We're Addicted To Procrastination: Here's 7 Ways To Stop It
Stop sabotaging your own best intentions and learn how to eliminate procrastination for good
Before we delve into practical tactics to overcome procrastination, a good starting point is for us to understand the underlying reasons behind this all-to-familiar gatekeeper of productivity.
I recently finished 'Solving The Procrastination Puzzle' by Tim Pychyl and it was eye-opening. If you're like me and struggle with putting off important tasks, add it to your reading list - it’s only 128 pages making it easily binge-able.
As explained in the book, procrastination is essentially an emotional response to the tasks at hand. When faced with certain obligations, individuals experience a strong adverse reaction, which sets the stage for the procrastination cycle.
Psychologists refer to this reaction as "task aversiveness." The more aversive a task appears, the higher the resistance towards it, leading to an increased likelihood of procrastination.
During his research, Pychyl highlighted several task characteristics contributing to procrastination. These aversive tasks generally possess one or more of the following qualities:
Frustration: Challenging tasks that generate feelings of frustration.
Lack of Structure: Tasks that need more organization or a clear framework.
Boredom: Tasks lacking stimulation or interest.
Ambiguity: Unclear tasks for which the individual needs a more obvious and straightforward approach.
Difficulty: Tasks that are complex or demanding.
Lack of Personal Meaning and Intrinsic Rewards: Tasks that fail to align with personal values or lack inherent satisfaction.
According to Pychyl, any of these characteristics can trigger procrastination when met with negative emotions. Tim elaborated in Solving the Procrastination Puzzle that chronic procrastinators prioritize immediate mood repair. Their primary focus is on alleviating negative emotions, so they succumb to the impulse of postponing tasks until later.
Consequently, they experience a temporary sense of relief and improved mood by avoiding the task. However, can often ruminate on what they haven't done following a bout of procrastination. This cycle is why I've wanted to dive into the topic this week.
As a self-actualized procrastinator, I needed to first understand why I put off tasks and, second, get some tangible advice for how to stop it in its tracks.
I trust that the following strategies to combat procrastination and improve productivity can help you, just as they have been helping me.
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes.
Let’s dive in.
7 Strategies To Overcome Procrastination
A word of warning: there is no silver bullet when it comes to procrastination. Sorry to begin with the bad news.
However, while a magical solution to end procrastination remains elusive, Tim's extensive two-decade research has brought a wealth of tactics that can effectively combat the productivity obstacle.
Read on to discover these transformative approaches. Just don't wait around, otherwise, you guessed it – you might put it off.
(1) Use procrastination as a sign you should seek out more meaningful work
When you have personally fulfilling tasks, you tend to procrastinate less.
Tim suggests reexamining your work if you frequently procrastinate with specific tasks.
"Sometimes procrastination is just a symptom that your life doesn't match what you're interested in, and you're putting everything off because all of your goals are falsely internalized. Perhaps you've got no intrinsic motivation in any of this, and so maybe you should do something else."
While it's normal to have tasks in a job you don't enjoy, if you consistently procrastinate because of them, it may be worth exploring other options that align better with your passions. This could lead to increased motivation and productivity due to the intrinsic motivation you'll gain from changing things up.
(2) Create 'implementation intentions' around your tasks
Tasks that need to be clearly defined are ambiguous and often unstructured, making you much more likely to procrastinate. The cure? Form implementation intentions.
That's a fancy way of saying that you should make your tasks more concrete by thinking about when, where, and how you will do them. For example, I've been time-blocking my workouts into my calendar at the start of each week, and it's effectively acted as my accountability partner.
Setting a specific intention is all about not lying to yourself with making a broad goal intention. If you say, 'I'll do that next week', it's likely that the timeframe and the task are defined too broadly to hold you to it.
It's the pre-decision based on when, where and why you're going to complete a task that is critical in getting it done.
(3) Disconnect from the Internet when you have to get something done
It's worth noting that Pychyl devotes a whole chapter to emphasizing the significance of disconnecting from the Internet when you need to focus, despite his book only having ten chapters.
I'm sure we can all resonate with the Internet being our productivity nemesis.
One of the eye-opening results from a study by Pychyl found that 47% of people's time online is spent procrastinating, which he's since called a "conservative estimate" because it was conducted before social networks like Facebook and Twitter even became popular. Yikes!
"There is little doubt that our best tools for productivity–computer technologies–are potentially also one of our greatest time wasters."
"To stay really connected to our goal pursuit, we need to disconnect from potential distractions like social-networking tools. This means we should refrain from having Facebook, Twitter, email, or whatever running in the background on our computer or smartphone while working. Shut them off."
Goodbye, Twitter; hello, deep work.
(4) Just get started
As a rule, people overestimate how much motivation they need to do something. In most cases, all you need is a little motivation to get started. For instance:
You don't have to be motivated for an entire hour to finish a workout. Instead, you just need to be motivated for the 10 minutes it takes you to pack up and drive to the gym. Once you get there, you'll be more likely to get it done.
You don't have to be motivated for hours when cleaning your kitchen. You only need to be motivated for five minutes to switch from your current activity to getting started.
If you want to take a cold shower, you only need motivation for a short time. Just focus on turning the dial, and the first 10 seconds it takes to commit to the practice.
The truth is, once we start a task, it is rarely as bad as we think.
In fact, once you get started on something, your "attributions of the task change", and what you think about yourself changes, too.
In his book, Tim shared an excellent piece of advice. He suggested that if you catch yourself thinking thoughts like 'I'll do it tomorrow,' 'I work better under pressure,' or 'I still have time,' you should take it as a sign that you are about to procrastinate. Instead, use this as motivation to start working on the task immediately and take a small step.
(5) Be kinder to yourself
Tim says that "negative self-talk comes out in spades" when you procrastinate, which is counterproductive.
This plays such a role when you procrastinate because whilst you know you should be doing something, a different part of you is very much aware that you're not actually doing it. This means you make up a story about why you're not getting that thing done. You're effectively putting it off.
Be mindful of how kind you are to yourself, and watch out for times when you try to trick yourself into believing you're doing something else that's productive.
Deep down, you'll know what to do.
(6) Limit how much time you spend on something
This sounds counterintuitive, doesn't it? But I've found it to actually be really successful. Limit how much time you spend on something.
In his book, Tim speaks about his German colleague who limits how much time he allows academic procrastinators to spend on an assignment. "He will limit the time they can work on an assignment. 'Okay, we're working today, and you've got twenty minutes to work on that assignment, and you may not work anymore.' And so they go: 'I've got twenty minutes. I better make the best use of it.'" And they do.
Setting a time limit on a task can make it more enjoyable, well-organized, and less challenging as it provides a clear endpoint. Limiting time forces you to work more efficiently rather than spend empty time on a task, increasing overall productivity.
Why this works so well can be explained via Parkinson's Law. The adage is that work will expand to fill the time allotted for completion. As a result, more extended time frames often prompt people to fill their time with trivial matters.
Time-blocking to complete tasks in short sprints keeps you more focused and engaged in making progress. I've found this to be a real level-up regarding creative work.
(7) Change a task's characteristics to make it more appealing
The tasks we dislike are typically a combination of dull, frustrating, challenging, meaningless, ambiguous, and unstructured. But by breaking down exactly which attributes an aversive task has, we can turn those qualities around to make it more appealing.
Tim gave the example of a task that is boring and frustrating.
"You can look at it, assess it and say, 'Oh, this is so boring, and I find it so frustrating', so you make a little game out of it. How can you make it interesting? So I might play a game of, 'How many of these could I get done in 20 minutes?'. And you find something to do–some competition within it, and suddenly, you make it interesting".
You can make your tasks more appealing by reducing their difficulty level and making them clearer and more structured. If you find yourself putting off a task, use that as a signal to evaluate its nature and consider how you can tweak it to suit your working style better.
I wish you luck for a happy, productive and purposeful week ahead.
See you next time,
Jack
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