Reducing Procrastination

As humans, we know that sometimes we need to tolerate facing a boring or challenging task to benefit our long-term selves. This could be going for a run when you want to sleep in, going to work when you want to take a day off, saying yes to a project at work that will be difficult, but might lead to a promotion…

Yet most people procrastinate and put work off to tomorrow, the land where 98% of human productivity occurs.

Why do you procrastinate?

Is it because life is too short and you want to go out and enjoy things?

Is it because you feel too tired and want to work on your projects when you feel fresh?

Is it because you feel like what you do won’t be good enough and so you try to leave it to the last minute so you can blame not having enough time on why you didn’t do well on that project?

People procrastinate for many different reasons, but at its core, procrastination is about the inability to tolerate negative emotions or sensations. Humans don’t like to feel bad. If left to our own devices, we are quite hedonistic….we want to feel good and we love instant gratification. And sitting down to do a task can be boring, tedious and hard.

If you don’t believe me, shut your eyes for a moment and picture a moment where you felt very calm and content. Really remember what it felt like in your body….you might have felt a lightness in your chest, a relaxation of your jaw.

Now, imagine I told you that you need to write an essay and it’s due by 6pm tonight. Notice how your body changes. Notice that it detects discomfort. Often, this process happens so automatically that we don’t even notice that we felt discomfort and our body is trying avoid that discomfort by picking up your phone to scroll.

So here are a few tips to get you started on your journey to overcoming procrastination:

1)    Mindfulness. Become aware of the sensations that occur when you sit down to do a task, and ‘surf the urge’ and resist the desire to avoid those sensations. You can tolerate frustration and boredom.  Self-control is a muscle. You do not need to go the fridge again; no new food has appeared.

2)    Use a timer. Do not check your phone or get up until that timer goes off, even if you just end up staring at a blank word document that whole time.

3)     Ask yourself the following questions (and be honest!).

·       What happened last time you went along with that excuse?

·       If you do make a start now, how will you feel later?

·       Is it true you can’t even start a small part now?

·       Am I really better off if I put the task off?

·       Will I really feel more inspired later?

4)    Imagine how good it will feel completing the task and the sense of self-trust you are building through saying you’ll do something, and sticking to it

There are so many more things that can help reduce procrastination, including exploring the origin of the behaviour, the function of the behaviour and many more strategies. This will be individual for each person. If you would like some one on one help with overcoming procrastination, please reach out today.