What you should know
Why don't you read the procrastination report tomorrow?
This question may pop into your head after reading a few lines, given that you do not “have” to commit yourself today to completing the rest of the content as long as you have the ability to return to it whenever you want.
But do you really do that?
Far from the direct answer to our question above, the problem of procrastination, postponement and distraction from tasks is one of the most important behavioral habits that people suffer from in their daily lives.
According to psychologist William Knaus (1), procrastination is defined as: the preoccupation and distraction that precedes the main tasks to be accomplished, and convincing oneself of the possibility of postponing their completion until a later time, which leads to wasting time and not completing tasks by continuing to postpone and delay them for a later time.
The problem of procrastination is that it is usually associated with negative feelings after realizing its occurrence, such as psychological tension, guilt, and anxiety mainly (2), and when procrastination is repeated in academic or functional tasks, it leads to failure, or low ratings obtained by the individual, and possibly exposure Reprimand, at the very least, and then this downward spiral can lead to depression as a result of continued failure.
Procrastination is a behavioral way to escape the source of anxiety.
Procrastination is not limited to not doing anything that is mentioned or doing activities of a recreational nature, as procrastination sometimes comes in the form of engaging in other activities that are not a priority, such as arranging clothes in the closet or cleaning the house.
Procrastination activities change according to the circumstance and context in which we are. In the time devoted to reading lessons, watching series is a procrastinating activity, but the reading activity itself may be a procrastinating activity in another context, that is, if an individual resorts to reading free books while he has not completed studying the content of tomorrow’s exam.
Generally speaking, our activity is procrastination if:
Unnecessary (not a priority in relation to the needs of the current situation)
time consuming (takes up time for another activity)
Unproductive (eg, scrolling back and forth for no good reason)
Why does procrastination happen?
Procrastination does not happen randomly or spontaneously.
In fact, we procrastinate one of the following types of tasks:
Sensitive tasks and we are required to prove our worth in performing them, so that the real motive behind procrastination is (fear of failure).
Ordinary, easy, but long-term tasks, but we don't get immediate reward or instant pleasure when they're done or when they're done.
Procrastination is one of the behaviors that individuals do to avoid engaging in the primary activity that causes fear or anxiety. It is a behavioral way of escaping from the source of anxiety.
Therefore, high-importance activities are usually accompanied by fear of failure (3) as the real motive behind escaping from it, such as your boss asking you to prepare a report or research for him at the end of the week to present at an important meeting that will determine the fate of the company in obtaining the deal from or not.
On the other hand, our behavioral system is based on the brain reward and punishment system (4), which is the system that motivates us to do daily activities or prevents us from engaging in other activities.
In general, when we do something, no matter how small, our cognitive system rewards us by releasing hormones that make us happier and more satisfied.
Thus, whenever you accomplish a daily task such as cleaning the house, doing your homework, completing a job report, your mind gives you a dose of pleasure to reward your efforts and motivate you to achieve more in the coming times.
But what does this have to do with procrastination?
In the past, people used to perform direct, manual tasks, their direct impact, and the value of their achievement on the ground.
This used to happen in agriculture, for example, when you sow and reap, and see how much you have accomplished from your land, and the same at the level of craft and industry, you make an effort to make a tool to use or sell and you see your achievement in front of you, so your brain gives you a feeling of contentment, happiness and achievement.
Today, tasks are predominantly invisible, as a large part of people today perform their jobs within an office or technical system on computers, or in their homes remotely, and tasks are often linked to long-term projects, and a vision of achieving achievements on the ground or completion. Completely complete is a matter that takes months or several years. Thus, your cognitive system sees little value in what you do on a daily level, as it does not secrete any neurotransmitters or hormones to stimulate the centers of contentment, happiness and pleasure. Therefore, most people may feel dissatisfied with their jobs and unmotivated to do more.
Based on the foregoing, people procrastinate and engage in a lot of small activities that provide instant, instantaneous and quick pleasure, that is, we accelerate the secretion of dopamine in small and limited doses by engaging in unimportant activities that return us to a sense of accomplishment, even if it is a false achievement.
This is linked to a fundamental shift in the nature of modern lifestyles centered around consumption and panting about what is material and instant, preoccupation with writing a post or comment on social media, or watching an episode of your series that you love, and playing to win on your smartphone, all of these behaviors achieve a feeling of instant pleasure. Instead of engaging in major, important and priority activities that will prolong the moment of realizing the pleasure of their achievement and their hedonic return.
What do I do to overcome procrastination?
First: Before you start the task, do nothing
In the beginning, do not read anything, do not write, do not hold your phone, do not turn on the TV, just sit and think about yourself, away from the pressures of achievement and away from the distractions of comparison with others that social media platforms create. (5) Studies (6) indicate that breaking The automatic actions barrier requires sitting meditating without engaging in any other activity for ten minutes or fifteen minutes, no matter how simple it seems. Through this, the motivation of automatic and unconscious habits is automatically lost in favor of conscious actions (7).
The main problem lies with habitual behaviors (habits), as a person begins to practice habits without his awareness, and in a way that is subject to the automatic mind (automated driving).
You find yourself doing a lot of automatic things, like taking your phone and starting random browsing, or watching a movie or series.
Second: Divide the required task into parts
Large and difficult tasks cause a feeling of loss or helplessness during and before performing them, because they seem as if they are an unlimited and unaccomplishable space that is so huge.
Hence, the necessity of dividing the big task into small, executable activities. Instead of feeling that you are facing a frightening and difficult research, you will divide it into small tasks, such as: reading the first article, analyzing and summarizing the first article, rewriting the summary in my own words;
Thus, you will feel that you are facing simple and easy tasks every time.
The most important thing is not to get up from your session until you finish these tasks, and to put a mark symbolizing your completion of them, so that you will feel accomplished, and the best way to do that is to use a checklist.
Third: Determine the time of entry and completion of the task
This step is based on a realistic realization that the completion of tasks often requires more than one continuous session. This means that we are aware that each session has its limits on the level of achievement, and that some tasks will require many sessions and activities. One of the management philosophies followed in this is to set a time to enter actively to accomplish the task and a time to finish the session and take a break that you specify in advance, as recreational activities should not be extraneous, unscheduled in advance or not conditioned by a time window; To avoid taking the time allotted for the main activity.
One popular technique to reduce procrastination and increase productivity is The Pomodoro Technique, which means that you divide your preoccupation with any activity into sessions of 25 minutes for each session in which you perform the required task (study, work), and then take 5 minutes Rest, return to a 25-minute session, and after four sessions (25 minutes per session) take a longer, more entertaining break. (8)
Fourth: Accomplish other outstanding tasks at a later time
Suspended tasks from other areas of your life remain as if they are a burden on your shoulders, chasing you wherever you go, and depriving you of the pleasure of enjoying the present moment. What is required of you, whether it is on the social, academic, professional or family level, and when you ignore one of the tasks, its weight will follow you to other spaces, so it will always be good to get rid of every task in its time, otherwise you will be a burden on other unrelated tasks out.(9)
When performing basic or major priority tasks, you will find many distracting temptations, and these distractions may seem as if they are necessary and useful things, and they may indeed be so, but they are not your priority at the present time, and you may then call one of the postponed tasks to distract you from performing what you are doing its now.
Therefore, do not use the time allotted to perform the main activity to complete other tasks.
In order to replace the attraction of momentary pleasure that gives you other distractions, learn to reward yourself when you accomplish something related to the main and major task, that is, after completing each partial task, and do not forget to make the reward and entertainment time limited, so you know the time of entry and time of completion.
Fifth: Do not work under the influence of suffocation due to severe pressures
Several researches have been conducted to study the relationship between emotion and arousal and between performance and achievement, the most prominent of which was Yerkes-Dodson's law, which summarizes that performance increases in the presence of some emotional arousal, such as enthusiasm, desire or tension, but only to a certain extent. Enthusiasm or tension after a certain point leads to disruption of performance and a decrease in achievement, so the best levels of performance are at a moderate emotional state of enthusiasm or an acceptable feeling of pressure, not the lack of feeling or its abundance in a way that exceeds the normal limit.
Tools that will help you
Strict Workflow Browser Add-on
This technology is added to your browser, allowing you to apply the Pomodoro technology, to focus achievement and set times for recreational activities (25 minutes to complete work/study tasks – 5 minutes rest) after adding it you will be able to activate it at any time to start the countdown to 25 minutes, and so on every time.
Productivity Owl Browser Addition
When you add this technology to your browser, and activate it, the owl will reduce the time available for you to visit certain sites (selected by you in advance, such as Netflix, Twitter..) and other sites that increase your distraction, and then will close the site automatically after it has been allowed You can browse it for a limited time.
Checkli's website
This site enables you to create a partial checklist for the tasks you want to accomplish, whether they are study, professional or personal, so that you will be able to divide the main tasks into subtasks and thus you can track the remaining tasks and what you have previously accomplished, and you can download it as an application on your smartphone.
MindTastik application for smart devices
One study indicates the effectiveness of this application in reducing periods of procrastination, through the practice of regular meditation, emptying the mind, getting rid of anxiety and accumulated tension and clearing the mind, and it belongs to the group of applications based on the idea of therapeutic meditation, and in order to achieve the results of this application, it is necessary to practice meditation on a regular basis daily Even for a few minutes.
Mindly mobile app
Applying mind emptying of stuck tasks by taking them out and visually representing them so that you can see and remember them, instead of remaining stuck and worried for fear of forgetting them or from the large accumulation of inputs and tasks.
a story
Celebrity blogger Tim Urban (Hey but why?), tells the story of his struggle with the habit of procrastination, and how he overcame it, in a fun and interesting Ted Talk.
book
The book: (Procrastination, why do you do this, and what to do about it now!) helps you understand how procrastination occurs inside the brain, and provides you with a practical treatment program for the application to get rid of procrastination and procrastination, developed by specialists in psychology and behavioral assessment.
(not translated).
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Sources
Knaus, WJ (2002).
The Procrastination Workbook.
New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
Maria-Ioanna, A., Patra, V. The role of psychological distress as a potential route through which procrastination may confer risk for reduced life satisfaction.
Curr Psychol (2020).
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Procrastinators and fear of failure: an exploration of reasons for procrastination.
European Journal of Personality.
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Knaus, WJ (2002).
The Procrastination Workbook.
New Harbinger Publications, Inc
Outsmart Yourself: Brain-based Strategies to a Better You.
Peter M. Vishton (2016)
Increase Productivity, Decrease Procrastination, and Increase Energy.
(2014) Erik Peper, PhD, BCB;
Richard Harvey, PhD;
I-Mei Lin, PhD, BCB;
Padma Duvvuri
Sirois, Fuschia & Tosti, Natalia.
(2012).
Lost in the Moment?
An Investigation of Procrastination, Mindfulness, and Well-being.
Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy.
30. 237-248.
10.1007/s10942-012-0151-y.
Feng, J. (2016).
An evaluation of the Pomodoro Technique for stopping procrastination and behavior change.
Eat that frog!: 21 great ways to stop procrastinating and get more done in less time (2007) Brian Tracy
Teigen KH.
Yerkes-Dodson: A Law for all Seasons.
Theory & Psychology.
1994;4(4):525-547