Struggling With Procrastination? Understanding The Underlying Causes Can Help You Defeat It

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On account of this being among my first posts here, I thought I'd share something useful, instead of littering the place with yet another introduction thread. I'm new as a poster, but not as a lurker!

Anyway, I came across this video a while back, posted by Stefan Molyneux in 2008. I don't agree with all of his ideas, but his views on procrastination make a lot of sense. If you struggle with procrastination, I honestly think the concepts he discusses here could set you on the right path.

Over the past few years I've developed a number of systems that work for me, mostly through experimentation and reading a handful of the better personal development books out there, but I've never heard someone describe the underlying cause for procrastination in such an eloquent, palatable way.

Note that this video runs a bit long, around 30 minutes or so. If you don't have time now, I highly recommend bookmarking it for later.

#defeat #procrastination #struggling #underlying #understanding
  • Profile picture of the author Alexander Smith
    Damien,

    Thank you for the video. I remember watching this video years ago as well.

    I was struggling with procrastination at the time and I found that for me, Stefan presents an interesting viewpoint but I didn't really find it applicable.

    Some of the most effective things I've found for overcoming procrastination are:


    1. Having a deadline for a task that is very important. I'm sure many have experience with this. If you have a homework assignment, you may put it off. But when your homework is due tomorrow, you may be willing to stay up the whole night to finish it!
    But this was not particularly helpful for my personal goals. For example, I wanted to learn another language, on my own time. But I didn't really have a deadline. Any deadline I created, I could just ignore with no apparent negative consequences, except for feeling bad about myself.


    2. The 10+2 method of overcoming procrastination. Basically, you work on a task for 10 minutes (maybe you study for 10minutes), then take a 2 minute break (maybe watch TV for 2 minutes), then repeat. It sounds simple and like it would not work, but it really did for me.

    The problem is that I found it unsustainable long term. One of the very curious things I found about this system though, is that you find that while working (for the 10minutes), you look forward to your break. But while you’re on your break, you look forward to your 10 minutes of work!


    3. Best one: Behavior Modification principles. Behavior modification is, according to Wikipedia:
    “...the use of empirically demonstrated behavior change techniques to increase or decrease the frequency of behaviors, such as altering an individual's behaviors and reactions to stimuli through positive and negative reinforcement of adaptive behavior and/or the reduction of behavior through its extinction, punishment and/or satiation. Most behavior modification programs currently used are those based on Applied behavior analysis (ABA), formerly known as the experimental analysis of behavior which was pioneered by B. F. Skinner.”

    Particularly, the book “Self-Directed Behavior: Self-Modification for Personal Adjustment” by David L. Watson & Roland G. Tharp has been VERY helpful for me. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. You can look it up on Amazon (sorry, I can't post a link yet).

    The thing I really like about Behavior Modification is that it uses principles scientifically PROVEN to work, in controlled scientific studies. It's not just suggestions from some “productivity guru” who tells you “well, this is what worked for me.” The downside of using Behavior Modification principles is that it's not a spoon-fed solution. You have to go through plenty of trial-and-error and find out what works for you.


    Right now, I'm looking into Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for insights into being more productive.




    By the way, Damien, I am very curious to know what are the systems that worked for you to overcome procrastination? If the answer is way more involved than what you can put into a post, feel free to PM or email me. Thanks!
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    • Profile picture of the author Damien Kring
      Alexander, thank you for your comments. I hesitated to post this, since the 30 minute timestamp is probably a little intimidating! I'm sure that Stefan's approach won't explain it for everyone, but a few of his points in that video really resonated for me.

      I've definitely experimented with the 10+2 method, and near-infinite variations on the actual times. I agree about deadlines. I absolutely loathe being late with anything, and sometimes that will be the kick in the pants I need.

      I'll try and summarize what works for me. It certainly isn't any one super-special method -- I find that some days certain things work, and some days they don't. So I tend to cycle through a few different techniques. I'll do my own "top 3" here:

      1.) Reminding myself how good it will feel to have something done. This sounds pretty basic, but I find that actually pausing for a moment and genuinely considering the sense of satisfaction attained after finishing a project/task can go a long way. I'll ask myself things like, "Do you really want to put this off in order to watch that TV show? Will you even be able to enjoy yourself, knowing that this is hanging over you? Wouldn't it be wonderful to relax after the work is done?"

      2.) "Chunking" tasks. I'm sure most people are familiar with this concept - breaking your project down into smaller tasks to make it more manageable. For example, when I'm writing an article that I'm having trouble "getting into," I'll break it down into smaller portions. Research, write an outline, write a rough draft, edit, and so on. Sometimes I'll space these chunks out between coffee breaks if it's a particularly rough Monday morning.

      3.) Self bribery. Hey, I'm not too big of a man to admit that this doesn't work. Of all the things though, I find this to be the least potent. Sometimes it's enough to give me that final "oomph" and follow through.

      Out of all the above, I've found that the most important "technique" is training yourself to be consistent.

      Consistency is a tough bull to wrangle, but the benefits are endless. Say it's a Monday, and you have to have something done by Friday. It's going to take you 5 hours. So, you can either do 1 hour per day, or surround yourself with a variety of caffeinated beverages and do 5 hours on Thursday night.

      Obviously, spreading things out over the week is the best way to go about things. And yet, it's so darn easy to tell yourself, "Oh, I have so much time to do this. I'll start tomorrow." You just have to train yourself to fight those thoughts off.

      Honestly, out of everything: efficiency, productivity techniques, proper organization, and so on, I think consistency trumps them all. No matter how slow or unorganized you are, if you're consistent, whatever it is you're working toward will get done.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ernie Lo
    Its not as complicated to beat procrastination.

    Firstly you must WANT to change.

    I've found watching/listening to self help guru videos on youtube and writing notes does wonders.

    You can also add meditation, confidence hypnosis audios and also keep repeating certain statements out lout over and over again.

    What this does is puts you in a state of confidence and you won't avoid those important tasks you need to do.

    You'll just do it! Not everytime but a lot more than you use to

    The key is to do it all every day! Never stop motivating yourself.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexander Smith
      @ Damien Kring

      Thanks for the reply!

      Anyway,

      In point 3.) in your post, you bring up bribery. Bribery actually works. It relates to this principle of behavior called Reinforcement. Basically, if you give a reward to a person/ animal right after it performs a certain behavior, it'll be more likely to do that certain behavior in the future (it's actually a bit more complicated but that's the simple version).

      I'll list a few techniques I've found that work well for me to get me to do productive work:

      1. I have a paper up on the wall with the heading "Distractions" on it. Every time I have an impulsive urge to do something "time wasting" (like watching a TV show, or looking up something on the internet, or taking a walk outside, etc), I write it down onto my "Distractions" paper. That way, I can get it out of my head and it's not bugging me.

      Then I promise myself that I can do whatever that distracting thing is... right after I do a certain amount (Maybe 15 minutes? 30 minutes?) of productive work. This technique works great for preventing distractions from distracting me.

      2. I often find that thinking about the productive work I need to do makes me feel anxious because it seems so hard and I don't want to do it. So sometimes I escape from feeling anxiety by watchign TV or surfing the net. 1 thing I do to deal with this is commit to the productive work before I even get a chance to feel anxious about it. I sit down, fire up my computer, and open up my "to-do" file that tells me what I need to do next, and I mentally "commit" to starting productive work. Then, I may feel anxious but it doesn't matter at that point because I've already started and I'm very likely to continue doing productive work.

      3. This relates to your point about "chunking." I do the same thing but I've also found that sometimes I need to chunk down to the "task" level. Which, to me, means that I have to break whatever I need to do down to a level where I can do the "chunk" even if I'm brain-dead. Consider this: It takes mental energy to plan exactly how you'll dig a hole (how deep does it need to be? How wide? How fast should you dig? etc.). But it doesn't take any mental energy to do the physical act of digging. I find that for me, sometimes the most daunting part of what I need to do is the mental aspect of it. If I break it down to a level where I can do the thing I need to do even if I'm totally brain-dead and sleep-deprived, then it's not so daunting for me and I'm more likely to do it, because it seems like a really simple thing to do.

      Also, I'm currently working on trying to be more consistent as well. For me, some days are extremely productive, some days are awful and I'm trying to figure out what makes the productive days happen, and how can I get more of them.

      @ Ernie Lonardo

      Thanks for the input!
      I find that sometimes, motivation can help a lot. Strange enough though, a lot of times, it doesn't actually help me start on productive work at all!

      For me, motivation has a dark side. I used to read a LOT of self help books and I eventually found out that I read them for an "emotional high." I would read a self-help book and be all gung-ho about changing my life and I'd be extremely motivated and ready to change my life. But I didn't! And I would feel that emotional high for a few days. Then I'd read more and more self-help books for that feeling of motivation and each time, I got less and less feelings of motivation after reading a book, until it got to a point where I would finish a self-help book and only feel motivated for a few hours or a few minutes. So I had to stop reading self-help books and deal with this problem.

      So I stopped focusing on getting feelings of motivation and started focusing on making a habit out of doing productive work.

      Weird thing, isn't it?
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      • Profile picture of the author Ernie Lo
        Hi Alexander.

        I guess it's different for everyone. There is some truth to what youre saying and I went through the same issue, until I bought a notebook and started writing notes and quotes from what I was viewing/listening to. The confidence hypnosis audios are helping too I must say.

        One thing Ive realised is we just cant stop no matter what. We need to make self help, meditation and of course action taking a daily ritual. I believe it starts with how we feel.

        Originally Posted by Alexander Smith View Post



        @ Ernie Lonardo

        Thanks for the input!
        I find that sometimes, motivation can help a lot. Strange enough though, a lot of times, it doesn't actually help me start on productive work at all!

        For me, motivation has a dark side. I used to read a LOT of self help books and I eventually found out that I read them for an "emotional high." I would read a self-help book and be all gung-ho about changing my life and I'd be extremely motivated and ready to change my life. But I didn't! And I would feel that emotional high for a few days. Then I'd read more and more self-help books for that feeling of motivation and each time, I got less and less feelings of motivation after reading a book, until it got to a point where I would finish a self-help book and only feel motivated for a few hours or a few minutes. So I had to stop reading self-help books and deal with this problem.

        So I stopped focusing on getting feelings of motivation and started focusing on making a habit out of doing productive work.

        Weird thing, isn't it?
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  • Profile picture of the author David Chung
    Here's an easy way to motivate yourself to do something.

    Don't get too comfortable.

    For example, if I wake up and want to grab a bite to eat, I'll force myself to do a bit of exercise before I allow myself to eat.

    If I want to watch a movie, I might set the DVD beside the computer as motivation, and only allow myself to watch it at the end of the day after I've completed my work.

    The reward has to come after because if you get too comfortable (had a nice shower, great meal), your brain/body feels satisfied and no longer feels any need to do anything, because it already has everything it wants!
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