Fighting Procrastination Effectively
Procrastination is something that all of us face at some points, whether it is starting that big project for work or school or staying consistent with a passion project or habit. Because procrastination is such a common phenomenon in today's world, I wanted to take a look into why procrastination occurs to explain why it is so common, the different types of procrastination, and most importantly how to prevent and fight it.
Although I have written about this topic previously, I think it is valuable to do a refresh and it is hopefully a topic that will be of use to you as well.
I hope you can gain something useful out of today's post and please share it with anyone else if it has in some way helped you out.
WHY DO WE DO IT?
Procrastination is an interesting yet irrational phenomenon which is shared among all of us, because when we procrastinate we consciously do something else other than what we are supposed to, knowing that this avoidance is in the long term not good for us, yet we still do it.
So whats the real reason behind it?
Researchers (Lieberman, 2019) have suggested that procrastination occurs not because of our poor ability to manage our time but instead as a way of coping with challenging and negative emotions and moods in the moment that have been induced by certain tasks. Emotions which we like to ignore and instead use procrastination to cope with them include boredom, anxiety, frustration, self-doubts, insecurity, and resentment.
Therefore, to put it simply, procrastination is an issue grounded in emotional regulation rather than time management.
Researchers Dr. Pychyl and Dr. Sirois explained procrastination as “the primacy of short-term mood repair … over the longer-term pursuit of intended actions”, meaning that procrastination is about being focused on the immediate urgency of removing negative emotions and mood instead of actually doing the task.
Now you might be asking yourself where these negative feelings towards the task come from and why do they occur? Well, our aversion to the task at hand may be due to there being something inherently unpleasant about the task itself like cleaning a dirty bathroom or doing a task which seems very tedious and unpleasant to us. Additionally, a task can be aversive to us when the task at hand brings up negative feelings from within us such as self-doubt, a lack of self-esteem, or anxiety, which happens often, for example, when we are staring at a blank document and are wondering whether we have what it takes to produce the required piece of work.
What makes procrastination such a hard habit to break?
The catch is that when we procrastinate and eventually stop to return to the initial task at hand, we are faced with even more negative emotions than at the start, where we are likely to judge ourselves for procrastinating in the first place. This may further lower our mood and self-esteem while spiking our anxiety and stress, causing us to procrastinate more and more, since procrastination provides temporary relief from negative emotions.
Additionally, since procrastination provides that temporary time of relief, this relief is what makes the cycle especially vicious since it signals to your brain that you are being rewarded for procrastinating and delaying the task at hand. In behavioral biology and sciences, it is well-known that whatever causes us to feel good or get a sense of reward from doing it, we will do more of it, which is exactly why we fall into chronic loops of procrastination.
The present bias issue
Procrastination is also a great example of a phenomenon called the “present bias,” which is our hardwired human tendency to prioritize short-term needs over long-term ones. This is also what many social media algorithms exploit to keep us more addicted through instant gratification.
Although us humans have a large prefrontal cortex as opposed to other animals and mammals, we are still very much hardwired for prioritizing our needs in the present, which is something we need to be aware of and continuously aim to delay instant gratification.
Brain imaging studies have shown that on a neural level, “we perceive our future selves more like strangers than parts of ourselves,” meaning that when we procrastinate, it is the equivalent of thinking that the task we are putting off and all the accompanying negative feelings are somebody else's problem and not ours.
To further add to the issue, we are even less able to make sound and thoughtful future-oriented decisions when we are stressed, which occurs in the presence of needing to do challenging or aversive tasks. In these situations, we feel stressed, anxious, or insecure, where the emotional center in our brain, the amygdala, perceives all of these negative emotions as a genuine threat to our overall well-being or self-esteem. This causes the amygdala's number one priority in the present moment to reduce those negative emotions, which again is where procrastination falls perfectly into the puzzle. This phenomenon is called the “amygdala hijack.”
TYPES OF PROCRASTINATION
Believe it or not, there are actually many different types of procrastination, classified based on different reasons for why we put off doing things:
Avoidance: Here the idea is that you believe you are not good enough or skilled enough to complete the given task or activity at hand. Here there is also an intense fear of failure and of making mistakes, where this fear of being judged or making mistakes is strong enough to stop someone from doing the task.
Thrill-Seeking: Interestingly, some people procrastinate because they find enjoyment in leaving things to be done at the last minute, where this actually gives them some kind of adrenaline rush and a sense of excitement. Some people actually work best in this way.
Perfectionism: While having high expectations and standards is fine, this sense of obsession can be overdone to the extreme with perfectionism, where in this case, we might constantly be looking and double-checking that email that we wrote or the proposal, or running over the dialogue we will have with our boss. While all of these activities may seem productive in the moment, they are actually not helping us with completing the task but instead delaying it and procrastinating about it. Often times, done is better than perfect.
Distraction: This kind of procrastination occurs whenever our attention and focus are drawn away from the task at hand, towards something else more exciting and stimulating in our environment, such as responding to a notification or opening up a new computer tab to do some online shopping instead. We need to decide for ourselves what activities we are willing to tolerate both in our home and work environments and then decide which activities we consider as distractions, which are the activities we want to minimize.
Head in the Sand: This might be based on some sort of fear mechanism, but the head in the sand approach simply means that the person does not want to do the task at hand. Instead, they choose to ‘stick their head into the sand’ and pretend like the task doesn't exist or that it's someone else's responsibility.
HOW TO FIGHT IT
You have to foremostly realize that procrastination is, at its core, not an issue about being bad at time management or general productivity but instead about how we handle our emotions. This entails that productivity cannot be solved by downloading some productivity app or time management software alone but instead requires us to better understand and manage our emotions.
When it comes to habitual tasks, our brains are always looking for relative rewards, meaning that if we have developed a habit of procrastination and have not given our brain a better reward than procrastination itself (remember: it relieves negative emotions), then our brain will continue doing the habit over and over until we give it something better to do.
This is why, in order to rewire almost any bad habit, we have to give our brains a better reward than simple avoidance, more specifically a reward that can relieve our challenging feelings in the moment without causing harm to our future selves. The difficulty here is that with procrastination, there is an infinite number of potential substitute actions for avoidance, which could, in the end, still be considered a form of procrastination. This is why the solution has to come from within ourselves and be internal instead of being externally rooted.
As an example, if you are currently struggling with procrastination, an internal solution might be to motivate yourself to get started on the task by reminding yourself of how much relief and ease you will feel afterward once the task is done. This would likely work, as we are responsible for our own motivation and subsequent progress.
Practical Advice for Fighting Procrastination
Forgive Yourself for Procrastination:
In a 2010 study, scholars discovered that students who practiced self-forgiveness for procrastinating during their preparation for an initial exam demonstrated a reduced tendency to procrastinate when preparing for subsequent exams. The researchers inferred that embracing self-forgiveness facilitated increased productivity by enabling individuals to overcome maladaptive behaviors, allowing them to concentrate on forthcoming examinations unencumbered by the weight of past actions.
Cultivate Self-Compassion:
The practice of self-compassion involves treating oneself with kindness and understanding in the face of mistakes and failures. Dr. Sirois' 2012 study highlighted a correlation between stress, low self-compassion, and procrastination, emphasizing that self-compassion acts as a protective buffer against negative reactions to self-relevant events. Numerous studies indicate that self-compassion not only reduces psychological distress, a key contributor to procrastination, but also actively promotes motivation, enhances self-worth, and nurtures positive emotions such as optimism, wisdom, curiosity, and personal initiative. Importantly, self-compassion does not rely on external factors, requiring only a commitment to facing challenges with acceptance and kindness instead of dwelling on regret. Reframing tasks by considering positive aspects and envisioning successful outcomes can further contribute to cultivating self-compassion in addressing procrastination.
Increase Your Curiosity and Awareness:
Whenever you feel yourself being tempted to procrastinate, slow down for a little and become aware of what is causing those feelings or temptations to arise. Think about what tempts you to procrastinate and how you feel when you are about to procrastinate. What emotions are you trying to ignore?
Consider the Next Smallest Step You Can Do:
It is common advice to break down a large task into several smaller ones, which makes the whole task seem a lot less daunting and intimidating, ensuring that we follow through and get it done. Additionally, don’t wait to be in the mood or to be motivated to do a certain task. Instead, motivation is a result of action. Get started, and you’ll find your motivation follows.
Make Your Temptations More Inconvenient:
The point is to create more friction and less convenience towards tasks that tempt and distract us, ensuring that we do less of those and instead making tasks and habits that are beneficial for us as easy as possible to do and implement.
Create Accountability:
If you struggle with discipline or consistency, it might be helpful to think about some external sources of accountability, such as doing work together with a friend or tracking your focus or work/study progress with external software. Experiment with what works for you and what keeps you on track.
KEY IDEAS
In todays blog post we are discussing everything related to procrastination: Why it happens, the different types of procrastination as well as how to best combat it and prevent it in the future.
REFERENCES
Procrastination: A brief guide on how to stop procrastinating. (2022, August 31). James Clear. https://jamesclear.com/procrastination
Boyes, A. (2023, April 4). How to stop procrastinating. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2022/05/how-to-stop-procrastinating
Laurence, E. (2023, July 13). What Is Procrastination? Why It Happens And How To Overcome It. Forbes Health. https://www.forbes.com/health/mind/procrastination/
Brower, T., PhD. (2021, December 30). 11 Ways To Procrastinate Less: Surprising New Research. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2021/12/30/11-ways-to-procrastinate-less-surprising-new-research/
MSEd, K. C. (2022, November 14). What is procrastination? Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/the-psychology-of-procrastination-2795944#:~:text=Procrastination is the act of,minute%2C or past their deadline.
Lieberman, C. (2019, March 27). Why you procrastinate (It has nothing to do with Self-Control). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/smarter-living/why-you-procrastinate-it-has-nothing-to-do-with-self-control.html
PROCRASTINATION: Why We Do It & How To Stop It
WHAT IS PROCRASTINATION?
I am sure that if you are reading this right now, you are familiar with procrastination and might be finding that it is creeping into your life a little too often than you would like. Don’t worry, we have all been there, including me. Procrastination is becoming more and more of a common waste of our time, alongside the rising levels of distractions that are found within our environment and our own minds. I am convinced that most of us would like to be procrastinating less - since procrastination leads to basically no productive output- so how can we take control of our procrastination and not let it control our lives instead?
Before we start out, lets just briefly go through what procrastination is actually formally defined as being.
Here is the definition for it:
⇒ Procrastination is the deliberate practice of postponing events, tasks, and activities for some later time, while occupation our present time with unnecessary work that keeps us busy.
Therefore we can see that procrastination by nature does nothing good for us, so why do so many people struggle with it today and how do we fix that?
WHY WE PROCRASTINATE?
The reasons why we procrastinate can firstly be explained from a biological/ psychological perspective, where we can see that procrastination is an issue that arises from incorrectly regulating our emotions, instead of it being the commonly though problem of time management. Secondly, we can try and explain procrastination through a more in-depth perspective, that deals with linking our emotions to our actions.
BIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL REASONS:
Our brains are wired for short term gratification
This means that biologically we are more likely to make a decision that will bring an immediate positive reward to us, instead of working on something more long term for a great reward down the line. Short term gratification means that we want results and rewards immediately after an action, but that is often not the case with doing any type of work.
Work usually follows the pattern of starting the work, completing it, and only after some time, seeing results that are due to our input of effort. Because of this delay in reward and results, it makes starting work that much harder.
Easy work → Shorter completion time: Reward is smaller but immediate
Hard work → Longer completion time: Reward is greater, but not immediate
You would naturally prefer to scroll through social media to get immediate hits of dopamine, instead of starting a difficult piece of work and getting the same hit of dopamine much later.
Short term gratification is not only one of the main reason to blame for procrastination, but it also negatively impacts our decision-making abilities in all other aspects of life, where we risk losing much more valuable opportunities and larger rewards in the future, for doing easier works that immediately satisfies us.
Our brains like to save energy whenever possible
It is also a fact that even though our brains are of not great size, they can take up to 20% of our daily energy expenditure, which is exactly why they want to be the most energy-efficient they can. Because they need a lot of energy to be powered, they want to make sure that energy is used the best it can be, so that the least amount is wasted. In other words, they are wired for efficiency.
This exactly explains why it is much more daunting and harder for us to get started on a task that requires more energy, focus, and though; because it requires more energy from our brain.
The trick as to how to combat this issue has to do with how to trick our brain into not being afraid or daunted by initiating hard work but instead wiring it to start liking to perform difficult tasks.
Our own personal qualities and external factors
Whether we procrastinate is also linked to our own personal qualities and in what amounts we have them, as well as external factors in our environment that will cause or influence those qualities.
Some of these qualities and external factors include:
Our self-control
Our motivation
Demotivating and hindering factors
Examples: Rewards being far way int he future, feeling overwhelmed, anxiety, perfectionism, fear of failure, perceived lack of control, depression, lethargy
With these three factors, we can sum up procrastination in the following equation:
If Demotivating + Hindering factors > Self control + Motivation ⇒ Procrastination will result
REASONS FOR RESISTANCE
Other than biological reasons we can also try and explain procrastination from the perspective of resistance, where anytime that we try and start or complete an extensive and difficult task, we have four main sources of resistance that determine how likely we are to procrastinate on something:
Difficulty: Task is too hard OR too easy
Interest: Task is very interesting OR boring
Ambiguity: Task is specific and clear OR undefined and ambiguous
Motivation: Task is meaningful (motivating) OR un-motivating
If we can correctly manage these four levels that determine the likeliness of us procrastinating, it will be much easier for us to get started on the task and as a result, get it done. However, if we do not manage these factors, we will be much more prone to succumbing to procrastination and falling into the trap hole of it that may of us find too familiar.
QUITTING PROCRASTINATION
PRACTICAL STEPS:
Become aware of when you are procrastinating
Identify why you procrastinate (Rationalization of actions)
Identify your sources of procrastination
Implement anti-procrastination strategies (Mentioned below)
ANTI PROCRASTINAITON STRATEGIES:
Get into a flow state:
As I mentioned before, flow is a state that is the optimal balance between a task not being too boring and not being too difficult, allowing us to function at peak performance. We can ease ourselves into a flow state by adopting the two-minute rule that says that if a task will take us less than two minutes to complete we should do it right away and get it off our minds. The second way we can enter flow is by splitting up larger tasks into smaller time chunks such as 5 or 15 minutes, which will make the overall task seem less daunting and will encourage us to keep doing the task even after the time mark we set for ourselves.
Task management
Specifying a task and splitting it into smaller manageable subtasks: This creates less resistance towards starting the task and makes us more likely to fully finish the task because we know exactly what has to be done.
Determining "next steps": Get into the habit of immediately after completing a task, to determine "next steps" or follow up tasks that are not necessarily supposed to be done immediately, but prevent us from procrastinating in the future whenever we are working on the same task.
Categorizing your tasks: This allows you to micromanage your tasks by grouping them into 3-5 generalized categories, such as "work", "school", "leisure" etc, which allows you to have a more simplified overview of your work and what categories take up the majority of your time.
Task Prioritization:
Urgency/ importance
Difficulty
Our focus/ energy levels
Our current situation (Resources and people on hand)
Environment design
Your environment plays a large role in terms of your work habits and works ethic, which is why it is really important to keep your environment clean and free from any unwanted distractions such as technology, irrelevant work, or loud notifications. By keeping our environment as much distraction-free as we can, we will be less tempted to procrastinate and it will tell our brains that this specific space is associated with work and not with scrolling on your phone, allowing you to get a task done sooner.
Energy management
You want to first ensure that you are recharging your energy levels well and frequently by getting adequate sleep every night, eating energizing foods, and staying active to keep your brain alert. Whenever you feel a burst of energy/ inspiration/ motivation to work, use it on your most difficult and time-consuming tasks as those require most mental/ physical energy, allowing you to finish that task with optimal performance and obtain great results from it.
Setting deadlines
Setting time limits for our projects and tasks is crucial because it creates a sense of urgency for the task to be done, which makes it more likely for us to put our mental capacity to use at that time and get the work done. This idea is based on "Parkinson’s law", which states that work fills the time allocated to it. This means that if you set aside one hour to do a certain piece of work, psychologically you are going to try your best to complete the task in the given time frame, while if you were to only say "I want to complete this task sometime today", it means you could spend an unnecessary amount of time on a single piece of work, leaving your schedule even busier and less time for leisure and relaxation.
Setting end rewards
Not only does setting rewards for completing work stimulate the development of a habit loop, as it rewards to encourage our brain to repeat an action, but it also gives us something to loop word to and as a result work faster, with more motivation and more efficiency - all ultimately allowing us to avoid procrastination in the future.
CONCLUSIVE ADVICE
While procrastination is a common practice today, due to both biological/ physiological factors as well as external factors in our environment, it is crucial that we take procrastination under our control and replace it with higher quality tasks that fill our life with meaning.
While at the moment, doing nothing and just mindlessly scrolling through never-ending content sources may be amusing, in the long terms it is getting us nowhere and is likely also negatively impacting both our mental and physical health as well. All in all, procrastination is never a long term solution, since with it we only miss valuable opportunities and unique life lessons that we would learn along with them.
I hope that with the above tips and advice on how to reduce/ stop your procrastination, you are able to find more balance between your work and your personal endeavors while maintaining a clear and focused state of mind.
Top 10 Productivity Tips
Everyone likes the idea of being productive, however many of us fall into the traps of procrastination and distractions, that hinder us from becoming the best version of ourselves. Here are my personal top ten tips that will boost your productivity, work output and efficiency.
TIP 1: Time Tracking
Tracking your time is more than just a productivity tip; It enables you to identify how long it actually takes you to finish a task and it also encourages you to fully focus on the task at hand without any distractions, ultimately leading to a higher quality piece of work.
The Pomodoro time tracking technique is very popular, where you work for 25minutes, have a break for 5 minutes and repeat. However, if you feel that you can maintain focus for more than 25 minutes, go ahead, just do not neglect to have breaks in between.
Tracking the time you spend on tasks can be done by simply setting a timer on one of your devices or installing time tracking software which can automatically start and stop timing when taking a break.
Some of my favourite time tracking software:
Toggl (Individual and group tracking)
Focus keeper (Pomodoro style)
Emphasis (Pomodoro style)
Forest (Paid application)
TIP 2: Eliminate Distractions
A crucial aspect of keeping focused is putting aside all potential distractions, which prevent you from entering a "flow state", which is defined as a “optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best" by the author of the book Flow, Mihály Csíkszentmihályiwhich.
Methods of avoiding distractions include:
Muting notifications
Placing your devices in less convenient places
Setting time for focus and time for taking a break
Use website/ internet blockers (Eg: Freedom and Cold Turkey Blocker)
TIP 3: Stay Energized
For us to be able to execute a task well, we must be physically and mentally in shape first before we can fully commit to doing it. If we neglect any of the daily biological necessities that keep our minds sharp and our bodies in shape, we firstly see a decline in our focus, motivation and clarity of thinking, which inevitably leads to lower productivity - something that we do not want.
It is also important to mention that the neglect of one of these essential caretakers (such as sleep) will lead to us having even less energy and motivation to complete other important habits (such as exercising), clearly resulting in a vicious cycle that is hard to stop.
Ways of energizing ourselves:
Sleep minimum 7-8 hours each night
Eat a varied, balanced and whole-foods based diet
Try and get in at least 30 minutes of exercise per day
Being out in fresh air
Taking a nap in the middle of the day
Replacing sugary drinks with water
Meditation
TIP 4: Plan out Your Day In Advance
By planning the following day the night before, you instantly know exactly all the things you have to get done that days so you waste less time deciding what to fit and not to fit onto your to-do list.
When planning your day ahead I would plan for:
Small and large tasks and projects I have to start or complete (in order of priority)
How you will avoid and deal with potential distractions and issues
How long you will spend on those tasks and then using a timer to track the time spent
What resources will I need to get those tasks done in time
TIP 5: Task Prioritization
It is not only important to consider what you add onto your to-do list but also which tasks are most important to get done for that day. This way you at least know that if you completed your highest priority tasks, you did the most important work.
Often times we like to start with the tasks that are shortest and require last effort, making them lowest priority tasks, but if we take time to consider how we will tackle and complete larger, higher priority tasks, we will get much more satisfaction and reassurance that the hardest work has been done already.
Prioritize tasks based on:
Importance and effort needed (proximity to a deadline)
Amount of time needed
In the case that we feel overwhelmed by the number of tasks we have on hand, it is an important skill to learn when to say "no" to opportunities. We should say "no" to opportunities when we know we have too much on our plate for another task, when the task will not bring much value or opportunity to our life or when we do not find the opportunity interesting because we have other more interesting occupations already.
TIP 6: Avoid Multitasking
This is again something that links to the idea of a "flow state", whereby multi-tasking we are not applying an equal amount of focus to the tasks we are doing simultaneously, but we are instead only diverting our attention when ever we switch to a new task. This way all of the tasks that we are multitasking on will be of lower quality and it will even take us longer to complete those tasks as our attention is continuously distracted.
In creative fields specifically, where a lot of idea generation and periods of extended focus are needed, I would try and limit the amount of multitasking, but instead, try and complete tasks one after another in their order of priority.
The only times when I would require multitasking:
When doing a repetitive task
When doing a task that does not require creative thinking
When doing a task that we are highly familiar with and not much thinking is required
TIP 7: Break Up Large Tasks
Often when starting a large project-based task, we feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work that lies ahead of us so we don't even feel like starting because we don’t even know where to start with the task.
To overcome this issue, I recommend dividing you larger task into smaller more tangible tasks that will still make progress towards your larger task but will not overwhelm you.
When splitting up a task, I would consider the following:
What is the end goal/ result of me doing this smaller task?
How long will it realistically take me to finish each small task?
When is the deadline for the whole task to be completed?
How much effort and resources will each small task cost me?
TIP 8: Identify Your “Why”:
You should always have a reason for doing something, a larger intention that stands behind your actions, otherwise, what’s the point of doing anything?
Identifying the reason behind doing something is not always the easiest thing, so before starting, ask yourself:
Why am I doing this task?
What will I get out of it by completing it?
Who am I doing the task for? (Myself or someone else)
By clarifying your intention behind each task, you also create the underlying factor of motivation that powers you through the task and allows you to keep the end goal in sight, increases the chances of you finishing the task and at the end, also makes you more proud of what you have completed thus far.
TIP 9: Set Realistic And Achievable Goals
Unlike the last tip, this point focuses on the output value of the tasks you do in the form of setting goals that guide and allow you to complete the task in the first place.
Purpose of setting goals:
Guide us in the general right direction
Motivate us to work towards something
Defining what is "enough" for us and when to stop with something
However I do want to clarify, that while goals are important, it is important to not keep them in our foresight all the time, but instead, we should be using them as an every so often reference point to check that we are headed in the right direction.
Because goals should be specific and well defined, there are different types of goals for this purpose:
Progress goal: I want to improve my piano playing skills
Numerical goal: Focus on reaching a certain number/ figure (Eg: I want to save up X amount of money by the end of the year)
System goal: A output shcedule that you follow on a regular basis (Eg: I will go to the gym 3x per week)
I believe that focusing on numerical goals is not a good long term solution, as they are often unrealistic which leads us to be disappointed if we don't achieve them. On the other hand, a progress or system goal allows you to stay more committed to your goal as a long term solution and makes sure that you are headed in the right direction.
When setting goals, it is important to consider:
How will I achieve my goal: What steps will I take towards completing it?
How long will it take me to complete it: When is the deadline?
How will I measure my goal: How will I know that I have completed my goal?
What resources will I need: Physical resources, time, money, energy, social connections
How will I stay commited to my goal: Being accountable to someone or reminding myself?
TIP 10: Just Start and Don’t Complicate
As simple as it sounds, it can’t be overstated that the only way to get something done, is just by starting it. We often procrastinate from starting a task by doing excessive planning and thinking about starting, but then we never actually end up starting.
Its always easier to dream about, plan and think about starting than putting in the actual effort of starting
By just starting and acknowledging that no one is perfect when they initially start out, it frees your mind from judgement and self-doubt that is often faced when starting something new, which allows you to develop your ideas organically as you grow. Starting is the first proactive step to take and only once you start you will be able to figure out all of the other smaller details in your journey because it takes starting and building real experience to direct yourself in the correct direction.
Don't overthink, just start. You will figure things out as you go and that should never be a prerequisite for starting out in the first place because no one has everything figured out when they first start out.
Enjoy the process.
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