# How to Use Psychology to Solve the Procrastination Puzzle ![rw-book-cover](https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/static/images/article0.00998d930354.png) ## Metadata - Author: [[betterhumans.pub]] - Full Title: How to Use Psychology to Solve the Procrastination Puzzle - Category: #articles - URL: https://betterhumans.pub/how-to-use-psychology-to-solve-the-procrastination-puzzle-6e6a56cdd535 ## Highlights - Procrastination — the thief of time — robs us of much more. Psychological science reveals that it undermines our performance, reduces well-being, harms work relationships, and correlates to poorer health, even coronary heart disease and hypertension. - The Role of Emotions - Psychological research has revealed that procrastination is an emotion-management problem. - We cope with negative emotions that are associated with a task through avoidance, but this is a self-defeating coping strategy, because only your present self benefits. - Avoidance acts as short-term mood repair. It works in the short term but not in the long term. We may escape the task and its associated negative emotions — like anxiety, frustration, resentment, or boredom — but the task doesn’t go away. - Present Self vs. Future Self - Future self must face the task—and future self typically gets the added burden of time pressure, stress and, even the self-loathing associated with the earlier needless delay. - We rely on our present state to predict the future. - When we procrastinate, we get relief from facing an aversive task now. That’s why we procrastinate. - If we’re off doing something more enjoyable, we may actually be feeling very good. So, when we think about tomorrow with this presentism bias, we’re just certain that “we’ll feel more like it tomorrow.” Future self, of course, is not convinced. - Future Self Is a Stranger - When we process information about our present and future selves, the brain regions involved in processing information about our future self are the same as those used when we process information about a stranger - We don’t think about future self like we do present self at all, so present self is more likely to make these short-term decisions that undermine future self. - “I don’t feel like it.” “I don’t want to.” “I’ll feel more like it tomorrow.” - These scientific findings are reflected in our everyday experiences with statements such as: - guilt, even shame, are the most common emotions associated with procrastination. - it’s important to understand that procrastination is only one form of delay. We all use delay in many ways. - Sagacious Delay - We use delay very rationally as we set priorities and sequence things to optimize time and other resources. This purposeful delay is just one of six kinds of delay that research has identified. - The key point is that procrastination is a voluntary delay of an intended act despite the nagging awareness that we’ll pay for it later. - Other kinds of delay can be beneficial, even necessary. In research, we call these “sagacious delays” — meaning they show good judgement. Knowing the difference is key to reducing irrational delay in our lives. - if procrastination is about emotion regulation, short-term reward, and being ever so irrational as we undermine our future self, can we do something about it? - Defeat Procrastination? Absolutely - Emotion-regulation skills include things like our ability to be aware of our emotions, label our emotions, tolerate and/or modify aversive emotions, and support ourselves through the experience of negative emotions. - Emotion regulation is part of better understanding ourselves and being resilient. Understanding ourselves better is part of why you’re reading this now, and the good news from research is that these adaptive emotion-regulation skills can be learned, and doing so decreases procrastination. - the skills of emotional resilience and modification were shown to decrease procrastination—and these skills were learned online, which has the promise of flexible personal development - Strong Intentions, Weak Intentions, and the Road To… - With the emotion-regulation foundation firmly set, let’s explore other strategies to defeat procrastination. Psychologists have a lot to say about how we make our intentions. - Some intentions are simply too vague and ill-defined to have any motivational strength. - A key strategy to defeating procrastination is setting more effective intentions. What do these look like? - very specific intentions in the form of “when…then” make a big difference to our success. They help us implement our intentions, as the name implies. - when we make an implementation intention, we’re putting the cue for action into the environment. - An effective implementation intention might be, “When I finish this reading, then I will make a list of the projects on which I’ve been procrastinating in order to better understand the emotions that each evoke.” The intention is clear, concrete, and actionable. The research shows we’re more likely to act when we make intentions like this. - Action. That’s where our focus needs to be. What’s the next action? - once we begin a task, no matter how dreaded, our perceptions of the task change. - we don’t appraise the task as quite so stressful or difficult once we get started. - Starting is everything, so my personal mantra based on this research has been “just get started.” - I began to incorporate the wisdom of productivity guru David Allen, with his focus on action, and I basically say to myself, “What’s the next action?” - Social psychologists have shown that even a little progress fuels our well-being and creates an upward spiral of well-being and motivation in our lives. - Psychological science has lots to teach us about procrastination. At times, it seems to defeat us. And, certainly, some of us are more vulnerable to this needless delay in our lives. - personality is not destiny! There is more hope than despair in the scientific messages. No matter what hand we get dealt from the “personality deck,” change is always possible and real. - Let that better self who thrives at some parts of the day pre-commit the weaker self to action. And don’t depend on the brute force of will. Inevitably, willpower alone will fail you. - Extend Your Will - you can increase your available willpower by building a volitional scaffold. You need to learn to use the context around you—place and people—to help. - When distractions are just a click away, for example, you’re on the procrastination superhighway. Preempt that which tempts! (Yes, this may mean shutting off social media, your phone, and the many other things that will “only take a minute.”) - Forgive Yourself! - Self-forgiveness and self-compassion is crucial. In one of our studies, we found that those who self-forgave for procrastinating procrastinated less in the future. - When I was initially confused by this finding, my research colleague explained that without forgiveness, the motivation is to avoid. - Without forgiveness, we’re motivated to avoid. - Psychological science is helping us better understand the procrastination puzzle and offers new hope for truly defeating this needless self-defeating delay. # How to Use Psychology to Solve the Procrastination Puzzle ![rw-book-cover](https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/static/images/article0.00998d930354.png) ## Metadata - Author: [[betterhumans.pub]] - Full Title: How to Use Psychology to Solve the Procrastination Puzzle - Category: #articles - URL: https://betterhumans.pub/how-to-use-psychology-to-solve-the-procrastination-puzzle-6e6a56cdd535 ## Highlights - Procrastination — the thief of time — robs us of much more. Psychological science reveals that it undermines our performance, reduces well-being, harms work relationships, and correlates to poorer health, even coronary heart disease and hypertension. - The Role of Emotions - Psychological research has revealed that procrastination is an emotion-management problem. - We cope with negative emotions that are associated with a task through avoidance, but this is a self-defeating coping strategy, because only your present self benefits. - Avoidance acts as short-term mood repair. It works in the short term but not in the long term. We may escape the task and its associated negative emotions — like anxiety, frustration, resentment, or boredom — but the task doesn’t go away. - Present Self vs. Future Self - Future self must face the task—and future self typically gets the added burden of time pressure, stress and, even the self-loathing associated with the earlier needless delay. - We rely on our present state to predict the future. - When we procrastinate, we get relief from facing an aversive task now. That’s why we procrastinate. - If we’re off doing something more enjoyable, we may actually be feeling very good. So, when we think about tomorrow with this presentism bias, we’re just certain that “we’ll feel more like it tomorrow.” Future self, of course, is not convinced. - Future Self Is a Stranger - When we process information about our present and future selves, the brain regions involved in processing information about our future self are the same as those used when we process information about a stranger - We don’t think about future self like we do present self at all, so present self is more likely to make these short-term decisions that undermine future self. - “I don’t feel like it.” “I don’t want to.” “I’ll feel more like it tomorrow.” - These scientific findings are reflected in our everyday experiences with statements such as: - guilt, even shame, are the most common emotions associated with procrastination. - it’s important to understand that procrastination is only one form of delay. We all use delay in many ways. - Sagacious Delay - We use delay very rationally as we set priorities and sequence things to optimize time and other resources. This purposeful delay is just one of six kinds of delay that research has identified. - The key point is that procrastination is a voluntary delay of an intended act despite the nagging awareness that we’ll pay for it later. - Other kinds of delay can be beneficial, even necessary. In research, we call these “sagacious delays” — meaning they show good judgement. Knowing the difference is key to reducing irrational delay in our lives. - if procrastination is about emotion regulation, short-term reward, and being ever so irrational as we undermine our future self, can we do something about it? - Defeat Procrastination? Absolutely - Emotion-regulation skills include things like our ability to be aware of our emotions, label our emotions, tolerate and/or modify aversive emotions, and support ourselves through the experience of negative emotions. - Emotion regulation is part of better understanding ourselves and being resilient. Understanding ourselves better is part of why you’re reading this now, and the good news from research is that these adaptive emotion-regulation skills can be learned, and doing so decreases procrastination. - the skills of emotional resilience and modification were shown to decrease procrastination—and these skills were learned online, which has the promise of flexible personal development - Strong Intentions, Weak Intentions, and the Road To… - With the emotion-regulation foundation firmly set, let’s explore other strategies to defeat procrastination. Psychologists have a lot to say about how we make our intentions. - Some intentions are simply too vague and ill-defined to have any motivational strength. - A key strategy to defeating procrastination is setting more effective intentions. What do these look like? - very specific intentions in the form of “when…then” make a big difference to our success. They help us implement our intentions, as the name implies. - when we make an implementation intention, we’re putting the cue for action into the environment. - An effective implementation intention might be, “When I finish this reading, then I will make a list of the projects on which I’ve been procrastinating in order to better understand the emotions that each evoke.” The intention is clear, concrete, and actionable. The research shows we’re more likely to act when we make intentions like this. - Action. That’s where our focus needs to be. What’s the next action? - once we begin a task, no matter how dreaded, our perceptions of the task change. - we don’t appraise the task as quite so stressful or difficult once we get started. - Starting is everything, so my personal mantra based on this research has been “just get started.” - I began to incorporate the wisdom of productivity guru David Allen, with his focus on action, and I basically say to myself, “What’s the next action?” - Social psychologists have shown that even a little progress fuels our well-being and creates an upward spiral of well-being and motivation in our lives. - Psychological science has lots to teach us about procrastination. At times, it seems to defeat us. And, certainly, some of us are more vulnerable to this needless delay in our lives. - personality is not destiny! There is more hope than despair in the scientific messages. No matter what hand we get dealt from the “personality deck,” change is always possible and real. - Let that better self who thrives at some parts of the day pre-commit the weaker self to action. And don’t depend on the brute force of will. Inevitably, willpower alone will fail you. - Extend Your Will - you can increase your available willpower by building a volitional scaffold. You need to learn to use the context around you—place and people—to help. - When distractions are just a click away, for example, you’re on the procrastination superhighway. Preempt that which tempts! (Yes, this may mean shutting off social media, your phone, and the many other things that will “only take a minute.”) - Forgive Yourself! - Self-forgiveness and self-compassion is crucial. In one of our studies, we found that those who self-forgave for procrastinating procrastinated less in the future. - When I was initially confused by this finding, my research colleague explained that without forgiveness, the motivation is to avoid. - Without forgiveness, we’re motivated to avoid. - Psychological science is helping us better understand the procrastination puzzle and offers new hope for truly defeating this needless self-defeating delay.