Most of us had at least cursory experience with procrastination. Sometimes you think that you need to be in the right frame of mind to start working on a certain task or project. In other cases, you overestimate how much time you have left before you can get started, and deadlines sneak up suddenly on you. And the end result of putting off important work is usually frantic, rushed attempts to plug the leaks on a sinking ship. You do realize later, reflectively, that had you put an effort earlier, the thing which was begging to be done would have been done earlier and in much less pain. So why did you expose yourself to unnecessary suffering? And how can it be prevented from reoccurring in the future? How to stop doing things at the last minute?
One of the main reasons behind such procrastination is performance anxiety. You set high standards for the output of your efforts, and never start doing anything, subconsciously knowing that failure here is very likely, maybe because you have some rust (not touching this type of activity in a while), or simply are inexperienced in the type of work which is pending. The approach for this is to set absolutely minimal goals in the beginning, simple enough, that they can’t be failed, and completing them within a day. You don’t have to pressure yourself to do too much within a day, as you get yourself habituated to productive work, because getting just one sentence written in a day is better than not having a single word, which you can’t pry out of yourself, as you expect to write an entire article today. Once you are in the groove, you’ll be able to do more and more – you will gradually be increasing the size of your mini-tasks.
Psychology behind procrastination
The biological mechanism behind performance anxiety could very well be your dopamine system. The chaotic monkey brain tells you that why should you take the path of hard dedicated work with a high probability of failure, why to defer gratification if there are some pleasant dopamine-releasing stimulants available readily (games, social media, etc.). That just isn’t practical. Why expend calories (which were always so preciously scarce throughout our evolution), if you already have pleasure in your life?
Pleasure is a feedback mechanism, which tells you that the things you are doing are right, evolutionary speaking. Evolutionary right things bring you access to food, sex, shelter, bonding, with your tribe or status in it. Unfortunately to our dopamine system, it didn’t evolve alongside computers, smartphones, and the Internet. It never learned to distinguish between real things, happening right next to us, existing directly in our lives and virtual illusions, whose only role in our lives is visual projections hitting our sensory systems.
And so the voice inside you is trying to convince you that you’ve achieved enough since you have an entire city up and running in a videogame, or have hundreds of people engaged in interactions with you on social media, and therefore writing an article is not necessary, as you have a way easier way to success. And so the monkey takes charge of the steering wheel and strays you in a perceived evolutionary practical direction. But at the same time, it is your choice to surrender that control, since you know fully and consciously know, which directly leads to actual success, and which one is merely a pleasant diversion.
Developing a habit of getting things done
The first technique of destroying procrastination is the mentioned above setting and accomplishment of minimal goals, with increasing size of those goals over time, until you are satisfied with your performance. By the time you reach that point, you will get enough proficiency at your skill, that you eagerly anticipate, for example, sitting down and writing an article, because you know, that within an hour or two, you’ll write a completely original work with all the references and research behind it. You will actually get so good at the practiced skill, that the prospect of easily done work will feel motivating, and no external incentives will be required.
Using the example of an article you have to write, when you find yourself at a loss, not being able to get into the right mindset for writing, forget about the entire article. Start with writing one good paragraph, that you’d like. If even the prospect of coming up with an article is weighing down on you too heavily and you are still at a loss – take an even smaller step toward your goal. Write just one decent sentence. That would be it for today. But don’t just write one sentence and descend back into the pit of procrastination. Get back to the daily practice of writing sentences, and try increasing the volume of work gradually – it will take time to build that habit, but you will reap the benefits in time.
Habits usually take about 2-3 months to build. So start now and practice deliberately, you’ll get to your target sooner this way.
The second technique goes hand in hand with the first one and involves creating incentives – rewarding yourself with a thing, which is pleasant to you for every decent and reasonably big amount of work you do toward the goal. My favorite reward is a 30-60 minute videogame session of any game, which I feel compelled to play at the time. You could give yourself a treat, or watch some funny pictures or videos. Do not however reward yourself with drugs, alcohol, or any other substances, which alter your body chemistry in an unnatural way. Porn will exhaust you and break your focus, don’t abuse your brain – it’s not an easy organ to fix (if there ever was any).
Do not, however, end up overindulging in the source of pleasure – dose the fun well, and get back to goal accomplishment, promising you’ll get more treats after another portion of work is done. Make sure to keep those promises.
The third technique is a simple understanding that everything you are doing, every path you are following is your choice. Understand this too, unless you start changing today, you aren’t likely to do it tomorrow. And most likely you won’t start doing a year later. If you are sitting on the fence, feeling that beginning to work on a certain project will move your life forward – muster up all the desire, which lief dormant inside of you, and force yourself to make the first step. A small step. And then gradually build up your pace, as the fist technique advises.
That desire, however, has to be inside of you. If you are doing something, which is radically against your nature – your soul will rebel, and your mind will not cooperate in solving the task, which lies in front of you. Maybe you need to listen to yourself more, and figure out which path in life should you follow. The topic of finding your path in life deserves a separate article.
Mental benefits of procrastination-resistant personality
According to Joseph Ferrari, a professor of psychology at DePaul University, author of Still Procrastinating: The No Regret Guide to Getting It Done, about 20% of the adult population in the US are chronic procrastinators. People like this don’t just put off some important tasks occasionally, for them it is a lifestyle – the pay their bills late, delay important shopping for family holidays or don’t start working on the important projects until the night before the deadline.
University students from numerous studies conducted on campuses, who were procrastinators, reported a higher number of sick days and had increased levels of stress and anxiety.
Besides the negative impact on health, your relationships are at risk – a procrastinator is likely to skip on doing something, people close to him rely on. And you can’t expect your friends or loved ones to be happy about it. Resentment will build up as the number of subpar works done the last minute (or failed altogether) will increase.
It is an unsustainable bottomless pit. You don’t want to get yourself there. You run the risk of being stuck deep in that pit, unable to climb out of mediocrity, on the receiving end of resentment even from closed ones, and having not a person in the world respect you. Including yourself. So respect yourself, instead, find what you’re good at, and pursue meaning in your life. Self-actualization is the name of the game for a healthy modern individual. Pursue it, if you value yourself, and the life you were given.
