Are you tied up in knots by “I would have, I could have, I should have _______” self-talk? How often do you interrupt your progress in meeting a goal with procrastination? If you have ever relied on procrastination’s crutches, you have lots of company. The procrastination part of me lingers too long on some projects. Let’s interrupt our procrastination!
Retired professor and researcher of procrastination at Carleton College in Canada, Timothy Pychyl maintains that poor time management is not the cause of procrastination; rather, the culprit is our emotional regulation. The key reason we avoid doing something is not due to lackadaisical time management, but the task at hand generates some uncomfortable emotion – fear, anxiety, and/or self-doubt.
Research by Pychyl found another procrastination myth — that we work best under pressure. While stress might force you to complete something, it may not result in your best work. You may gain an adrenaline rush and believe that without pressure, it’s difficult to “find” motivation.
Pychyl prefers to call procrastination a choice. For example, we may choose to read some self-help book instead of addressing a distracting emotion. We may learn some information and tell ourselves, “I learned what I need to do!” When we take in some new information in this way, there may be a temporary relief that we are closing in on a solution. Brains love learning. In learning there is a sense of “solving” some concern. Yet, research suggests that this fleeting satisfaction might get in the way of actual motivation to follow up with actions. After all, most of us are elaborate excuse-makers.
It is good to learn about change! Actual change is the real pearl.
So, what is the procrastination story? Pychyl writes a “Don’t Delay” blog with Psychology Today. He advocates taking small, achievable steps to address both your stress level and deliver a jumpstart to your motivation. In an interview with Eric Zimmer, the creator of “The One You Feed” podcast, Pychyl offered tips from his book, Solving the Procrastination Puzzle: A Concise Guide to Strategies for Change:
- Present-self explains there is benefit from procrastination. Future-self reaps the results.
- Ask yourself, “How are you actually going to implement this goal?” Your implementation intention can start the engine of motivation.
- Leverage a positive habit you already have: “After I brush my teeth, my next morning action is _______________.”
- We do not do projects; we do actions.
- Follow this quote by a monk: “You’ve got to give the monkey something to do.”
- Most of us seem to believe that one must be in the mood to do something, that motivation proceeds action. However, it’s often the other way around.
Research offers ways to interrupt our procrastination: take action! I would add, be curious; greet your exiled emotions like old friends: “Ah, you always have my back. Let’s take baby steps together!”
Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz
524. When do you catch yourself procrastinating?
525. What project calls out to you to interrupt procrastination?
Pearls of Peace: A Family Psychologist’s Circle-of-Life Blog 
Interesting sources you’ve included. I originally thought pressure makes you work harder and still generate high quality, but I assume this differs from person to person?
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Yes, you are correct that a pressure situation lands differently on different people. Research takes the long view, looking at many individuals’ results from stress and productivity. I think the take-away message is to look at your implementation intentions — asking yourself what actually happens when you have worked on some goal. Also, I am in complete agreement with Pychyl that our uncomfortable emotions are key in the procrastination story. One needs to make peace with one’s own emotion buddies! They are just being protective.
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