We think about the immediate damage it can cause. I have been researching and writing about procrastination for nearly twenty years. You build new relationships, for example, by working with a new collaborator versus with someone youve already worked with 20 times before. Its not necessarily just about thought processes and habits, but it is such an emotional process too. Im an anxious person. You get rewarded for doing that. You might procrastinate in your health, but you may not procrastinate at work, for example. They have a zero tolerance sort of policy for any sort of mistakes or anything not going correctly and so they tap out. And I think it makes sense though too, because if you are really driven and your whole sense of self-worth is focused on how well you do this task and you're so worried about that task, that's enough, that fear of failing, that fear of it not being good enough or not pleasing others can be enough to put you off ever even starting it. For many of us, its a hard habit to break. Instead, it's a problem, as you say, of emotion regulation. And I think first thing I have to say is that perfectionism isn't sort of a single entity. It can also serve as a form of willpower training. Repeat. People with Imposter Syndrome believe if someone knew the real them, they would never receive the same level of trust or responsibility. Mills: So how does chronic procrastination affect people's mental and physical wellbeing? So yeah, I would say there is some evidence suggest men might procrastinate a little bit more than women, but it's not a huge difference and we may get some evidence in the coming years that that levels out because I think it is really driven also by what's going on. Register for the early bird rate. ALICE BOYES: Yeah, so its quite complicated. Mindfulness is another way to help fix procrastination. And we all want to think, Oh, well, I dont know anything about air conditioners. Sometimes doing good for awhile gives us permission to do bad.This is stupid, I don't even care about it.Our fear and insecurities can lead to us devalue the entire project altogether. I want the other person, if theyre waiting on something from me, I want them to understand that its not because theyve done anything wrong or Im angry at them, or I just want to take that uncertainty off their plate. And that might be something that is a really strong value for you that you can use as a motivator. In the Hardcore Self-Help Podcast, psychologist Robert Duff discusses what its like to live with and effectively treat mental health conditions. And this sort of fits in with an area of research that's called affective forecasting, which basically says that as human beings, we're not very good at predicting our future emotional states. Procrastination can also be a result of depression. Just do it and you'll feel a lot better than you think you will. Not just it's harmful for our mental health, it's also harmful for our physical health. This is called procrastination. I'm going to clean out the garage this weekend. That was one way that it could be helpful. Putting aside whether these lists are historically accurate, they raise the question, is it possible to be a chronic procrastinator but also extremely productive? Practice self-forgiveness when you identify the pattern. So sort of drilling down into understanding better that emotional side. And so procrastination becomes a way to cope with that negative mood and those negative emotions, especially if you're someone who hasn't had a lot of experience managing your negative emotions effectively, or maybe you've got a lot of other stressors going on in your life that you've sort ofyour resources, your inner resources for coping with a task that might be really unpleasant or stressful or frustrating or creates a lot of worry for you, in those sorts of situations, you might resort to procrastination. Mindfulness will help you be able to identify mental patterns, such as cognitive distortions. It can become tired, temporarily, after extensive use. Sirois: It has a huge impact on it and I think this is a thing a lot of people don't think about when they think about procrastination. And some very simple ways that the research has borne out and that takes the edge off them is forgiveness and self-compassion. And there is indeed a connection. Before you know it, hours have passed and you're right where you started and more stressed than ever. But I dont always do those six or seven steps. One of the main reasons people procrastinate is fear. If you want a behavior to require less self control, then make it a consistent habit. We procrastinate because our brains receive a reward for avoidance. And I guess here we're talking about chronic procrastination as opposed to procrastinating from time to time. Then, merely focus on starting the tasks, not completing them. Theyre the same thing he does everywhere else, but he puts them on Instagram. whose new podcast explores the world's greatest con artists and con jobs from World War II to modern game shows. Identify the emotions behind tasks you felt you didnt excel in, or that didnt turn out the way you wanted them to when you did complete them. And of course, we all know about productive procrastination. In the show you'll learn about the physiological origins of procrastination - the inner brake pedal and gas pedal - and what to do to escape the two . So often what we put off is stuff thats novel. So its also using that strength. Im not advocating anyone adopt my system. You get into that endless feedback loop. ALICE BOYES: So Im a huge fan of reverse engineering your system. And when we're faced with the temptation to put something off, how can we change our mindset and our environment to help us buckle down and do what needs to be done? CURT NICKISCH: So lets start down the line here and go through three different areas where we can really make a difference when it comes to changing how we work. ALICE BOYES: Yeah. ALICE BOYES: Yeah. So I think it's whatever your fancy is, something to distract you from the emotions that you're not dealing with about the tasks that you should be doing, which is going to bed and maybe it's because you haven't processed what went on in that day. However, we can strengthen our willpower through routine exercise. It's basically saying, Hey, yeah, I'm struggling with this task. For further reading on procrastination, check out some of Timothy Pychyls research. When youre doing work that has more potential to be impactful, its usually more uncertain. It's a habit of putting off tasks that we know we need to complete, and it often leads to stress, anxiety, and missed deadlines. Sirois is the author of Procrastination: What It Is, Why Its a Problem, and What You Can Do About It, published by APA Books in July 2022. And I think the people that I've spoken to who really struggle with procrastination, they are in a bad way. Guilt is a useful emotion because it causes us to want to repair things. But I remember some years back at one of our conferences, we had some students presenting posters about their research on procrastination and there was this, what did they call it? They think of it as being about daily habits. So when you learn that actually strong emotions and tense emotions, diverse emotions are incredibly healthy, you can just fear them a lot less and have a more open attitude toward them. And yes, there is such a group. From exploring the different types of procrastination to decoding the fascinating neuroscience behind it, we'll equip you with the knowledge and tools to help your clients (or yourself!) But that again, it's an emotion regulation issue. And people really think about habits in a very narrow way. Sometimes we need that incubation period. He felt that someday he would be caught and everyone would know that he had faked competence. YANSS 253 - The psychology behind the world's greatest cons, . Boyes wrote the book Stress-Free Productivityand the HBR article How to Stop Procrastinating.. And this is something that I've found in my own research too, that students who chronically procrastinate tend to report more of these sort of stress-related mild health complaints, but they also can impact engaging in health behaviors. And we all have personal examples something felt really yucky at the time, but it ended up being really, really fruitful. Mills: Well, that's some good advice for you procrastinators who are listening to us today. In immersive interviews, Adam vividly brings his observations to life, weaving together stories with social science and revealing key insights in a friendly, accessible style. And I think people tend to oversimplify that. I'm having difficulty, but you know what, it's okay. So theres a great HBR article about how diverse teams tend to do better work, but they also tend to feel like they have more conflict. The variable task or system-based factors are: This can become paralyzing, especially when we are unwilling to ask for help. There are no conflicts of interest for this episode. So some of my students have looked at getting people to answers and questionnaires at one time point, and then following up with them and getting them to fill in with grids based on 30-minute or 15-minute segments of the day. CURT NICKISCH: Yeah. Its why people have workout playlists. They dont think, Oh, I need to reduce all these negative emotions or theyre going to cause me to go off track with my goals. They associate strong emotions with propelling them to their goals, not with them taking them away from their goals. / 3 Strategies for Dealing with Procrastination. This Web site provides access to my research group and academic publications, as well as my iProcrastinate Podcasts and "Don't Delay" blog for Psychology Today. And we all know that it helps to identify emotions. Sometimes its just people have more things that they want to do and theyre having trouble settling on one. So what people want to do is look at the forms of procrastination with the most potential for major harm in their lives, that are causing them the most bother, and be really confident that theyve got strategies for dealing with those. That if you notice a funny mole or you notice a funny lump or something, or change in your bowel habit of it or whatever it is, that is an area where procrastination can be deadly. So yeah, that's how the emotions are involved. When you can't figure out how to tackle a project or feel insecure about your abilities, you might find it easier to put it off. I've done some preliminary work looking at using self-compassion to address procrastination and it does suggest that it at least increases people's intentions to get on with the task and not procrastinate, but I want to follow up with some research to actually track that. So itll be things like if your air conditioner starts making you funny noise. And thats something that people with psychological flexibility are able to do. And that is a real challenge. There are also variable factorsthings like our environment, our health that day, and other things that might affect our tendency to procrastinate. I think that would kind of level the playing field for many people as well in terms of whether they were able to be productive or whether they found themselves falling into a trap of procrastination. In psychology, we never think of cognition, emotions and behavior as being separate. But sometimes we end up being jerks because weve got ourselves into a procrastination pickle, because weve left something. And we also think that it's going to last longer, we're going to be stuck in this state of frustration or stress or what have you as we're struggling with this task. And push comes to shove when we actually do it, it's like, Wait a second. How do you do that? One of the findings I really like is about ambivalent emotions. And there might be some generational influences there too. It can lead to sadness and a lack of self-confidence, which can worsen the pattern of procrastination because negative emotions lead to avoidance. It also causes us to keep up a steady stream of I should be in our subconscious minds. So why do people procrastinate? CURT NICKISCH: For me personally, the idea of a pre-mortem and testing your assumptions is kind of attractive because I expect that could help a lot with things that always seem to take longer than you thought they were going to. Sirois: That is a really good question. Understanding the psychology of procrastination is key to overcoming it and achieving success in our personal and professional lives. You've actually just repaired that negative mood and you feel better. Ive found that with strength training, even if I dont want to begin, and even if the whole workout is miserable, it teaches me that I can will my body to do what the program requires. About the expert: Fuschia Sirois, PhD So people who are prone to procrastination do tend to use more social media, tend to be engaged with their digital distractions. That's Germany. Sirois: So that's a great question. People often come to therapy wanting to change somebody else. So people want to do things with certain outcomes and they tend to procrastinate more with things with uncertain outcomes. But after some research into why people procrastinate, he found a few tricks and tips to help him on his journey to live a more balanced life. Ways to overcome procrastination include: 10. What theyre much better at is actually using their emotions as fuel for their goals. There is a gap between your intention and action, You feel overwhelmed by tasks at the last minute, You always feel rushed to complete a project, Youre hesitant to truthfully update someone on your progress. So things like compassionate self-talk can be really useful for them. When youve got that number one task that youre avoiding but youve also got a bunch of other things that normally you would avoid, and its the only time you ever get round to doing those. I'm going to start with a quote that a colleague and friend of mine who got me into this area of research, Tim Pychyl at Carleton University in Canada, one that he often uses to make the distinction between procrastination and delay. But we all know that a lot of these things with uncertain outcomes are the things that have the higher potential for reward. I mean, that being said, there has been some experimental research done where they gave students a range of tasks easy and more difficult and looked at the time on task and what things they did otherwise. Our guest today offers three strategic paths to beat procrastination in a comprehensive way. Our sound editor is Chris Condayan. Adam Grant posted this interesting thing on Instagram a few weeks ago where he said, I wouldve started on Instagram a long, long time ago if I had realized I could just repost my words, if I could just post pictures of my words rather than having to post pictures and videos that we more associate with Instagram. And obviously he does these, theyre essentially like tweets, theyre just these little quotes. And that we can come to each other with things that we feel vulnerable about. So doing compassionate self talk is useful about the feelings that youre having. The Psychology of Procrastination (Podcast Episode 2018) Quotes on IMDb: Memorable quotes and exchanges from movies, TV series and more. For Dr. Brammer, Imposter Syndrome came from his ability to excel in school, despite consistently cramming for assignments and tests. And coming at it from this mood regulation or emotion regulation perspective then, what that suggests is that we need to find ways to manage those emotions first and foremost. She is a social, health and personality psychologist who is broadly interested in how self-regulationhow we manage our thoughts, emotions and behaviorsaffect our health and wellbeing. Such as, This is stupid, I dont even care about it.. But should we take that to mean, if there's any truth to these lists at all, that women procrastinate less than men? Were you procrastinating in that time? My podcast guest this week, Dr. Jackson Brammer, says he used to be an expert procrastinator. Mills: So what are some strategies or techniques to combat procrastination and just get things done, and how does thinking of it as an emotion regulation problem change how we approach the situation? Produced by the American Psychological Association, these podcasts will help listeners apply the science of psychology to their everyday lives. And then there are other countries where efficiency and productivity are highly valued. We'll also talk about being involved in eSports, balancing academic life and leisure, avoiding the pitfalls of procrastination, and about overcoming the fear of putting yourself out there to make new friends. Mills: You can find previous episodes of Speaking of Psychology on our website at www.speakingofpsychology.org or on Apple, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. And then we do a bit of a calculation to get an idea of how many minutes they were procrastinating. The adrenaline spike and stress of the situation make us think we are better off waiting, but in reality, its unlikely that our delay will make the final product any better.Ill feel more like it later.We deceive ourselves into thinking that we'll feel like completing the task later. They have career issues, health issues, they're not fulfilling their dreams, they're not reaching their goals. This is another self-protective belief.There must be some way I can just not do this.There isn't an easy fix for procrastinationwe usually still have to complete the task. ALICE BOYES: Yeah, so people will have heard a lot about habits in recent years. I think about what I think could go wrong with the task. Its really been great to have you on the show to talk about it. Often it is. We wont discover our true potential if we dont give ourselves ample time.I have plenty of time, I'll do it later.We are undervaluing the future self when we think this way. Mills: So last question. For more than 20 years, she has researched the causes and consequences of procrastination as well as how emotions play a role in explaining why people procrastinate. . Some people find it easier to do things for other people than themselves. Other people have struggled with this task too. Make those goals realistic so you dont talk yourself out of them. As we build a habit of procrastinating, we develop false beliefs that worsen the habit. How does procrastination affect others around us? And this is where some people can get caught in the trap of procrastination as almost a chronic habit or way of dealing with these unpleasant tasks. Gamers Gene's Procrastination Podcast is your source for everything Video Games info/news. Doer is the science -based guide to overcoming procrastination. Sirois: Yeah. Try to place your willpower-hungry tasks at the beginning of the day. A couple of names popped up, Margaret Atwood, J.K. Rowling for example, who are also highly productive. It has an impact on our immune system, makes us more vulnerable to catching bugs and flus and colds and all kinds of other stress-related illnesses. This automatically undercuts any excuses youll have because ultimately, the task, if youve signed up for it, aligns with your values. You can learn about my research at procrastination. Is there a difference? Other areas I'm looking at is trying to get a handle on some of what's happening with respect to the emotion regulation and specifically this idea that we tend to often not get started on a task because we make emotional mountains out of molehills. What can you do, either as a manager or a colleague? Look at the thoughts that come with that emotion. Sometimes we need more encouragement to complete a task we are dreading. There was actually a really interesting study that I just read in the last few days that said that doing mindfulness meditation reduces peoples feelings of guilt, but it also causes them to be less willing to do reparative behaviors. Planning more than only the first step can be its own form of procrastination. Episode 210: Why we procrastinate and what to do about it, with Fuschia Sirois, PhD. And if you look at something like bedtime procrastination, which is a particular form of procrastination where you say, Hey, I've got an important meeting tomorrow morning, I'm going to go to bed at 11 o'clock, and here we are 1:00 AM in the morning and you're still on your social media. We protect the self temporarily by avoiding the task that threatens it. For example, someone with ADHD is more likely to procrastinate. But what we actually know about people who are healthy, happy, and productive is that they dont go around spending a lot of time trying to reduce their emotions. And then yeah, what we see that as procrastination. That's why we say it's sort of a short-term mood repair. And there is some research, there's some procrastination researchers down in Peru, and we do these conferences every couple of years, just sort international conference on procrastination and we hear about the different research that's going on different in parts of the world on the topic of procrastination. In her 30+-year career in communications, Mills has extensive media experience, including being interviewed by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and other top-tier print media. What do you find your cognitive distortions arewhat are the things you tell yourself to make yourself feel better about putting things off? And there's multiple layers of doing this. And the other thing that happens too, when you don't start a task, you can still live in that wonderful space where you can imagine how great it's going to be and you can picture how perfect the ending's going to be when you finish writing that report or redecorating your house or whatever it is, that task that you're dealing with at that time. There are fixed factors related to procrastination, things that are innate to each of our different psychological experiences. Procrastinators may find themselves unable to start something because they dont know how to start, but they dont want to show weakness by needing to ask for clarification. Identifying the role of procrastination in your life. Just coming out of the situation we're coming out of now, many more people working from home and having to deal with a lot of distractions they didn't have to deal with before. So thats obviously a huge problem, right? Being unwilling to ask for help can relate to Impostor Syndrome, and can fuel procrastination. So actually looking at more objective measures using Smart watches to track people's behavior, their physical activity and seeing again, if in fact people who are prone to procrastination are actually being less active than others. Yeah, I'm doing a few different things. In fact, anecdotally a lot of the people I've talked to when I say I do procrastination research, I get a lot of people telling me about their procrastination story. But it still creates a bit of a problem of not having a habit of getting on and doing that other thing. Sirois: That's a great question. For example, if theres a task associated with your job that you dont want to do, you can still link it with something you believe in. We often dont start the project early enough to know how much time well actually need.Ive planned and organized how I will complete the task, its time for a break!. And then back to the psychological flexibility concept of using the difficult emotions that arise. Danny draws on the expertise of clinical psychologists, physicians, psychiatrists and researchers in his new podcast, and he has already taken on a variety of challenging and interesting topics.
