procrastination is: "the voluntary delay of an intended action despite the knowledge that this delay may harm the individual in terms of the task performance or even just how the individual feels about the task or themself"
delay is not procrastination
but procrastination involves delay
for many people, procrastination is a habitual response
procrastination is "a problem with not getting on with life itself"
happiness is found in the pursuit of our goals (what we think is meaningful in our lives)
"accept a deep commitment to authoring the stories of our lives"
procrastination feels good in the immediate term
but chronic procrastination leads to...
guilt, regret (emotions)
stress (physical impact)
avoidance of health behaviours (exercise, sleep, healthy eating)
procrastination is a form of "self-regulation failure"
similar to problem gambling, overeating, reckless spending
"give in to 'feel good'"
immediate mood repair at expense of long-term
"running away from negative feelings by putting off your task"
rewarded behaviours get repeated, repeated behaviours become habitual
we "put off until tomorrow", thinking we'll feel more like it
but no, that's a problem with your forecasting - you likely won't feel more like it
current motivational state does not need to match intention in order to act
we can do something even if we don't "feel like it"
recognize our biases:
discount future rewards vs short term rewards
underestimate time things will take, overestimate how much we can do
prefer tomorrow over today
intransitive preferences: finishing a task tomorrow feels better than today, but finishing it yesterday feel better than today
self-handicap to protect self-esteem
"not bad for only one night of studying"
irrational thoughts
various incorrect thoughts, such as "this needs to be perfect"
manufacturing happiness by changing thoughts
procrastination leads to cognitive dissonance (I want to do this, but aren't)
reactions ("coping mechanisms", "rationalizations") to cognitive dissonance:
distraction
forgetting / suppression
trivialization
(reduce importance of cause)
self-affirmation
(focus on core values, discount those leading to cause)
denial of responsibility
distance self as causal agent
adding consonant cognitions
seek out new information that support our position
making downward counterfactuals
"could have been worse"
changing behaviour
ideal, but, requires most effort
"I work best under pressure", is really "I only work under pressure"
result of chronic procrastination
stress response overcomes emotional hesitancy
"just get started"
a task is rarely as bad as we think
once started, perceptions of task and self change
progress feels good
concrete goals feel like "today", abstract goals feel like "tomorrow"
must also be prepared to deal with "distractions" (temptations to go off intent)
self regulation ("willpower") is a limited resource
personality traits are correlated with procrastination
procrastination resilient
conscientiousness
organized, careful, detail-oriented
self-efficacy
believe have the competence to achieve a desired outcome
self-esteem
how close we think we are to the people we want to be
procrastination risky
neuroticism / emotional instability
anxiety, depression, irritability
impulsiveness
act without planning or much consideration
socially prescribed perfectionism
believe others expect you to be perfect
expect change to come slowly, unevenly
forgive yourself for failing
(it only magnifies negative emotions related to a task, furthers avoidance)
strategies
create a table
tasks / goals / activities
list which delays you make are procrastination
emotions and thoughts
list emotions or thoughts for each
what do they have in common? are any rationalizations?
costs / impact
reflect on the impact of procrastinating on your goals
impact on health, happiness, stress, finances, relationships, etc.
importance
reflect on why a goal is important to you
benefit of doing it sooner
concrete next task
distractions and obstacles
how to address distractions and obstacles
in the moment, when about to procrastinate on a task
realize that you are trying to avoid negative emotions
to mitigate, requires training ability to regulate emotions ("transcend the feelings of the moment"
recognizing, but not "engaging" with the emotion
habit:
if... I feel negative emotions about a task at hand
then... I will stay put, just get started, do one more step
important to not think about the entire task, just the next step
acknowledge that "I don't need to feel like it to do this task"
learning about typical excuses to cognitive dissonance of procrastination, and recognizing them as such, to diffuse their saliency
habit:
if... I think "ah, it's not that important"
then... I will remind myself that I am engaging in "trivialization", and just get started
separate planning from acting
when planning, make concrete goals, with clear starting task
prep to anticipate challenges
distractions
notice what tempts you away from your task
pro-actively address it for the future
ex. airplane mode for cell-phone
pre-commit to the intent, even if distractions arise
if... I get invited to a game
then... I will continue on this task anyway
other
train your willpower through purposeful practise
activity that requires self-regulation, ex. using non-dominant hand
get enough sleep
plan procrastination-risky activities for earlier in the day
develop habits using "implementation intentions" (if... then...)
my thoughts
questioning if something is meaningful tends to "poison it"
surprisingly similar to ACT, except ACT is more about values than goals
procrastination is classic avoidance behaviour
thus, it can be addressed by ACT techniques
this book offers a good "descriptive" analysis of procrastination (which is summed up with: "procrastination is an emotion-management issue"), but a weak "prescriptive" analysis (ie. what to do about it)
it's prescriptions are a mix of "suck it up" (not actionable), "get better at emotional intelligence" (aspirational, but how? ACT provides many actionable ways), and "form a bunch of trigger habits" (actionable, last "step" of ACT)
re: we can do something even if we don't "feel like it"
important to distinguish "feel like it" and "objectively want to"
"don't feel like it", really means "don't want to do this in this moment, but still want this done"
many of the things we don't "want" to do, but "have" to, are forced upon us by externalities
ex. a parent forcing a child to practise piano
the child may not want to practise, or become good at piano, but they may play, because they, ultimately, don't want to displease their parent (or be yelled at, etc.)
IMO, a terrible violence is being enacted upon the child in this situation
it seems more defensible if you replace "piano playing" with "study / homework"
b/c "obviously" improving your marketable skills is good thing
but truly, this reveals the inherent violence in reality ("find food and shelter, or die") and how society is currently structured ("be useful to the market, or suffer")