procrastinationprocrastination

What overdue paper???

Q: What is the greatest labor-saving device ever

invented?

A: Do you mean besides A: Do you mean besides procrastination?procrastination?

Chronic Procrastinators:

• … feel recurring regret. • … are filled will good intentions.• … don’t understand why they

delay time after time.• … are quick to rationalize, saying

they can’t change.

Procrastinating students:

• … get more cold and flu symptoms• … are more likely to eat poorly• … are more likely to smoke• … get less sleep and drink more

“People who procrastinate tend to be less healthy,

less wealthy and less happy.”

- according to a study by University of Calgary professor Piers Steel.

Procrastinators usually do NOT produce their best work

because they get impulsive at the last minute:

• They work quickly• They take shortcuts• They make careless format mistakes• They haven’t collected enough resources

Your

sophomore

cartoonist

Personality components

•Fear (e.g. of failure or of rejection)

•Different priorities (some things are not important enough to them)

•Power trips and attention grabs (foot-dragging on purpose)

Perfectionism:

Often tasks are fussed over long after they have been sufficiently achieved.

This fussing and tinkering often serves to delay tackling other problems.

Boredom:

Boring jobs are very easy to delay for shallow reasons.

Here self-discipline is needed.

Hostility:

If you are hostile to the task, or to the person giving the task,

there is a strong temptation to delay.

The “Deadline High”:

Coming up against a tight deadline and meeting it is immensely satisfying.

It can be associated with strong rushes of adrenaline

and you may find that jobs are being unconsciously delayed

precisely to get this rush.

Cognitive Components

• If the cause is inefficient work habits • Learn to focus • Learn to break a task down • Harness momentum and overcome inertia

• If the cause is poor estimation of time• learn how to estimate “back-time,” i.e. start

from the deadline and accurately gauge backwards when and how much each step of the task really needs

Paralysis CAUSED by planning:

The planning process is drawn out to avoid confronting an issue.

Plans are argued, polished

and perfected,

but the implementation is delayed unnecessarily.

Emotional Patterns

behind the 6 Types

of Procrastinators

1. Perfectionists

• They fear they’ll fall short of their unrealistically high standards

• They get buried in details, hoping to avoid mistakes.

Perfectionist checklist: Do I get preoccupied with details that others don’t others don’t

seem to care about?seem to care about? Do I have difficulty starting/ finishing a task

because my own standards my own standards haven’t been met? Am I reluctant to delegate tasks or work with

others unless they work my waywork my way? Do I think about situations in terms of black and

white, in extremesin extremes? Do others say that I am rigid, stubborn, finicky?

Am I critical of my accomplishments or how long they took?

Does my work have to be as good as it possibly can as good as it possibly can in order to satisfy me?

Do I look at my failures as embarrassments I would would not want revealed?not want revealed?

Do I have trouble maintaining a sense of humor while learning something?

Am I upset if I don’t perform as well as a peer?

Perfectionist students get addicted to saying

“Hey, considering how little time I had,

that B- is pretty good.”

They really don’t want to chance having their best

work evaluated.

2. Dreamers

• They’re vague, unrealistic, romantic, leading to a lot of wishful thinking.

• Their grandiose plans are not turned into solid goals and plans.

• They’re unable to deal with details.

3. Worriers

• They have a small “comfort zone” and easily become overwhelmed.

• They avoid risk or change.• They lack confidence in their ability to

make decisions.• They keep saying “What if…?”

4. Crisis-Makers

• They’re proud that they can only get motivated at the last minute.

• They live for the adrenaline rush and life on the edge, such as a procrastination

crisis.• They have a very low boredom threshold.• They avoid routine projects - both starting or

completing them.

Some personalities thrive on stress instead of feeling

anxious

“If it weren’t for stress, I’d have no

energy at all”

A benefit of postponing your work:

If you procrastinate long enough,

you are so backed up to the wall

that have no choice

but to perform at lightning speed lightning speed

with total concentrationtotal concentration

The net result is a full day’s work in, say, an hour!

How much more efficient* can How much more efficient* can you get????you get????

*EFFICIENCY = INTELLIGENT LAZINESS

Chronic stress responses Chronic stress responses for “Crisis-Makers”for “Crisis-Makers”

Too much cortisol rushing to Too much cortisol rushing to the brain hurts thinking. the brain hurts thinking. Fatigue, anger, depressionFatigue, anger, depression

Immune system weakens Immune system weakens and can’t fight infectionand can’t fight infection

Blood pressure and heart Blood pressure and heart rate damage the elasticity of rate damage the elasticity of blood vesselsblood vessels

UlcersUlcers

5. Defiers

• Type #1: the aggressive, argumentative, sulky types.

• Type #2: the passive-aggressive types who promise to do something and don't.

6. Overdoers

• They’re always working so they may not seem like procrastinators.

• They make extra work and don’t focus on what really needs to be done.

• They have difficulty saying no and delegating.• They’re candidates for early burnout.

PROCRASTINATIONPROCRASTINATION

Last-minuteeffort

Mediocre performance

MorePROCRASTINATIONPROCRASTINATION

MORE ANXIETY

EVEN POORER PERFORMANCE

Procrastination is an Procrastination is an inability to regulate inability to regulate

behavior and control behavior and control impulses:impulses:

If you’re quite impulsive, then you’re unable

to protect one intention from another.

Paying off your Mastercard with your Visa card…

…does NOT get you out of debt

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

6 Ways to control the outside world

1. Learn to say NO2. Hang a “do not disturb” sign on your door3. Get ready the night before4. Call ahead5. Avoid noise distractions6. Manage interruptions

Questions for when you get stuck

• Could I find the time if I really wanted toif I really wanted to?• Am I willing to promise to promise it?• Am I being too hard on myselftoo hard on myself?• Can I do just one more just one more thing? • Can I delegatedelegate this?

• Would I pay myself Would I pay myself for what I’m doing right now?

• Am I making time for things that are important but not urgentbut not urgent?

• What is one task one task I can accomplish toward achieving my goal?

• Is this a “piano” (too big a task too big a task for just one person)?

Reduce the procrastination impacton your work:

•Set artificial, earlier-than-necessaryearlier-than-necessary deadlines•Try to do things right awayright away, as they occur to you•Focus on single taskssingle tasks:

•Do the prioritizing one task and one deadline at a time, like poking holes into a slab of cheese

PARKINSON’S LAW:

“Work

…to to fillfillthe time available

for its completion.”

• Remove distractionsRemove distractions• Cellphones• TV• Internet• Hunger, thirst, discomfort, drowsiness

• Acknowledge the consequences Acknowledge the consequences - the practical downside of not moving on

• Provide juicy juicy rewards rewards – in increments - for accomplishing pieces of work

The internet is a black hole sucking you dry…

POSITIVE, self-motivating statements

• “The sooner I get done, the sooner I can play.”• “There’s no time like the present.”• “It’s cheaper (less painful, more effective) if I

do it now rather than wait until it gets worse.• “There’s no such thing as perfection: the

motto of Washington, DC: “It’s good enough for government work”

Use prompts as reminders

get 6 sources

For paper

7-Day Anti-Procrastination Mnemonic

Monday Make it meaningful – benefits of finishing

Tuesday Take it apart – “Swiss cheese” it

Wednesday Write an Intention Statement – I promise…

Thursday Tell everyone – make yourself accountable

Friday Find a reward – and withhold if necessary

Saturday Settle it now – Plunge in. Do it now

Sunday Say NO – if you really don’t intend to do it

Brasington’s Ninth Law

A carelessly planned project takes THREE TIMES longer

to complete than expected.

A carefully planned one A carefully planned one

will take only TWICE as long….will take only TWICE as long….

Lord, help me to always give 100% at work:

• 12% on Mondays• 23% on Tuesdays• 40% on Wednesdays• 20% on Thursdays• 5% on Fridays… 100%