psychology of procrastination podcast

Doer is the science -based guide to overcoming procrastination. And the general gist of it is that habits make behaviors more automatic. We all feel guilty about it. CURT NICKISCH: Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast from Harvard Business Review. And they should have an explicit system. 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. 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. Our guest today offers three strategic paths to beat procrastination in a comprehensive way. Knowing what the strengths of people are or knowing how to discover them from conversation. I think about what I think could go wrong with the task. 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. ALICE BOYES: Yeah. But that being said, there's other things that we can do to engage in procrastination for sure. A common but counter-intuitive driver of procrastination is fear of failure. If you force yourself to think of three different ways, then you can assess which is the best of those. Adding your daily task unlocks deep insights about your psychology. Et la procrastination on peut la trouver aussi chez les personnes qui souhaitent gurir. Boyes wrote the book Stress-Free Productivityand the HBR article How to Stop Procrastinating.. Then you need a snack. Sometimes the emotion will disguise itself as a physical sensation, such as anxiousness, nausea, or a rapid heartbeat. Mindfulness will help you be able to identify mental patterns, such as cognitive distortions. And yet we still do it. Or you may be sitting up reading that novel or you may be knitting that sweater. Then maybe a quick walk to clear your head. Its not necessarily just about thought processes and habits, but it is such an emotional process too. Finding productive reasons to keep working on tasks and commitments. Mills is senior director of strategic external communications and public affairs for the American Psychological Association, where she has worked since 2007. Because all of those things have bidirectional arrows between them, what it in essence means is that even if you see your procrastination as being primarily emotional or primarily cognitive, or primarily about habits. So think, again, using your values is a really good thing there. So we tend to think of the productivity side of it. 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. What Im saying is that people should personalize their systems to them. We can't impose that on them. And then I try and address each of those things that could go wrong in a specific way. 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. You can extrapolate out a little bit. 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. Then you go to other parts of the world and one part of the world where there's actually quite a booming research or culture of researchers looking into procrastination. He does whats in his wheelhouse. And so we label our downtime as procrastination. But there's tolerance for it too. So there are some sort of useful forms of it but obviously it can also tie people in knots and lead to lots of self-criticism. And thats kind of useful for everybody, because we all tend to think of one way we could approach something and start down that track. What purpose does it serve? One of the strategies that I often use myself is this idea of a task that youre avoiding, thinking about it in terms of your values. People often come to therapy wanting to change somebody else. And then the other thing would be self-compassion. Alice Boyes, a former clinical psychologist and author, says breaking the habit is more than simply a matter of discipline. And then it turns into a big problem that could have been avoided. Try to place your willpower-hungry tasks at the beginning of the day. When we are novice drivers, we have to think carefully about checking the mirrors and all the steps. For example, there's some countries where deadlines are loose, trains and planes don't run on fixed schedules. Putting aside whether these lists are historically accurate, they raise the question, is it possible to be a chronic procrastinator but also extremely productive? What's the difference between procrastinating and simply deferring something for another time? Its been a popular topic. It's a delay that's voluntary. Why is that? Fuschia Sirois, PhD, is a professor in the department of psychology at Durham University in the United Kingdom. Can lead to thoughts such as "I might as well not even try.". 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. In addition to studying procrastination, she also researches perfectionism, self-compassion, gratitude, time and loneliness. And so procrastination becomes a way to cope with that negative mood and those negative emotions, especially if you're someone who hasn't had a lot of experience managing your negative emotions effectively, or maybe you've got a lot of other stressors going on in your life that you've sort ofyour resources, your inner resources for coping with a task that might be really unpleasant or stressful or frustrating or creates a lot of worry for you, in those sorts of situations, you might resort to procrastination. It gives you that quick fix. You might be procrastinating when: There is a gap between your intention and action You feel like avoiding something You find yourself easily distracted You feel overwhelmed by tasks at the last minute You always feel rushed to complete a project The research psychologist, author and DePaul University professor sits down for a truly delightful exploration of why we procrastinate, how prevalent it is, when it becomes harmful, some myths about procrastination, why it's similar to gambling, how . And help from a managers perspective, drawing that out of people is something that is a skill that any manager should have. You've actually just repaired that negative mood and you feel better. Being unwilling to ask for help can relate to Impostor Syndrome, and can fuel procrastination. People who deal with Impostor Syndrome take negative statements and magnify them, adding them to the pile of proof that they arent as capable as people believe them to be. I think it worked out to the extent that they had a one point increase on this measure, so it was a self-report measure that we use. In the show you'll learn about the physiological origins of procrastination - the inner brake pedal and gas pedal - and what to do to escape the two . I think that its often part of the creative process that sometimes we procrastinate because were doing something hard. The variable task or system-based factors are: This can become paralyzing, especially when we are unwilling to ask for help. 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. Procrastination thrives in secrecy and isolation. You're going to hand in things late or you're not going to do your best work. Doer is the science -based guide to overcoming procrastination. I can say yes and no because no to one type, but yes to another. Making time for time management. Rooted in psychology, our personalized lessons help you develop strategies to overcome procrastination. And yes, there is such a group. Can you feel a good emotion from that? More specifically, cognitive behavioral therapy will help you identify your cognitive distortions. Far more than a productivity hack. And coming at it from this mood regulation or emotion regulation perspective then, what that suggests is that we need to find ways to manage those emotions first and foremost. So whats a good way to overcome that, to accept that this friction-filled work, as you put it, is good for you and may help you? The presence of ambivalent emotions tends to put us on alert. And so this is one of the reasons why, at least with my research anyways, what I've defaulted to is looking at people who have a chronic tendency to procrastinate, because that'sin a sense we're holding that procrastination constant and we're looking at what are the sort of thoughts that they have? Lower conscientiousnesslower drive to be organized and accomplish. Because being on alert, partly were alert for our usual associations between things. CURT NICKISCH: Thats interesting. Can you explain what that is? 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. So that's one project that I'll be working on and looking at sort of existing research out there to see if the mean levels of procrastination, chronic procrastination that is, have gone up, especially in student samples over the last couple of decades. Such as, This is stupid, I dont even care about it.. You get into that endless feedback loop. 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. 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. As we build a habit of procrastinating, we develop false beliefs that worsen the habit. She explains the different causes of procrastination and shares three. Their self-worth is contingent upon whether they live up to some sort of idealized standard that they think society or their friends or their family expect of them. It also causes us to keep up a steady stream of I should be in our subconscious minds. If you need help finding a therapist, check out this episode of Life Kit. Thank you for joining me today, Dr. Sirois. We protect the self temporarily by avoiding the task that threatens it. So the researchers that have looked at what people do to procrastinate on their bedtimes, it's not just digitally oriented distractions, they engage in a whole bunch of things. It can become tired, temporarily, after extensive use. I just want to ask if perfectionism and procrastination are linked and are perfectionists more or less likely to procrastinate? So as much, there's not so much as a strong response to procrastination in cultures where things are a little bit more lax in terms of timelines. 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. But it makes sense though too, because if you're stressed all the time and you're not looking after your health, these healthy behaviorsand stress and health behaviors are two key pathways to good health and when you don't engage in them, we know that they are risk factors for poor heart health. 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. overcome the tendency to put things off. And really the name of the game is people changing themselves. Its incredibly successful. Hidden Brain helps curious people understand the world-- and themselves. Part of it is Ill think about three ways I could approach the task at the outset. Its about identifying the forms of procrastination that cause problems for you, like where youve got a sense of a possible problem in your mind, and you just keep putting off thinking about it, putting off dealing with it. What are the next things that you're looking at in the realm of procrastination or even the other areas where you're doing research? 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. Emotions pretty much always come with thoughts and vice versa. 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 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. But there are also a lot of other ways to use habits. It can also serve as a form of willpower training. Hes happily married, a father of two, involved in his church, in a band, and is a practicing psychiatrist. Theyre the same thing he does everywhere else, but he puts them on Instagram. 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. And there is some research, there's some procrastination researchers down in Peru, and we do these conferences every couple of years, just sort international conference on procrastination and we hear about the different research that's going on different in parts of the world on the topic of procrastination. Its probably going to be really expensive. Theres no pictures. A couple of names popped up, Margaret Atwood, J.K. Rowling for example, who are also highly productive. It is the act of delaying or postponing tasks that need to be accomplished. We get technical help from Rob Eckhardt. But I dont always do those six or seven steps. So if you have a consistent study habit, it becomes easier to resist distractions. And thats something that people with psychological flexibility are able to do. For further reading on procrastination, check out some of Timothy Pychyls research. You actually can't because if we look at the definition, it's got to be something they intended to do. It can lead to sadness and a lack of self-confidence, which can worsen the pattern of procrastination because negative emotions lead to avoidance. He doesnt do pictures. Ill just put that off and hope that it goes away.. So even though I dont like providing tech help, I like the idea that I will compensate for her weaknesses and she will compensate for mine, and that well support each other through that. Produced by the American Psychological Association, these podcasts will help listeners apply the science of psychology to their everyday lives. In Canada or U.S., it would've been That's not an issue.. You might have a big work project that's due, you feel stressed about it and suddenly you realize you can't possibly get started until you clean your desk. And this is what I'm saying, sort of the tolerance for procrastination, I think, differs across different cultural contexts. So the evidence, it's a little mixed. One of the most important things you can do is align your tasks and goals to your values. CURT NICKISCH: Yeah. But sometimes we end up being jerks because weve got ourselves into a procrastination pickle, because weve left something. And push comes to shove when we actually do it, it's like, Wait a second. ALICE BOYES: Yeah, often the emotional intolerance isnt really about just a task being boring or unpleasant. Maybe with the exception of form filling and really basic things, but most things that we procrastinate we can approach through the perspective of our strengths. 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. 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. When procrastination is a problem, thats when you want to have some strategies so that you can feel confident that you can get out of the weeds whenever you really need to. So it is really complicated, but theres always times where people need to get on to doing something. ALICE BOYES: Yeah. Im an anxious person. Have you ever dealt with procrastination? Subscribe. What are the sort of consequences that they experience? The podcast version of this story was produced by Audrey Nguyen. There are no conflicts of interest for this episode. Speaking of Psychology is produced by Lea Winerman. 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. 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. So doing compassionate self talk is useful about the feelings that youre having. If you talk yourself into believing you dont care about it, it wont hurt as much if you fail. They called it a procrastination ambulance, which was I think their way of translating saying it was like a clinic for procrastination at a university, for students who were really troubled by their procrastination. World's Leading Expert On How To Solve Procrastination - Dr Tim Pychyl Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal Jordan Peterson: How To Become The Person You've Always Wanted To Be | E113 The Diary Of A CEO 1. 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. Just do it and you'll feel a lot better than you think you will. Im Curt Nickisch. So it's much easier to study it instead of a naturalistic setting by just getting people to self-report or to look at people who chronically procrastinate because what you study in the lab is going to be delay for sure, but it not isn't necessarily going to be procrastination. Most of us are decent humans and its not consistent with our values to be being jerks. CURT NICKISCH: Thats Alice Boyes, a trained clinical psychologist and the author of the book Stress Free Productivity. They're ones that we find unpleasant, aversive and that can range the full spectrum from just simply boring to gut wrenching, nerve wracking and anxiety provoking. Keeping your goals realistic and reassessing goals and strategies as needed. And any strategy that you can use, whether it targets behavior or emotions or thoughts is probably going to work no matter what you see the primary root of it as being, because those things are so interlinked. 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. 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. We ask people about how often they procrastinate or if they're putting things off to tomorrow. Sirois: That is a really good question. We procrastinate because our brains receive a reward for avoidance. How do you define procrastination in your research? And that we can come to each other with things that we feel vulnerable about. In particular, starting new tasks is a problem. . Thank you for listening. And it's usually on a task that we said we're going to do. People will say its an emotional thing and its caused by people being intolerant of emotions. You build new relationships, for example, by working with a new collaborator versus with someone youve already worked with 20 times before. Procrastination is the act of avoiding something through delay or postponement. So why do people procrastinate? So for every one point increase on that measure, their chances of having poor heart health increase by 63%, and that's after accounting for a lot of other factors. One of the findings I really like is about ambivalent emotions. There are fixed factors related to procrastination, things that are innate to each of our different psychological experiences. And what they have figured out through habits research is that when a behavior becomes more automatic, it starts to require less self-control to do that thing. Is there a difference? Dr. Brammer started this path by investigating Impostor Syndrome. We think well drink caffeine, get a mental boost, or find the perfect time to do the task, but it never comes.I did pretty well, considering I waited until the last minute.This is a self-protective belief. We always think of there being bidirectional arrows between all of those things. It will also help to be able to clarify your goalsdaily, weekly, monthly. There are a lot ofthere's some procrastination research that did just that, just looked at the sort of social media and digital distractions, and that's a whole research program is in that area. You can learn about my research at procrastination. Earlier in the morning, when your cortisol is high, when your brain is fresh, youll be able to take on the tasks youll need to be highly motivated for. However, there wasn't a link with the other form of perfectionism. Mills: Right. 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. For best results, make your first step . A conversation with former psychologist Alice Boyes about why we keep postponing our work. 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? Sirois: The quick answer is you can't. ALICE BOYES: Yeah, its actually just what I was talking about before. 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. Sometimes its just making sure you dont make that cognitive error, or catching the cognitive error when youre making it, as recognizing that its almost like theres an inverse correlation there between how awkward and yucky things feel. This Web site provides access to my research group and academic publications, as well as my iProcrastinate Podcasts and "Don't Delay" blog for Psychology Today. They dont think, Oh, I need to reduce all these negative emotions or theyre going to cause me to go off track with my goals. They associate strong emotions with propelling them to their goals, not with them taking them away from their goals. We'll also talk about being involved in eSports, balancing academic life and leisure, avoiding the pitfalls of procrastination, and about overcoming the fear of putting yourself out there to make new friends. And how to stop procrastinating. Fuschia Sirois, PhD: Oh, thanks for having me, Kim. Instead, it's a problem, as you say, of emotion regulation. And we all want to learn from science. Theres hope for all of us, even if its plagued us for a long time. So I think it can be quite mixed.

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