Wait, what?? How does that work??
Source: https://www.todoist.com/inspiration/overcome-procrastination
I guess it’s just one of those confounding double negatives.
Anyways. As crazy as it sounds, I was out for a long walk recently – enjoying the early transition to spring (only to have it yanked out later, damn March!) – and it just popped into my head that I really ought to quit procrastinating and write another blog…since it’s been so long…but what should the topic be??
Oh, I think I just answered my own question!! (A mildly bittersweet experience for many of us!)
Well, to start – and this may astound many – I came to the realization (thanks to Mr. Charles Duhigg, he of The Power of Habit) that procrastination is actually an emotional regulation problem, not a laziness problem. How about THAT?! All that time, we thought we were succumbing to sloth, and then… something deeper agitated us within.
But we’re not off the hook yet. Bear with me.
Take a moment to reflect…and you can probably recapture the essence of how you felt during one of those procrastination episodes. It was probably motivated by anxiety, or unease, fear of failure, or reluctance to impart bad news. Not necessarily motivated by the need to amuse oneself with binge-watching, or games or whatever. (If anything, that’d be the temporary inoculation from the aforementioned emotions.)
So, the principal or primary way to deal with this emotional angst is to face the task head-on BUT in small increments, at first; the ancient Chinese proverb of “a single step” still holds true. In fact, when you start making steps, you may subconsciously find yourself making strides, and soon enough… ain’t nothin’ gonna break-a your stride 😊
Basically, you WORK yourself into thinking – and not vice-versa – and before you know it, you’re off and running. And, even if you’re not, you’ve got a couple of increments of work out of the way.
So, that’s the primary tactic – but let’s not ignore secondary tactics, specifically, the “pairing tactic”. Yes, organizing the tough stuff and the fun stuff in a bundle of two. The common examples we might see in the literature are the pairing of listening to one’s favourite music with being at the gym, so you have to go to the gym in order to infuse yourself with some great tunes. (Just don’t fill up on pizza and potato chips right after you go, OK?)
Pairing is also referred to as temptation bundling. An NIH (National Institute of Health) site expresses the notion well:
Temptation bundling involves the coupling of instantly gratifying “want” activities (e.g., watching the next episode of a habit-forming television show, checking Facebook, receiving a pedicure, eating an indulgent meal) with engagement in a “should” behavior that provides long-term benefits but requires the exertion of willpower (e.g., exercising at the gym, completing a paper review, spending time with a difficult relative).
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4381662/
But yes, I admit, there’s nobody to force you do hold up “your end of the bargain” here, no penalties or violated contracts per se. Maybe this is where those negative emotions like guilt or shame will provide the needed push otherwise 😉
Informally, I suppose, you could get a “temptation bundling buddy” (not kinky) to jab or nag you into fulfilling the paired procrastination-blaster.
More on the rule of 2’s: besides pairing, there’s also body doubling, which some habitual procrastinators (like ADHD folks) have used to great effect. This is where you have someone alongside you, performing the same or similar task/activity, so that you feel all the more motivated. No, they don’t need to perform the task/activity to the same degree as you; only in kind. It is certainly a formidable distraction blaster. As one notable article from Psychology Today points out, a lot of this doubling technique is driven by the human desire to save face: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/success-by-design/202505/body-doubling-using-one-psychological-quirk-to-fix-another
It makes sense, you feel judged for shirking, so you perform to keep up appearances!
The other thing I was quite astonished to learn was that self-criticism was one of the primary triggers for procrastination. Now, initially, I would’ve thought it would be the opposite, that being self-critical would push one to be hard on oneself. Not the case. This actually turns you off the notion of getting going on the task at hand, because it floods and clouds your mind with doubt, with fears of not making the grade or making some embarrassing mistake(s).
If anything, self-compassion is the way to go: understanding that it’s perfectly natural to feel the way you do, but there is nothing to be overly concerned about otherwise. (I’ve found that mindfulness practice works wonders with this sort of thing.) I love this article from Fuschia Sirois, with a passage that captures the essence of this so elegantly:
The less self-compassionate people were, the more prone they were to procrastinating. Difficulties managing negative emotions and then also amplifying these emotions with negative self-talk and rumination over mistakes and lapses are the drivers of procrastination.
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/two_Counterintuitive_ways_to_stop_procrastinating
Now even if you’re the workaholic type, you can still succumb to “procrastination against priorities”. Meaning, you get hooked on doing a bunch of small tasks, or items deemed “urgent” (on someone else’s terms, perhaps), when you lose sight of your North Star, or you willfully blind yourself to it. Stephen Covey has written extensively about the need to avoid falling into this trap. Again, you need to build traction to build momentum.
In my book Diamond Min(e)d, I talk about the BLOF – or the Big Leap of Faith – and the need to continue on one’s course to the exclusion of those little gnawing distractions, the perverse products of that self-criticism that pulls you towards the easier or more tempting stuff. Something you might want to look into 😊
I hope this has been an engaging read for you. Oh, and in case you’re wondering if I wrote this article in increments: yes, I DID 😉
Jason A. Oliver