Procrastination is the thief of time - Edward Young
Whatever you want from life, whatever you have to do, whatever you want achieve, get better at, excel at, or just simply complete to have the piece of mind of knowing it's done - the easy comfort of procrastination lurks, waiting to hold you back.
Whether it's a responsibility, commitment (made to yourself or someone else), assignment, project, practice, workout, chore, or making time for family or friends...how many times have you thought "I'll do it later", "I'll do tomorrow", "I'll do it after...<insert anything that sounds better than the thing you need to do, even if that's doing nothing!>"
How often has that time passed and it remains undone? How often has it weighed on your mind, maybe just a little, maybe it's impacting your mental state, self-image, relationships, reputation, finances, and then later created inconvenience or frustration (not to mention you still have to actually do the thing you've been putting off!).
Sound familiar? No? Well done, you have already mastered procrastination. For the other 99% of us - read on!
What is procrastination?
Procrastination is intentionally avoiding the starting and completion of a task or tasks you should or would like to do, even if doing so can have negative consequences).
Why do we procrastinate?
Research points to a number of drivers, and interestingly it's more about negative emotions and lack of a structured approach, as opposed to 'laziness' as is often assumed. Fear of failure, lack of structure or clarity of outcome or approach, lack of organisation or priotitisation, feeling overwhelmed by a task, or being (or allowing yourself to be) easily distracted are all common drivers.
Even when there may be more important things to be done, we can be more inclined to reach for things that immediately feel good to take our mind off the thing we need to do - checking our phone, social media, television, sex or masturbation, that second bowl of ice cream (and yes, gaming), you get the idea.
We are more likely to engage in these things that feel good or have a perceived reward attached to them because they release the neurotransmitter associated with pleasure - dopamine, the drug you probably don't know you're already addicted to.
Getting that study or research paper done, the project for work, hitting the gym, doing the dishes, having that difficult conversation you need to have - if it seems hard, uncomfortable, negative or the reward doesn't seem immediate, we are far less likely to do it. This is especially true if we don't have a toolkit in place to help us 'hack' our approach to procrastination - more on this below. The brain can in fact release chemicals in response to things it perceives as negative which triggers our fight or flight response - not helpful for getting those tasks done!
If we can't overcome this avoidance with willpower and supporting tools, we are getting short-term relief from the negative emotions attached to completing it - but almost always we are only making the problem worse in the long term. The irony here is actually completing these tasks can provide a sense of achievement, reduce stress, and avoid a number of negative life impacts. That's not to mention we often spend more time worrying about the task and not completing it than the time the task would take!
What is the impact of procrastination?
Aside from robbing us of time and productivity, procrastination can have real, serious impacts on us mentally. Studies have linked procrastination to:
Depression
Stress
Anxiety
Low self-esteem
Irrational beliefs
Interestingly, one study also drew correlations to higher rates of illness and lower grade results among procrastinators in the student group it studied. By putting off what they needed to do, they increased their overall stress levels and the quality of the task when finally done was lower, contributing to the broader negative impacts they experienced physically and mentally.
Tools to dominate procrastination
Start with forgiving your past self, and do your future self a solid by starting to build new habits
βProcrastinators tend to have higher stress and lower self-compassion. you can't change the past, but you can change the future. Forgive yourself and commit to taking actionable steps to being better and applying tools to help yourself get there.
Research indicates self-compassion can be beneficial and not only get you off on the right foot but also help with motivation, optimism and feelings of self worth. Picturing your future self, having completed the task and enjoying the feelings and benefits that go with that, can also be a powerful motivator.
Starting can be hard, but even baby steps in the right direction help build a positive direction track-record. You don't have to (and are unlikely to) change everything overnight - just be better today than yesterday and you're on your way.
Hack your brain by rewarding productivity not procrastination
βProcrastination is itself a form of short term reward for your brain, in that it provides short term relief from any negative emotional connection to a task and looks to find pleasure or reward in other distractions instead. Tying reward to productivity and not giving into the lure of avoidance or the dopamine hit our brains get from the things we use to distract ourselves can help 're-program' our thinking and approach to task completion.
If you avoid the temptation of avoidance or pleasurable distraction, and instead reward yourself after completing tasks (or meaningful components of those tasks), you can start to associate task completion as a positive and it creates a positive cycle to replace a negative one. This require self-discipline and practice, but can be incredibly empowering to master. Start small if that helps and work your way up - baby steps in the right direction can have a big impact over time.
Write lists, organise and prioritise
βThe simple act of writing 'to-do' lists is very powerful. It provides a sense of clarity and structure to what needs to be done and enables us to better organise and prioritise. It gives you a basis to prioritise tasks, and reassurance you nothing has been forgotten (it also feels pretty good crossing things off a list once their done!).
It's important though to break lists down when they become larger, to ensure they don't become overwhelming. Prioritising and ordering them in 'to-do today' lists helps keep us focused on the most urgent or important tasks first.
It's also important to plot out time available if you are juggling a number of urgent priorities, and managing expectations of others if they are waiting on those tasks to be done. Managing expectations can really help from a stress management perspective, both for yourself, and for the person/people waiting on the task if you are doing it for someone else.
Scheduling specific time for a task can be really helpful, and by having it written down (and where necessary broken down, read below), this helps us with planning and making time for the things that need to be done.
Break it down and have a plan
Some tasks seem daunting when you look at them in their entirety because they are large, complex, or just new.
A really helpful tool is simply breaking the task down into manageable pieces (write lists, organise and prioritise!) and working through them until the bigger task is complete.
Think 'building kitset furniture' or 'baking a cake' - without a plan or understanding all the steps/parts/ingredients beforehand, it can seem daunting or confusing, making it easier to give into procrastination because it feels 'hard'. However with a manual/recipe (plan), they seem much easier and achievable, as you just need to go through step by step to achieve the end result.
Remove distractions and roadblocks
This is a big one, and again it takes practice and discipline. We all know how much more likely we are to be distracted when we don't want to complete a task but know we should. By scheduling time, removing distractions, and proactively removing roadblocks to you getting it done, you increase your chances of progress and success significantly.
If you have to use a computer to complete the tasks, close any windows that aren't required for the task (yes, that means email too - if you need relevant material from an email copy it into a document. And it goes without saying - Put. Your phone. Away. :)
Managing distractions, impulse control and emotional control are like any other skill, they takes practice. Make a point of investing the time in applying these and you will not only get a lot more done, it will become increasingly easier to maintain the discipline required to nail future tasks without those distractions pulling you away from the task at hand.
Make public commitment to create accountability
Making your commitment to completing a task public, to friends, family, colleagues, employers, coach etc can help motivate follow-through as it adds a layer of external accountability.
Find and focus on the positives
βHow will you feel once the task is completed? What will you employer, tutor, partner, family member, friend think of you? How much stress will it avoid by getting it done? How will it help you towards a broader goal?
By finding the positives to completing the task and focusing on them, it helps remove the negative noise around the task and provides more motivation to get it started and done.
You can dominate procrastination - it will take practice but as with anything in life that's worth achieving, putting in the effort will pay dividends. Find the tools that work for you, aim to be better today than you were yesterday, and commit to continuing your progress tomorrow.
If you found this useful, you might enjoy our guide on the gamers mental toolkit , in particular the section on 'executive functions'.