psychology of procrastination podcast

So lots of forms of problem solving benefit from an incubation period where you take a pause between when you hear the problem and when you start working on it. If we dont try and we fail, there is less reflection on the self than if we try our hardest and fail. Alice Boyes is a former clinical psychologist and the author of the book Stress Free Productivity. And then you've got this other flavor of perfectionism, which is this perfectionist strivers, which is more someone who's driven by their own internal standards, but these standards are still quite high. Sometimes doing good for awhile gives us permission to do bad.This is stupid, I don't even care about it.Our fear and insecurities can lead to us devalue the entire project altogether. I have been researching and writing about procrastination for nearly twenty years. And I think, yeahI mean, I would go back to, well, were they really procrastinating or were they engaging in some other form of delay? Because being on alert, partly were alert for our usual associations between things. "At its core, procrastination is about not being able to manage your moods and emotions. Can lead to thoughts such as "I might as well not even try.". Yeah. But we all know that a lot of these things with uncertain outcomes are the things that have the higher potential for reward. Alice Boyes, a former clinical psychologist and author, says breaking the habit is more than simply a matter of discipline. And the other thing that happens too, when you don't start a task, you can still live in that wonderful space where you can imagine how great it's going to be and you can picture how perfect the ending's going to be when you finish writing that report or redecorating your house or whatever it is, that task that you're dealing with at that time. Make the goals small and manageable, and focus only on what the very next step should be. CURT NICKISCH: For me personally, the idea of a pre-mortem and testing your assumptions is kind of attractive because I expect that could help a lot with things that always seem to take longer than you thought they were going to. For Dr. Brammer, Imposter Syndrome came from his ability to excel in school, despite consistently cramming for assignments and tests. So it's actually quite high in college and university samples. CURT NICKISCH: Whats your understanding of procrastination? So think, again, using your values is a really good thing there. It's basically saying, Hey, yeah, I'm struggling with this task. Adam also tackles emotions and mental obstacles that impact our work, like loneliness, procrastination, burnout and bouncing back from rejection. Understanding the psychology of procrastination is key to overcoming it and achieving success in our personal and professional lives. CURT NICKISCH: So lets start down the line here and go through three different areas where we can really make a difference when it comes to changing how we work. Do you know what percentage of people are chronic procrastinators to the point where it's really affecting their health? In fact, anecdotally a lot of the people I've talked to when I say I do procrastination research, I get a lot of people telling me about their procrastination story. And this is whatas you mentioned, emotions are at the core of procrastination. And I think it makes sense though too, because if you are really driven and your whole sense of self-worth is focused on how well you do this task and you're so worried about that task, that's enough, that fear of failing, that fear of it not being good enough or not pleasing others can be enough to put you off ever even starting it. These include relationships, being assertive, struggling with guilt and/or procrastination, children and teenager's behavior, anxiety disorders, anger management, kids and divorce, self-esteem, child visitation, weight control, forgiveness, ADHD, addictions, and my latest, mood disorders. But if it were that simple, it wouldnt be a problem anymore. How can we create better habits to avoid procrastinating? So we talk about sagacious delay where on the surface when somebody puts something off, we might look at them and say, Hey, they're procrastinating, or we might even look at our own behavior and just because it's a delay and we're not doing what we know we should be doing, we might say, Well, I'm procrastinating. But if you sort of look below the surface, it may be that maybe you haven't started that report because you're waiting to hear back with some key information that's essential for you to get going on this and if you started without that information, you actually would be wasting a lot of time. So if you put those two things together, higher stress and poor health behaviors, and you tie that in with somebody who's got this pattern of dealing with unpleasant tasks in this very avoidant manner by procrastinating, over time, there's going to be some cumulative damage. When youve got that number one task that youre avoiding but youve also got a bunch of other things that normally you would avoid, and its the only time you ever get round to doing those. And we know that self-compassion can be a very powerful tool for regulating negative emotions, and that's another approach too, especially if we're really struggling and just sayit's not giving yourself a free pass. For best results, make your first step . This content is disabled due to your privacy settings. Perceptions of procrastination range from being the topic of jokes to being associated with mental illness (Svartdal, Granmo, & Farevaag, 2018). For example, if theres a task associated with your job that you dont want to do, you can still link it with something you believe in. When you can't figure out how to tackle a project or feel insecure about your abilities, you might find it easier to put it off. But I remember some years back at one of our conferences, we had some students presenting posters about their research on procrastination and there was this, what did they call it? So ambivalent emotion is when youre feeling fearful and exhilarated all at the same time or any combination of intense positive and intense negative emotions. And I think first thing I have to say is that perfectionism isn't sort of a single entity. Register for the early bird rate. And when we're faced with the temptation to put something off, how can we change our mindset and our environment to help us buckle down and do what needs to be done? And its this notion of accepting that work will be filled with friction that is actually a productive step in getting past procrastination. A lot of the focus on overcoming procrastination has been on habit forming and discipline, and getting the gumption to face the tasks you dont like doing. So that just prevents premature foreclosure one route. Gamers Gene's Procrastination Podcast is your source for everything Video Games info/news. And that's enough to keep us from actually getting started on the task. Is there a difference? CURT NICKISCH: You also argue for people to create better systems to help them start new tasks. So a really good way to find a system for you for approaching double tasks is when you successfully do a novel task, look at the system that you used to get it done. I've done some preliminary work looking at using self-compassion to address procrastination and it does suggest that it at least increases people's intentions to get on with the task and not procrastinate, but I want to follow up with some research to actually track that. ALICE BOYES: It can be both. In this way, youre setting yourself up for positive reinforcement, instead of the negative thoughts that usually accompany procrastination. Identify the emotions you feel that are associated with past tasks you havent completed. And it's usually on a task that we said we're going to do. And actually the research suggests that both those approaches can be very beneficial. Look at the cognitive distortions that came with the thought. What are the sort of consequences that they experience? Procrastination thrives in secrecy and isolation. They have career issues, health issues, they're not fulfilling their dreams, they're not reaching their goals. A common but counter-intuitive driver of procrastination is fear of failure. And then back to the psychological flexibility concept of using the difficult emotions that arise. So you take that task that's really stressing you out, you've got that report you've got to write, you're worried about what your manager's going to think because maybe a promotion rides on it, or you're worried if you're going to be doing it correctly, or if you're going to do it as perfectly as what you want, and you take that task, you put it aside and you get busy with other things and you've now have this immediate sense of relief. He felt that someday he would be caught and everyone would know that he had faked competence. So my strategy and my system is kind of tailored to that. Mills: So last question. Instead, research suggests that procrastination is a problem driven by our emotions, and learning to manage negative emotions effectively can help us overcome it. Gianni Dimacchia '24 brings immersive worlds and inspired characters to life as an artist, storyteller, and video game designer. It's not like procrastinators are sitting around lazy, they're doing other things. So the classic example thats always used in any intro psych textbook is driving: that once were not a novice driver anymore, whenever we sit in the driver seat of a car, we go through a sequence of behaviors without really even thinking about what we are doing. ALICE BOYES: Yeah, it absolutely is. So the evidence, it's a little mixed. Sometimes its just theres so much opportunity, we want to be doing all of these things and we sort of bite off more than we can chew in terms of the energy and focus that weve got. And we all want to learn from science. So when you learn that actually strong emotions and tense emotions, diverse emotions are incredibly healthy, you can just fear them a lot less and have a more open attitude toward them. Sirois: So yeah, I mean there's a lot of myths out there about why people procrastinate and the common wisdom out there is that, oh, teach somebody to manage their time better and they'll stop procrastinating, or give them better self-control or tell them they're lazy and crack the whip and get them going and that'll reduce it. The variable task or system-based factors are: This can become paralyzing, especially when we are unwilling to ask for help. So yeah, I would say there is some evidence suggest men might procrastinate a little bit more than women, but it's not a huge difference and we may get some evidence in the coming years that that levels out because I think it is really driven also by what's going on. So we have an intention to make, to do that task. ALICE BOYES: Yeah, Im not sure that its that black and white. And I think, yeah the digital media makes it easier for certain generations and I think that other generations might equally find other types of distractions and activities to engage in. Making things easier on people, like finding out if theres some sort of basis to the procrastination, learning how to support people. If you need help finding a therapist, check out this episode of Life Kit. And if somebody is not being productive and procrastinating, we think if we push them harder and get on their case, then they'll actually be more productive, rather than saying, Hey, it's okay and taking more of a compassionate approach. He answers difficult questions about anxiety, depression, relationships, OCD, PTSD, eating disorders and more, breaking things down so they're easier for the average person to understand. Her research also examines the role of positive psychology traits, states, and interventions for supporting self-regulation and enhancing health and well-being. Mills: Well, that's some good advice for you procrastinators who are listening to us today. Its incredibly successful. And shes here to lay those out for us. And I guess here we're talking about chronic procrastination as opposed to procrastinating from time to time. Often it is. This episode was produced by Mary Dooe. So there's short-term health impacts, but there's also some more serious long-term health impacts as well. Before you know it, hours have passed and you're right where you started and more stressed than ever. And then I think of one way to mitigate against each of them. People who chronically procrastinate or procrastinate regularly don't progress through their company as well. In her 30+-year career in communications, Mills has extensive media experience, including being interviewed by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and other top-tier print media. Sirois: Yeah. We get technical help from Rob Eckhardt. CURT NICKISCH: You mentioned earlier that when people do the tasks they know, those are often the easiest to do, and they put off the harder ones. ALICE BOYES: Yeah. Mills: All right, well, let's not put it off any longer. And we had 40-some-odd studies, it included 10,000 people and when we looked at the links between chronic procrastination and perfectionism, we indeed found that individuals who were more prone to chronic procrastination also scored higher on this measure of the self-critical perfectionism. Willpower is like a muscle. And there is indeed a connection. That's why we say it's sort of a short-term mood repair. Im not advocating anyone adopt my system. Why is it so easy to fall into this trap even when we know better? So thats obviously a huge problem, right? ALICE BOYES: Yeah, so people will have heard a lot about habits in recent years. We are both aware that we feel frustrated with ourselves when we know weve been procrastinating. So actually looking at more objective measures using Smart watches to track people's behavior, their physical activity and seeing again, if in fact people who are prone to procrastination are actually being less active than others. So sort of drilling down into understanding better that emotional side. overcome the tendency to put things off. It was engineered by Patrick Murray, and the digital . You might procrastinate in your health, but you may not procrastinate at work, for example. This Mindset Change podcast contains powerful subconscious training meditations, interviews with cutting-edge experts, and host Paul Sheppard's unique holistic blend of psychology, hypnosis, neurobiology, NLP, psychotherapy tools and strategies to help you create the life you truly want to live. It doesn't have to be objectively an unpleasant task, but it's what our interaction with that task, the emotions that arise from that interaction and how it makes us feel and if it's something unpleasant and we can't quite work through those feelings, procrastination becomes a way to solve that, at least in the short run. Sometimes its a much deeper seated thing than that. And so when we look at procrastination then in terms of emotion regulation, what one way to think about is that we're not avoiding the task per se, what we're avoiding is the negative emotions associated with that task. Menu. Speaking of Psychology is produced by Lea Winerman. Identifying the role of procrastination in your life. You said, I'm going to do that. So there's this task, we may not have enough information about it, and we start imagining how difficult it's going to be and how complex it's going to be and how we're going to fail or struggle. Putting aside whether these lists are historically accurate, they raise the question, is it possible to be a chronic procrastinator but also extremely productive? And really the name of the game is people changing themselves. And we can all do that with everything basically. Sometimes its just noticing that relationship. Then you need a snack. And there are more steps that are part of my process. So I think it can be quite mixed. Welcome to Speaking of Psychology, the flagship podcast of the American Psychological Association that examines the links between psychological science and everyday life. So yeah, that's how the emotions are involved. But the minutes you take action and start to encounter problems, which we all do, right, it's never a straight direct path from point A to point B when we're trying to reach our goals, there's ups and downs along the way, but people who have these sort of self-critical perfectionism, the minute they hit one of those bumps in the road, so to speak, on the path to their goal, they give up. I naturally worry about things that could go wrong. Because putting off those kinds of things tends to cause big problems, like if your air conditioner breaks in the middle of summer or whatever it is, its useful to have a generic system that you can use for approaching tasks that you dont do frequently, tasks that feel out of your wheelhouse, novel tasks. Subscribe. Kim I. In Canada or U.S., it would've been That's not an issue.. And so some of the estimates, the rough estimates we've gotten for that versus somebody who procrastinates on a fairly regular basis, almost to the point where it's like part of their personality, we can almost look at it like a personality trait, that percentage of the population in student samples, for example college and university students, it's estimated about 50% of college and university students procrastinate chronically, whereas about anywhere between 80% to 95% procrastinate at least once or more, but not necessarily to a large degree. Or can you get to a good emotion from that? I'm going to write that report by Friday. And that's the other thing too, it's usually a task that held some importance. Ways to overcome procrastination include: 10. And I'll mention one final thing too. So if I frame it like that, Im a lot more willing to do it. Can you feel a good emotion from that? Thanks for listening to the HBR IdeaCast. ALICE BOYES: Yeah, so its quite complicated. What do you find your cognitive distortions arewhat are the things you tell yourself to make yourself feel better about putting things off? And so I think we really do have to make that distinction between delay and procrastination. I just want to ask if perfectionism and procrastination are linked and are perfectionists more or less likely to procrastinate? This is simply not true. But often what we procrastinate and the type of procrastination that causes problems in our lives is things that we dont have to do every day. But after some research into why people procrastinate, he found a few tricks and tips to help him on his journey to live a more balanced life. Make those goals realistic so you dont talk yourself out of them. This creates a problematic cycle, one that erodes our self-confidence. She believes in the importance of communicating psychological science to the public to improve people's lives and has been interviewed about procrastination for news outlets including The Washington Post, The New York Times and the BBC. (Message automatically replaces this text). Mills: Well, somewhat related to my last question, are there cultural differences among people who procrastinate? Students who forgave themselves for procrastinating on academic work were found two weeks later to actually procrastinate less. How do you define procrastination in your research? We protect the self temporarily by avoiding the task that threatens it. On a level, thats useful. Far more than a productivity hack. You'll gain practical knowledge you can put into action right away. Eve. Since using all of these tools to beat his habit of procrastination, Dr. Brammer has been able to add more things to his life, and is still able to accomplish it all and feel confident. Repeat. Sirois: That's a great question. What theyre much better at is actually using their emotions as fuel for their goals. Can you explain what that is? Thank you for having me. When we are novice drivers, we have to think carefully about checking the mirrors and all the steps. CURT NICKISCH: But thats never addressing the emotion that goes with it. Im Curt Nickisch. I mean, that being said, there has been some experimental research done where they gave students a range of tasks easy and more difficult and looked at the time on task and what things they did otherwise. Our audio product manager is Ian Fox. Have you ever dealt with procrastination? We often dont start the project early enough to know how much time well actually need.Ive planned and organized how I will complete the task, its time for a break!. So what people want to do is look at the forms of procrastination with the most potential for major harm in their lives, that are causing them the most bother, and be really confident that theyve got strategies for dealing with those. Thank you for joining me today, Dr. Sirois. It is important to be able to make all of those distinctions. But it becomes over-learned and it becomes automatic. It gives you that quick fix. This can help you rebuild a habit of identifying the things we tell ourselves and have always accepted as truth. But what we actually know about people who are healthy, happy, and productive is that they dont go around spending a lot of time trying to reduce their emotions. "Everyone procrastinates, but not everyone is a procrastinator," quoth Dr. Joe Ferrari, a charming, hilarious expert on the subject. And this is what I'm saying, sort of the tolerance for procrastination, I think, differs across different cultural contexts. Why we procrastinate and what to do about it, with Fuschia Sirois, PhD, Procrastination: What It Is, Why Its a Problem, and What You Can Do About It. Then maybe a quick walk to clear your head. A former reporter and editor for The Associated Press, Mills has also written for publications including The Washington Post, Fast Company, American Journalism Review, Dallas Morning News, MSNBC.com and Harvard Business Review. It is the act of delaying or postponing tasks that need to be accomplished. And again, its coming back to this idea that it really isnt about stopping procrastination. Using science and storytelling, Hidden Brain . How does this play out interpersonally? Because youve given us a lot of tips on managing yourself individually. And then the other thing would be self-compassion. And then also, cut yourself a little bit of slack about some of the creative procrastination, like recognizing that weve got this image of a productive person being this person who is never distracted, whos always focused, who never procrastinates, whos just hustling all the time. Hes happily married, a father of two, involved in his church, in a band, and is a practicing psychiatrist. Or you may just do it from time to time depending on the circumstances. So I think it's whatever your fancy is, something to distract you from the emotions that you're not dealing with about the tasks that you should be doing, which is going to bed and maybe it's because you haven't processed what went on in that day. Mills: Given that these famous alleged procrastinators maybe weren't procrastinators at all, I thought it was interesting that there weren't a lot of women on the list that I saw. And then only later maybe realize that a different way of approaching it wouldve been more useful. What can you do, either as a manager or a colleague? Other areas I'm looking at is trying to get a handle on some of what's happening with respect to the emotion regulation and specifically this idea that we tend to often not get started on a task because we make emotional mountains out of molehills. In immersive interviews, Adam vividly brings his observations to life, weaving together stories with social science and revealing key insights in a friendly, accessible style. Sirois: It has a huge impact on it and I think this is a thing a lot of people don't think about when they think about procrastination. And being able to help the person see ways of approaching tasks from the perspective of their strengths is something thats useful. Fuschia Sirois, PhD, of Durham University, talks about why procrastination is an emotion regulation problem, not one of laziness or poor time management skills; how it can harm our mental and physical health; why its so tied up with guilt and shame; and how self-compassion can help us overcome it. And there might be some generational influences there too. You can use the same psychology behind that to prepare for even daily tasks. What tasks are they most likely to avoid? How does procrastination affect people's lives and their mental and physical health? Starting with thinking of different ways to approach it is probably the most important one for me. And this comes from a lot of the research that suggests that the type of tasks that we procrastinate on are ones that we don't enjoy. YANSS 253 - The psychology behind the world's greatest cons, . The podcast version of this story was produced by Audrey Nguyen. But it still creates a bit of a problem of not having a habit of getting on and doing that other thing. But that's the closest we can get to it. One of the findings I really like is about ambivalent emotions. I would think that it's more aboutit's not necessarily that you would procrastinate more or less necessarily depending on what the restraints were. Instead, it's a problem, as you say, of emotion regulation. When we shift over and we look at adults who are now out in the workforce, they've got their degrees and they're out there just getting on with their lives, it's still fairly high in terms of the chronic procrastination. I mean it's really bizarre. What does emotion regulation have to do with procrastination? And help from a managers perspective, drawing that out of people is something that is a skill that any manager should have. Self-forgiveness reduces the negative emotions we associate with a task, thus reducing future avoidance and offering ourselves an encouraging approach instead. So doing compassionate self talk is useful about the feelings that youre having. It's a habit of putting off tasks that we know we need to complete, and it often leads to stress, anxiety, and missed deadlines. Mills is senior director of strategic external communications and public affairs for the American Psychological Association, where she has worked since 2007. There are also variable factorsthings like our environment, our health that day, and other things that might affect our tendency to procrastinate. Were all prone to procrastinate. When youre doing work that has more potential to be impactful, its usually more uncertain. It can become tired, temporarily, after extensive use. So if you're a student and you're procrastinating on your academic work, then it's likely you're not going to do as well performance-wise. Mindfulness will help you be able to identify mental patterns, such as cognitive distortions. But a lot of what my research is focused on over the last couple of decades is exactly what you said, that there's these real health consequences. That frustration is a sign we are trying to change, but it isnt helpful in the actual change. So the classic example is the student who the only time they ever clean their dorm room is when they should be studying for exams. No one feels good about it, but most of us do it at least occasionally. We think about people procrastinating things that they have to do every month or every week or every day. And the research bears this out. 6 Depression can also lead to self-doubt. This is another self-protective belief.There must be some way I can just not do this.There isn't an easy fix for procrastinationwe usually still have to complete the task. And although I've only done one study in this area, one study that I did do looking at people with hearttheir heart health, so in terms of having hypertension or cardiovascular disease, I found that those who scored higher on a measure of chronic procrastination, when you controlled for all kinds of other factors that might account for poor heart health, they were more likely to be in the group that had poor heart health. Movies. Sirois: So that's a great question. And how to stop procrastinating. I'm so glad that we did not put off this discussion. Is the task actually stupid, or is it something you should do, youre just afraid to do it, so youre demeaning it in case you fail? Making time for time management. ALICE BOYES: Yeah. Theres no pictures. But what about that culture of procrastination at a place or in a team? Im an anxious person. You dont have to be a member of Procrastinators Anonymous to appreciate how paralyzing procrastination can be. It also causes us to keep up a steady stream of I should be in our subconscious minds. The adrenaline spike and stress of the situation make us think we are better off waiting, but in reality, its unlikely that our delay will make the final product any better.Ill feel more like it later.We deceive ourselves into thinking that we'll feel like completing the task later. So some of my students have looked at getting people to answers and questionnaires at one time point, and then following up with them and getting them to fill in with grids based on 30-minute or 15-minute segments of the day. You build a lot more resilience. And again, estimates there range between 15% to 25%, which is still quite a few people who are really engaging in procrastination as a fairly regular way of dealing with tasks that they don't want to deal with. If you live and breathe video games, Procrastination Podcast has you covered. For more than 20 years, she has researched the causes and consequences of procrastination as well as how emotions play a role in explaining why people procrastinate. There really is so much that goes on with it psychologically. And I think it has to do with deadlines and how flexible those are. I mean, if you bring people in to be observed and to be experimental subjects where you tell them to procrastinate, I mean how do you do this?

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