The reason so many people procrastinate isn’t that they lack discipline.
It has nothing to do with them being lazy.
“I have big goals. I know what to do. But when it’s time to act, I find myself scrolling through social media instead”
The problem is a fragmented self.
The problem with the fragmented self
We can view the self as being made up of these parts:
- Aspirational self: Holds your deepest goals and values.
- Mind: Thinks, creates, and seeks mental stimulation.
- Base self: Seeks pleasure, comfort, and fun.
- Physical self: Your body and its needs.
The aspirational self wants success. The mind wants interesting challenges. The base self just wants to relax.
When these desires clash, we procrastinate, waste time, and sabotage our goals.
The solution isn’t to fight ourselves in the name of “discipline” — it’s to bring these parts together.
Humanists understand this composition of the self, and they build systems to keep all the parts of the self in harmony — and this leads to the consistent generation of motivation and seamless progress being made on goals.
One such system is something called Self-Unification Action Cycling (SUAC).
Three types of activities that unify the Self
SUAC divides our daily activities into three categories.
1. Have To’s: Necessary to keep life in order or move toward our goals
These are activities that move us toward our ambitions, even when they’re boring, painful, or exhausting.
Like at times create social media posts for one of my brands is often a Have To task for me — but I just have to do for the business to grow.
For someone else it could be studying, cleaning your space, or even just thinking about how to solve a major problem in their life that they’ve been avoiding.
2. Want To’s: Stimulates and challenges our minds
These are activities we naturally love because they give our minds interesting challenges.
For example one of my Want To’s is language learning — discovering new words, constructing sentences, etc.
For you it could be solving a puzzle, or learning something cognitively challenging.
The key is for the Want To to be active and challenging, rather than passive — this is what also makes it so powerful in re-energizing you and creating powerful momentum that sets you up for the entire day.
Completing small mental challenges gets your mind active and gives you a sense of achievement — making it easier to tackle your planned activities.
3. Passive Want To’s: Gives us basic pleasure and relaxation
These activities satisfy our desire to relax and enjoy ourselves without much mental effort.
They should NOT be excessively stimulating or cognitive challenging.
For example: watching funny videos, browsing social media, taking walks, or just doing nothing.
The powerful cycling technique
Instead of forcing ourselves through hours of unpleasant work, SUAC cycles between small, atomic parts of these three activity types.
The cycle looks like this:
Want-to (priming) → Have-to → Want-to → Passive want-to (break) → Have-to → Repeat
For example here’s what a cycle might look like for me:
- Want To: Learn 5 new French words
- Have To: Pick topic for my social media post
- Want-to: Think about a deep philosophical question
- Passive want-to: Play a song I like.
- Have-to: Figure out the structure for my article.
I start with a stimulating mental challenge — building momentum that carries into my Have To’s.
Each Have To creates progress. Each Want To renews momentum. Each passive Want To gives us room to relax and resets the cycle.
A different way of viewing productivity
SUAC generates consistent motivation by satisfying the different parts of the self instead of forcing them into conflict.
The aspirational self gets progress. The mind gets stimulation. The base self gets pleasure. The physical self gets care.
The ultimate goal isn’t endless discipline — it’s a unified self working together toward your ultimate potential.