The Journey Part 4: Procrastination
Do you ever feel like a procrastinator?
If you are, please stop, well, maybe you can stop tomorrow (see what I did there?).
Procrastination is associated with a variety of bad outcomes, from financial trouble to poor health. Further, when we procrastinate, we tend to get self-critical, which only worsens our mental health. Procrastination has been associated with feelings of guilt, shame and anxiety.
Why do we procrastinate?
Usually, it’s because we perceive the task ahead to be unpleasant. It’s a time shift of WHEN we face our struggles. There are struggles we face DURING the actual challenge but there are also the struggles we face BEFORE the challenge; that is how I would personally define procrastination.
“We face a choice, whether conscious or not, to "push through" the negative emotion to get the job done, or give ourselves the temporary relief of delaying, often over and over again.” [1]
Inversely related with procrastination is the ability to delay gratification, to say “no” to distractions and temptations despite the emotional relief we would get from saying “yes”.
“Procrastination is a perfect example of present bias, our hard-wired tendency to prioritize short-term needs ahead of long-term ones.” [2]
Remember in Part 2, we discussed how stress skews our brain’s ability to properly weigh the pros and cons of a situation. With procrastination, we seem to have the same failure. Your brain sees the negative emotion of the task at hand as far greater than it is. Thus, short term fixes (i.e. doing other tasks to delay doing what you should be doing) come at the cost of good long-term planning. In fact, “procrastinators earned lower grades than other students and reported higher cumulative amounts of stress and illness.” [3]
Unfortunately, this can often be a vicious cycle. Beating yourself up only exacerbates your level of stress over the situation. And this added stress continues to reduce your ability to assess the situation clearly and make “thoughtful future-oriented decisions” leading to more procrastination. In light of this, researchers have found that forgiving yourself is correlated with reduced procrastination. To break the cycle, you must be willing to accept what you’ve done but also to learn from it. This combines the mindfulness idea of radical acceptance and learning from the struggles.
Mindfulness as a practice cultivates the ability to maintain focus on the present moment…[which] lets me recognize that I’m freaking out about this task or bored stiff by this task…If I can be aware of my emotions, I can exert control and stay put. [4]
Say to yourself: “Yes, I have procrastinated. Yes, I am worse off now. But, it is also not the end of the world. I can still complete this task and be successful. I can recall this situation moving forward to be more likely to avoid future procrastination. I do not have to continually fall into the same pattern of behavior.”
It has been found that those who can exhibit a nonjudgmental acceptance of their own emotions (or thoughts) “may be better able to control their behavior because they are more accepting of their errors and associated conflict” [4]
“A major misperception about procrastination is that it’s an innocuous habit at worst, and maybe even a helpful one at best. Sympathizers of procrastination often say it doesn’t matter when a task gets done, so long as it’s eventually finished.” [3]
We have already taken a brief look at the negative outcomes on one’s physical and mental health from procrastination, so it is definitely not innocuous. And it’s much more than time-management. Although research does suggest that further breaking up the unwelcome task into smaller more manageable pieces can be a successful strategy. Sounds a lot like the intermediate goal setting from Part 2.
Time management is doing more important tasks first and putting off tasks that are less pressing and can legitimately wait. Therein lies a clue about the nature of procrastination and a potential solution. “More important” tasks first.
Is it possible that we procrastinate because we simply do not value the task at hand?
I do not mean inherently value it. There may be nothing inherently valuable to you about 30 minutes of hard exercise (although in a way, because of its proven health benefits it actually does have inherent value, but I don’t want to get lost in the weeds here). However, for those of you that value something greater, you view those 30 minutes differently than someone who does not have the same value system towards the benefits of physical exercise.
“Tim, are you coming back to DRIVE again?”
Yes, I am. Sorry, but this is what the research demonstrates.
I started this series on setting goals, the 2nd part of the equation. Then I progressed to the strategies to face struggles (mindfulness), the 3rd part of the equation. Now I come full circle, back to where I should have started. Drive, values; the foundation, the 1st part of the equation leading to victory.
Here is the equation I came up with:
Drive (Values) + Specific Challenging Goals + Mindfulness Techniques = Victory
“If we feel good about doing something, if we are more connected to the carrot than the stick, we don’t tend to procrastinate.” [1]
The best way to eliminate the need for short-term mood fixes is to find something positive or worthwhile about the task itself. “You’ve got to dig a little deeper and find some personal meaning in that task,” she says. “That’s what our data is suggesting.” [3]
I wrote in Part 3:
“Some more good news, you don’t have to DIRECTLY value (i.e. be DRIVEN by) fitness to choose healthier behaviors. For example, simply valuing your spouse and wanting to live a long healthy life with him or her can drive you to eat better and workout.”
I have two more thoughts to help fuel your own drive for fitness.
First thought, hopefully you’ve identified some role models, if not refer back to Part 2 of this series. Look at your role models, read about them, watch their YouTube videos. I can almost guarantee their drive clearly comes through in the content they share.
Second thought, ANALYZE the behaviors you are currently CHOOSING in place of healthy behaviors. We all spend our time, a finite resource, on things we value. On some level, you value certain behaviors (whatever is substituting for exercise, food prep, etc.) above fitness oriented behaviors. Find out why that is. I cannot fathom all of the ways in which people choose various behaviors over fitness oriented ones, but let’s come up with a couple examples to help you see what I mean.
First example:
It’s 6:15 a.m. The alarm goes off for a brief morning workout, however, you hit the snooze 4 times and now you have just enough time to get dressed and go to work. You value sleep. Nothing wrong with valuing sleep. However, if you can practice mindfulness and realize that exercise improves sleep quality, you can start to see how sacrificing 30 minutes of sleep today will likely lead to better sleep tonight and ongoing if you maintain the habit.
Second example:
You were hoping to grocery shop and meal prep, but instead you chose to eat out and spend some time watching NetFlix. You value convenience (eating out) and entertainment (Netflix). Luckily for you, once you’ve grocery shopped and meal prepped a few times, you can actually get quite good at it. To the point where eating in (and healthier) is actually MORE convenient then eating out. Trust me, I’ve timed it. I can cook a meal, eat it and clean up from it in the time it takes to eat out. I have saved money and now I have healthy leftovers in my fridge as well. Thus, saving me even more time and money in the future! And the NetFlix? I can watch that tomorrow when I eat my healthy leftovers!
Wrapping it up.
If I could boil down these entire four articles into one paragraph, here is the take home lesson:
Identify your values, i.e. what drives you. Make the connection between your value system and your fitness journey. Set challenging goals which correspond with your values and that get you excited. Implement strategies to help you succeed, many of which boil down to objectively taking a step back from the situation to mentally reflect on where you’ve been, where you are and where you are heading.
Where are you headed?
Hopefully, to victory. With me. See you there.
And Part 5? It’s coming too. Stay tuned.
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