This is How to Get Good at Overcoming Procrastination!
For the past couple of months, my co-blogger and partner in crime Howie has been asking me how the blog post on overcoming procrastination has been coming along. Until recently, my excuse has been that it keeps slipping my mind as I have too many other things to remember.
Well, seeing as how I just did a post on memory techniques a couple weeks ago, I can no longer use that excuse!
So, perhaps it is time for me to suck it up and stop procrastinating and write the damn post already. In a little bit, I will show you some of the tricks I used in overcoming procrastination myself.
Before we go any further, let’s quickly define procrastination and discuss why we procrastinate, so that we are all on the same page.
What is Procrastination?
Procrastination is simply delaying or postponing tasks that are unpleasant in favor of more enjoyable ones.
Why We Procrastinate
When we look at or think about something that we don’t want to do it activates our brain’s pain centers or areas of our brain that are associated with pain. Our brain tries to protect us by avoiding that negative stimulation by directing us to focus on something that is more pleasurable.
In his TED talk, “Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator”, Tim Urban says that both non-procrastinators and procrastinators have what he calls a “Rational Decision Maker” in them. However, procrastinators also have what he calls an “Instant Gratification Monkey”.
When we procrastinate, the “Rational Decision Maker” starts to do the right thing, but is quickly overtaken by the Monkey.
The Monkey makes us feel better and happier…at least temporarily. The problem is, the Monkey has also just caused us to procrastinate. And as we all know the long-term effects of procrastination can be bad.
Even though we know procrastination is bad for us, we still do it – part of the reason is that it is similar to certain types of addictions as it gives us a bit of relief and excitement from some of the boring realities of life. In fact, it feels so good that often we make up excuses or tell ourselves stories to convince ourselves to keep procrastinating. Like convincing yourself that surfing the web is more important than writing that blog post on procrastination.
While the strategies for overcoming procrastination may not be obvious, lucky for us they are relatively simple, yet contrary to what you may think.
Interestingly, willpower is not something you want or need to utilize for overcoming procrastination.
Willpower
The thing with willpower is that it uses a lot of your brain’s resources – so you won’t want to use it unless you absolutely need to, as it is hard to come by. Instead, you are going to need to understand how habits work.
As I said, procrastination is a response by our brain to perceived pain, it is a habitual response that your brain falls into when it receives certain cues. The habitual response which involves shifting your focus to something more pleasurable to make the here and now better is a result of certain cues.
Understanding How Habits Work
A habit is simply an activity or task you perform without thinking in a focused manner. Your brain likes habits because they save our brains from expending energy and allow them to focus on more important things.
There are good habits and bad habits – procrastination is in most situations a bad habit. A bad habit that can negatively affect other parts of our life. However, if we can improve our propensity to procrastinate, it will positively affect other areas of our life.
To do that, let’s first understand how habits work.
Habits consist of 4 parts: a cue, a routine, a reward, and a belief.
Cue: This is the trigger that gets you started in whatever you are doing, it could be an appointment on your calendar, a task on your to-do list, an alarm or reminder on your phone. There are 4 types of cue – place, time, how you are feeling, and how you react to something that has happened or how you react to other people.
Routine: The routine is your response to the trigger or cue; it is the habit your brain automatically goes to when receiving the cue. Routines can be useful, useless or even harmful.
Reward: The reward is the pleasure that you receive from completing the routine that makes habits develop and continue. In terms of procrastination, the reward is thinking about something more enjoyable. The ease and speed at which we can think about something more enjoyable is what makes procrastination such an easy habit to fall into.
Belief: The reason habits have staying power is because we believe in them. This goes back to the stories we tell ourselves and the excuses we make.
Now that we understand what procrastination is, why we procrastinate, and all about habits, let’s now turn to some strategies for…
Overcoming Procrastination…
…including some that I have used myself!
Researchers have found that non-procrastinators are successful because they are able to get past the negative thinking that activates the pain centers that cause us to procrastinate. They do this by telling themselves things such as ‘just do it’, ‘stop messing around’, ‘get going’.
It turns out that soon after we start doing something that we don’t like the pain centers of our brains calm down and the pain disappears. So, the trick is to change our response to the cue that sends our brain into a pleasure-seeking mode, so we can get past the initial pain.
One interesting way I have found comes from professor Barbara Oakley, Ramón y Cajal Distinguished Scholar of Global Digital Learning, McMaster University and Professor of Engineering, Industrial & Systems Engineering, Oakland University, who suggests that we need to re-frame things. So, instead of focusing on the product or the outcome such as a completed blog post on procrastination – which can be daunting and intimidating, to instead focus on the process of doing it.
So, focus on the process instead of the product. Which brings us back to the habits stuff we discussed in the previous section – as the process is all about habits. Focusing on the product can trigger the pain which results in procrastination. Instead, focus on the small chunks of time needed to complete the task. According to Oakley, “By focusing on process rather than the product, you allow yourself to back away from judging yourself, “am I getting closer to finishing?” And instead, you allow yourself to relax into the flow of the work.”
Strategies for Overcoming Procrastination
Let’s now get into some strategies you can use for overcoming procrastination.
Use your new understanding of the habit loop above by…
Overriding portions of your old habits and creating some new ones. A few ways you can do this are:
Changing your reaction to the cue
Be on the lookout for cues that will cause you to procrastinate. You can do this by thinking about the different types of cues, and how you react to them. For example, if being in a certain location is a cue for you to procrastinate, you may want to switch your location. I need to switch my location frequently, sometimes I find I get too distracted at home, so I will instead work from Starbuck’s or the atrium at my gym.
Adjust your routine
Another thing you can do is rewire your habit by modifying your routine by having a plan. So, instead of being tempted to check social media, I simply turn off my phone or put it in airplane mode. When a distraction arises, I have programmed myself to be aware of it and then just let it pass by.
Use Rewards
As we said earlier, you procrastinate to obtain a reward – a more pleasant feeling. It is important then that you replace that reward with another reward. But only after you finish your task, so it gives you something to look forward to. This will help you overcome the previous cravings for pleasant feelings. Your brain will expect a new reward which will help it rewire itself to create a new habit.
In terms of what reward to give yourself, it should be something that incentivizes you to complete your task. For me, it may be calling a friend and chatting or saving my workout until after I have finished writing as a way to reward myself.
Change your beliefs
The last part of the habit loop is belief. Things won’t always be easy, so it is critical for you to believe that you are going to get things done so you don’t fall into old, bad habits. Having a good support system of encouraging and positive ‘can-do’ people can be invaluable as they will remind you to keep your eye on the prize! For me, sometimes getting started is the hard part, but I just tell myself that I have felt this way before, but I always come through. Often times to help me get started I…
Break things down and use the Pomodoro Technique
Again, one of the reasons we procrastinate is that we are focused on the product or end results which can sometimes be overwhelming. So, the key is to break tasks down into manageable, bite-size pieces that we can complete to reduce our impulsivity to procrastinate.
One method you can use is something we discussed in a previous post, the Pomodoro technique, which alternates 25-minute work sessions with 5-minute rest periods.
The idea is to tackle those manageable, bite-sized pieces of your tasks in 25-minute increments as a way to focus on the process rather than the product. Remember, your brain craves processes as it lets your brain mindlessly carry on without using too much energy.
Personally, rather than thinking of the product (completed blog post), I focus on the process and use Pomodoro’s to get me started. Sometimes that is all I need as once I get into the flow of my work, and sometimes I just keep going once the 25 minutes is up. Do whatever works for you. Again, if distracting thoughts arise during your Pomodoro’s, which they will – just be aware of them, let them pass, and continue kicking ass.
Use the Zeigarnik Effect
The Zeigarnik Effect says that we remember uncompleted or unfinished tasks better than completed or finished tasks. Meaning that once we start something, it will be in our mind until we close the loop that opened it. So, if we just start a task, we are more likely to finish it.
Plan the Work, Then Work the Plan!
The simple act of planning something and putting it on the calendar makes it more likely we will complete it.
I try to plan out my work for the next day the night before which gives me time to think about what I need to do the next day to ensure I am successful. It also allows me to go directly into execution mode the next day instead of thinking about what I have to do.
Another reason to not procrastinate, especially when learning new concepts, is that it takes time to grow the new neural synapses that help you learn. So, you are much better to space out your learning and give your brain time to make those synaptic connections and also get enough sleep to consolidate the stuff you have learned.
Take Breaks
Taking breaks is also key as an important part of learning. It is when we aren’t thinking about something that our brains are consolidating and making sense of the information at a subconscious level which helps us better remember things.
Be Nice to Yourself
Lastly, we are all human and we all screw up from time to time. If you are kind to yourself, you are much more likely to get things done!
Well, that’s it for today’s post on procrastination! I finally finished it!
Wow, I have to tell you, by just focusing on the process and not the product it really did make things easier!
I was going to start writing a new post on how to increase your energy levels, but I am feeling kinda tired, maybe I will just wake up super early tomorrow to do it. I think I will go dust my condo instead…
On second thought, who’s kidding who, I hate dusting and all the dust that has accumulated since my cleaning lady was last here is proof!!! I think I will just let that stupid procrastination related thought pass on by and start typing!
Until next time, keep overcoming procrastination and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick
Use it or Lose It:
When working on overcoming procrastination:
Use your understanding of the habit loop to:
Change your reaction to the cue.
Adjust your routine.
Use rewards.
Change your beliefs
Break things down and use the Pomodoro Technique.
Use the Zeigarnik Effect.
Plan the work, then work the plan!
Take breaks.
Be nice to yourself.
When to Use It:
In your quest for overcoming procrastination!
What Do You Think?
Is procrastination something you struggle with? Do you have any other strategies for overcoming procrastination? Will you try some of these? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
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References
https://www.coursera.org/learn/mindshift/lecture/c9b0z/2-5-getting-past-procrastination
http://jimkwik.com/kwik-brain-010/
https://www.coursera.org/learn/mindshift
https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn/lecture/p7wRU/zombies-everywhere
Procrastination has been defined as: The hope that someone else will do something you are not interested in doing, or less likely, that it will do itself.
I totally hate and detest yard work as it’s just not programmed into my brain. When you live in the city for your first 16 years, if you want grass you need to walk to a park or the projects. Kids did not play on grass, they played on concrete or asphalt. That included team sports – football, basketball, softball – all played on paved surfaces. If you wanted to see baseball played on grass, you rode the Ogden Avenue bus to Yankee Stadium. So the concept of “grass” (the yard kind, not the smoking kind) did not exist in my formative years.
So it became a struggle for me to perform any type of yard work. My CYT would nooge, nag, and threaten until I got the mower out of the garage and sweated profusely for about an hour by pushing it back and forth. I also don’t do plants. But she likes “playing in the dirt” with plants and flowers, as she had been raised in a regular house, not an apartment.
So how did we resolve this situation? It will never be completely resolved, but things are much better now that we had the entire front lawn and bushes ripped out and replaced with astroturf and non maintenance plants. This cut the mowing area down by 3/4, leaving just a patch behind the house. We also had a shed installed on the side of the house to store the mower – no more wrestling it out of the garage.
So I still hate yard work, but the time spent has become so much less. And to Pomodoro the situation, its more like 10 minutes on, 5 minutes break. Then repeat.
That is another great definition and a great point, Dave. While most times procrastination can be bad – sometimes it can let us know that we really don’t want to do something. Smart idea on the turf and good job w/ the Pomodoros, haha. Be good, Rick