blog. While you're at it, please take a moment to share this episode with a friend and leave us a review on iTunes. We'll see you next week!