Over the last few days, I have read a couple of articles on various aspects of Procrastination and how to deal with it. Then I remembered that I had read more articles on the subject including the wildly popular article and TED Talk by Tim Urban as well as the mother of the self help books, Getting Things Done.
This is Part 1 of a two part post.
I thought that in this article I will collate the lessons from all these books and articles and present a 'Universal Theory of Procrastination'. I will be referring to the following material in this article.
Why you procrastinate (It has nothing to do with self-control), written for NYTimes by Charlotte Leiberman
The smart guide to procrastination, written for BBC.com by Zaria Gorvett
Productivity is not about time management, it is about attention management, written for NYT by Adam Grant
Productivity is not about time management, it is about attention management, written for NYT by Adam Grant
Article on the Promodoro Technique by Chris Winfield
Why procrastinators procrastinate, written for waitbutwhy.com by Tim Urban
How to beat procrastination, written for waitbutwhy.com by Tim Urban
Getting things done, best selling book written by David Allen
All the material referred in this article are sources from publicly available material. I have just collated and summarized them in this blog post.
I read an article in NYT titled Why you procrastinate (It has nothing to do with self-control), This article is written by Charlotte Leiberman. Procrastination is not about Laziness. The word procrastination is derived from the Latin verb ‘Procrastinaire’ which means ‘to put off till tomorrow’. It is not just voluntary delay. The word is also derived from Greek word ‘Acrasia’ which means doing something against our best judgement.
In our mind we feel that we are harming ourselves by procrastinating and that self awareness makes us feel rotten. The problem is that we know procrastination is a bad idea and yet we do it.
People engage in the vicious cycle of procrastination because of their inability to manage their moods around the task. Some of these moods will be insecurity, self doubt, magnitude of task, boredom, anxiety etc. Procrastination is an emotion regulation problem that we confuse as time management problem. In other words procrastination is the primacy of short term mood repair over long term pursuit of intended action.
People engage in the vicious cycle of procrastination because of their inability to manage their moods around the task. Some of these moods will be insecurity, self doubt, magnitude of task, boredom, anxiety etc. Procrastination is an emotion regulation problem that we confuse as time management problem. In other words procrastination is the primacy of short term mood repair over long term pursuit of intended action.
We procrastinate those tasks that are unpleasant or create negative emotions. We feel we are not up to a task. The negative thoughts that are caused by procrastination are known as ‘procrastinatory cognition’.
The momentary relief that procrastination provides makes the cycle vicious. Procrastination is due to ‘Present bias’ a tendency to prioritize on the short term goals at the expense of long term needs. At a neural level we perceive our future self as a stranger. Our brain things that the task we are putting off is ‘someone else’s’ problem.
We can’t tell ourselves to stop procrastination. It is an emotion problem rather than a productivity problem and the solution is to control our emotions in a new way. We have to find an incentive to stop us from procrastinating. We give ourselves a BBO, ‘Bigger Better Offer’ which will motivate us to o the work. This reward should be better than the relief of avoidance. One option is to be gentle and kind with ourselves. We should not beat up ourselves for procrastinating. Another is to focus on the next task tricking our mind to assume that this task is over. Another way is to reframe that task to look at the positive aspects of the task at hand.
The main thing is to get started. That first step is very important. (I have experienced this again and again.). Once I start, I get the stuff done.
Another approach is to make your temptation more difficult. Another will be to make our tasks as easy as possible like sleeping in gym attire.
The article 'Smart Guide to Procrastination' presents the concept of 'Unscheduling' as an approach to handle procrastination. Instead of scheduling tasks you HAVE to do, you schedule tasks your WANT to do. A model unschedule will never contain words like 'Write boo', 'Finish presentation' etc.
This concept turns the traditional wisdom on procrastination on its head. In unscheduling you schedule tasks you enjoy doing and fill the remaining available time with routine tasks. Do not schedule any work tasks at all.
The premise is that since you have scheduled time for enjoyment, you will somehow finish your boring / work tasks quickly since you have to 'go out and play'. Unschedule gives you a week that you can look forward to. Since the time for leisure is clearly scheduled, you become aware how much time you have for work !
I think that premise is a stretch....
Having 'unscheduled', how do you get work done?
Instead of getting intimidated by huge work, it is better to slice it down to small chunks of 15 to 20 minutes each. That way you will make progress in your tasks and that will encourage you further to continue on your task. It is about making a start.
Another suggestion is to change the language you use to describe work. Rather than saying 'I must' or 'I have to', try saying 'I chose to'. This reframe the task as something positive, an idea that ties in with what Adam Grant mentioned in the article below.
The three key ideas in this article are Unscheduling', 'Reframing Task description' and 'Short 15 minutes bursts of work'.
In his article titled Productivity is not about time management, it is about attention management, Organization psychologist Adam Grant says that being prolific is not about time management. There are limited number of hours in a day and being focused on time makes us realize how many of these we waste. A better option is attention management. Prioritize the people and the projects that you need to focus your attention on. Attention management focuses on completing the right task for the right reasons in the right place and at the right moment.
According to conventional wisdom you are supposed to fix time goals for when you want to finish a task. That is not the right approach. Productive people gravitate towards projects that are personally interesting and socially meaningful. Before you do any task decide if it is meaningful. Identify all the stakeholders and how your task will benefit them. And work for a specific target audience.
Often our productivity struggles are due to lack of motivation and not due to time pressure. Productivity is a means to a virtuous end. If productivity is your goal (I have to finish two blog posts today, for example), then you will be under time pressure. If your end is virtuous, then you will automatically become productive.
Since productivity depends on the nature of the task, sequencing of tasks matter. It is better to schedule a boring task after completing a mildly interesting task and then do the most exciting task as a reward for completing the boring task.
Productivity and creativity need opposite attention management strategies. Productivity is fueled by creating filters to keep other thoughts out. Creativity is fueled by letting as many thoughts and ideas into your mind.
How do you get the best of both worlds!
It depends on your circadian rhythm. Do not mix productivity and creative work. If you are a morning person for example, do your analytical (Productive) task in the morning, boring tasks in the noon and creative tasks in the evening.
You also need to think differently into how you plan your time. Attention management also focuses on when you get things done. As per studies, if outside weather is bad, we are more productive. One suggestion is to divide your week into 'Maker days' and 'Manager days'. You schedule your meetings and other mechanical work on manager days and creative work on maker days.
Time management asks you to eliminate distractions. Attention management asks you to be thoughtful about time of distraction. Most of the writers wait for 'Maker Days' to start writing. But there is evidence that binge writing do not work as much as writing in shorter bursts.
In summary, if you are trying to be more productive, don't analyze how you spend your time. Focus on what consumes your attention.
Promodoro technique is a relatively new productivity improvement tool. The idea was presented by Francesco Cirilio in 2016. The technique can be broken down into four basic principles.
1. Work with time, not against it: Many of us live as if time is our enemy. We race the clock to finish assignments and meet deadlines. The Pomodoro Technique teaches us to work with time, instead of struggling against it.
2. Eliminate burnout: Taking short, scheduled breaks while working eliminates the “running on fumes” feeling you get when you push yourself too hard. It’s impossible to overwork when you stick to the system.
3. Manage distractions: Phone calls, emails, Facebook messages, or suddenly realizing you need to change the oil in your car – distractions constantly bombard us. Usually, these distractions can wait. The Pomodoro Technique helps you log your distractions, and prioritize them for later.
4. Create a better work/life balance: Most of us are far too intimately acquainted with the guilt that comes from procrastination. If we haven’t had a productive day, we can’t seem to enjoy our free time. As a Pomodoro Master, you create an effective timetable and achieve your high-priority tasks, so you truly enjoy your time off.
2. Eliminate burnout: Taking short, scheduled breaks while working eliminates the “running on fumes” feeling you get when you push yourself too hard. It’s impossible to overwork when you stick to the system.
3. Manage distractions: Phone calls, emails, Facebook messages, or suddenly realizing you need to change the oil in your car – distractions constantly bombard us. Usually, these distractions can wait. The Pomodoro Technique helps you log your distractions, and prioritize them for later.
4. Create a better work/life balance: Most of us are far too intimately acquainted with the guilt that comes from procrastination. If we haven’t had a productive day, we can’t seem to enjoy our free time. As a Pomodoro Master, you create an effective timetable and achieve your high-priority tasks, so you truly enjoy your time off.
Pomodoro Technique will help you achieve the following objectives
1. Find out how much effort an activity requires
2. Cut down on interruptions
3. Estimate the effort of future activities
4. Make pomodoro more effective
5. Set up a time table
6. Define your own objectives.
The idea of Pomodoro technique is to work uninterrupted on one specific task for a specific amount of time. As soon as that time is over, you are forced to take a break. Each Pomodoro consists of the following steps.
1. Identification of a task
2. Set a timer for 25 minutes
3. Work on your tasks till the timer rings, then put a check mark against the task
4. Take a five minutes break
This completes one Promodoro.
5. Repeat the steps 1 to 4 above three more times and then take a fifteen minute break.
This ties in with the positive distraction method that I had described in my blog post on 'Universal Theory of Getting Things Done'
This is the end of Part 1 of this article
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