Why you procrastinate when it feels bad
by Andi · 21 things on NewTwos
- "A day can really slip by when you're deliberately avoiding what you're supposed to do" - Bill Watterson, There's Treasure Everywhere
- Putting something off isn't always procrastinating. Responsible time management requires deciding which tasks are important and which ones can wait.
- Procrastination is when we avoid a task we said we woud do, for no good reason, despite expecting our behavior to bring negative consequences
- It's the result of our bodies trying to protect us, specifically by avoiding a task we see as threatnening.
- Your amygdala releases hormones including adrenaline that kick off a fear response.
- This stress-induced panic can overpower the impulses from your prefrontal cortex, which typically help you think long term and regulate your emotions.
- It's in the midst of this fight, flight, or freeze response that you decise to handle the threat by avoiding it in favor of some less stressful task.
- This response might seem extreme, but we're most likely to procrastinate tasks that evoke negative feelings, such as dread, incompetence and insecurity.
- Because procrastication is motivated by our negative feelings, some individuals are more susceptible to it than others. People who have difficulty regulating their emotions and those who struffle with low self-esteem are much more likely to procrastinate - regardless of how good they are at time management.
- It's a common misconception that all procrastinators are lazy. In the body and brain, laziness is marked by no energy and general apathy. When you're feeling lazy, you're more likely to sit around doing nothing than distract yourself with unimportant tasks. In fact, many people procrastinate because they care too much.
- Procrastinators often report a high fear of failure, putting things off becasue they're afraid their work won't live up to their high standards.
- Frequent procrastinators are likely to suffer from anxiety and depression, ongoing level of shame, etc.
- How can we break the cycle?
- Address and reduce the negative emotions.
- Break task into smaller elements
- Journaling and writing about underlying concerns
- Try removing nearby distractions that make it wasy to impulsively procrastinate.
- Forgiving yourself and promising to do better next time
- Source: Why you procrastinate even when it feels bad (TED-Ed)
- Tim Urban: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator | TED