A brief look at the psychological factors that cause us to irrationally put off important tasks.
The old joke goes like this: What's a procrastinator's busiest day? Answer: tomorrow.
If you're a procrastinator then you're not alone: 75% of college
students consider themselves procrastinators and 50% are problem
procrastinators.
According to Steel (2007), there are four pillars of procrastination and so four potential ways to fight it:
1. Low task value
The value of the goal naturally affects our procrastination, for
example we procrastinate more on unpleasant tasks. Tasks that are
unpleasant because they're boring can be made more difficult
artificially to help us avoid procrastination, say by using time limits
or unusual conditions.
Otherwise you can try and tie an aversive task to something
attractive. Students who enjoy socialising often create study groups:
they can enjoy socialising at the same time as revising for exams.
Or, just treat yourself like a dog: small rewards for the right activities, punishment for procrastination.
2. The procrastinator's personality
Some people are born procrastinators. They have low self-control, are
easily distracted and impulsive. There is not much we can do about our
personalities but we can adjust our surroundings.
Standard advice is to put yourself in the right environment, i.e. one
that reinforces work and avoids temptation. A favourite for writers is
to pull out the internet cable from the back of the computer and hide it
at the furthest reaches of your house. While you're at it, hide your
smartphone there too.
Procrastination tends to occur whenever you have to stop and think.
Even quite small decision in your work can prompt procrastination. So
have everything you need to hand and develop automatic habits of work so
there's no need to stop and think.
3. Expecting success?
If you expect to complete a task easily, then you are less likely to
procrastinate. So increasing expectations of success should reduce
procrastination. Unfortunately expectations mostly change with
experience, i.e. experience of completing the task. It's a Catch-22.
Still it's useful to know that once you do get going on a task and
successfully complete it, you're unlikely to procrastinate as much in
the future on that same task.
4. Goal failure
Almost by definition procrastination is a failure to meet goals. So
setting goals in the right way is crucial. You should use short-term as
well as long-term goals and even artificial deadlines can be helpful.
Forgive yourself
Don't be too hard on yourself: there's evidence that forgiving
yourself for procrastinating can help stop the cycle.
Article courtesy of www.spring.org.uk
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