Why I procrastinate

[slacker]

There seems to be some disagreement as to what causes procrastination, in general. According to Allen David, it's either the lack of knowledge of what to do next, or the lack of motivation / excitement. On the other hand, Neil Fiore writes that procrastination is caused by fear and its avoidance. Perfectionism can be looked at as the fear of being imperfect, not living up to the expectations. The creator of procrastinators-anonymous.com suggests yet another idea that procrastination, at least for some victims, is similar to chemical addiction.


This article is an attempt to look at my own procrastination and figure out what causes it. Many thanks to those who read this and offer their insights.


MY PROCRASTINATION SYMPTOMS:

1. Any school assignment. I have a Ph.D. now, so no more school for me, but I've procrastinated when it came to any sort of assignments, throughout my academic life, up to and including writing my dissertation and scheduling my defense.

2. Taxes. I wait until the last day or two, and then I don't have enough time to finish, so I file the automatic extension, which buys me 4 more months, and then I wait until the very last moment again.

3. Bills.

4. Any dealings with governments or customer services get put off indefinitely.

5. Cleaning up the house, doing dishes. My place is a mess.

6. Exercise. Sometimes, I'm a real exercise freak, training regularly. But if anything, like the flu or other personal circumstances cause an interruption in my near-daily routine, I stop exercising for months. I tell myself that I should get back with the program, but it takes a while.

7. Backing up my computer. I live megabyte to megabyte. If I want to download something, I need to figure out what to delete.

8. Reading books. If I pay for a hard copy of a book, I feel obligated to read it, which results in my not reading it.

9. Job search. Since graduating over a year ago, I lived on my personal savings. I told myself that I shouldn't look for a job, because working "for the man" is for suckers, there are plenty of better opportunities out there that need to be explored first (Come to think of it, I was right, technically, c.f. milliondollarhomepage.com) So, my job search was nonexistent to halfhearted. I also kept inventing various other reasons why looking for a job could wait "just a couple more months". Now, I'll have great difficulty explaining to any potential employers a rather big gap in my resume (2 out of 3 did ask). It's not like I did nothing at all, but it looks weird to them, whatever I say.


POSSIBLE CAUSES:

I don't think any single one of the causes I listed earlier applies to all of the manifestations of my chronic procrastination. For example, it's hard to see how fear or perfectionism prevents me from doing the dishes regularly.


THINGS I TRIED:

Making public commitments. I tried this, and it worked in some cases. What I would do, is bet actual money, i.e. tell a friend that I'd owe him $10, if I don't file my taxes by April 12, and another $10 if I don't file them by April 13. I often end up losing some cash, but saving myself from far bigger problems.

This does not cure my procrastination in general. And in some cases, it just does not work. I can't make a commitment to work on some problem for N hours a day, because it's hard to define what constitutes working. How about lying on a sofa and thinking or staring at my computer? Earlier, I made a bet with a friend that I'd send my resume to 2 potential employers every day (until midnight). What I ended up doing was waiting until 11:30pm or so, and sending it to random employers. Worse, since I knew I didn't have time to write a reasonable personalized cover letter, I would choose to send my resume to unlikely employers, lest I blow my chances with the ones I did want to work for.


NEXT ACTION:

Looking for a job in my field shouldn't be too hard. I think my skills are reasonably in-demand. The thing I should, err... MAY WANT TO do right now is pick 10-20 most likely employers (I find this very hard, for some reason), contact them, and ask my former boss to send his reference letter to 8-12 of them. Before that, I need to make some quick fixes to my resume, which shouldn't take more than an hour or two...

[spectecGTD]

"The greatest enemy of a good plan is (the dream of) a perfect plan."

--Carl van Clausewitz (Paraphrased)

[Desultory]

You're making progress in identifying the kinds of things that you procrastinate on.

I think you need to consider another motivater of procrastination--rebellion. Many of the things on your list are externally imposed tasks: taxes, paying bills, etc. You know you don't *have* to do them. It's just that you will avoid worse consequences when you choose to do them on time.

As for the employment issue, again, it sounds like you know what you want to do about it. Here I agree it's the fear factor you need to deal with. Try breaking down the Next Action to the smallest possible least-threatening atomic action. The NA is not "update my resume", but "open my resume file", not "call my old boss", but "dial ins-ert-phon".

For more, try searching this forum on "cringe-busting".

[cornell]

I actually believe Allen's two questions do apply to procrastination. Alan Lakein, in his book "How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life", identifies two causes of procrastination - overwhelm and unpleasantness. For the former, I use divide and conquer (i.e., ask "What's the next action?" - the HOW). For the latter, I try to refocus on why I've committed to doing it (i.e., ask "What's the successful outcome?" - the WHY).

I don't know if this will help, but here are some additional raw notes I took Lakein's book:


On procrastination:

First, make sure it's the right task.

Two causes: overwhelming (complex, time-consuming) or unpleasant (odious association, usu. emotional).

If overwhelming: use Swiss Cheese method - poke some holes in it (make a start), aka "instant tasks" (IAs): If less than 5 minutes, makes some kind of progress. to use: list IAs, pick highest priority one, do. rule: IAs should be easy to start and connected in some way to overwhelming project. (can help make surprising inroads). if can't plan: admit can't plan, but if I *could* plan, then what would the plan be? try a "leading task": taking a physical step, e.g., sharpen a pencil, move "thing" (e.g., letter) to be in front of you; remove all distractions. take advantange of current mood, e.g., feel like talking -> talk to someone about task; give self pep talk; make a commitment to someone

If unpleasant: recognize at Decision Time, slow down the final decision; to over come distaste: 1) Deal with the unpleasantness directly (fear). 2) Recognize the greater unpleasantness that results from delay (risks). 3) Create enthusiasm that counterbalances the unpleasantness (stress the benefits).


matt

[ActionGirl]

Right there with you, slacker!


There seems to be some disagreement as to what causes procrastination, in general. According to Allen David, it's either the lack of knowledge of what to do next, or the lack of motivation / excitement. On the other hand, Neil Fiore writes that procrastination is caused by fear and its avoidance. Perfectionism can be looked at as the fear of being imperfect, not living up to the expectations. The creator of procrastinators-anonymous.com suggests yet another idea that procrastination, at least for some victims, is similar to chemical addiction.
I'm not suggesting any of these ideas are wrong, but I wonder if there isn't also sometimes an impulse toward self-destruction. Just how close to the ledge can I go, and just how much do I really care if I go over?

Is there anything you DON'T procrastinate about? Maybe taking care of your car/bike/favorite electronic toy or item of sports equipment, or caring for a pet, perhaps?

It sounds like in general you do the exercise thing far better than most.

[dal1mdm]

I'm probably too simplistic about this, but for me I either want to do a thing or I dont. If its something I dont want to do, I either procrastinate or make myself do it. I admit that it sometimes tricky to decide whether or not now is a good time to do that thing, but to me thats not a procrastination issue.

Procrastination in the negative sense means to me that I choose not to do something I should and could do right now. In the positive sense, it means I make a plan to do something sometime in the future that I cant do right now.

I read a book called "Happiness is a Serious Problem" by Dennis Prager in which he suggests that we should always be asking ourselves if what we are about to do will make us happier or not. Oddly, stuff I'd really rather not do often makes me happier once its done.

[Jamie Elis]

Is there something tangible that you must do in order to be able to make that list of the most likely employers? Like visit the reference section of the library or locate some kind of trade association list. If you are selecting from an existing list, do you need to make the criteria explicit that you will use to identify a likely employer? Or. if you are creating a list, do you need to figure out a way to identify possible or probable employers. Finally, is your situation such that you can afford to do that kind of systematic job search or should you take any job you can find that will pay the bills but leave you with enough time and energy to search for the position you really want?

[JDC]

So, slacker, are you *REALLY* smart? When you do stuff like pay the bills, figure your taxes, wash the dishes, are you totally bored out of your mind?

JDC

[Jamie Elis]

Click here: David Seah : The Printable CEO™ Series

Have not used these yet, but I think these are compatible with GTD.

[ActionGirl]

So, slacker, are you *REALLY* smart? When you do stuff like pay the bills, figure your taxes, wash the dishes, are you totally bored out of your mind?

JDC
Well, I'm just *a* slacker, but I don't think there's much correlation between being smart and being bored. If anything, smart people probably have a better chance of finding or creating interest in any given task or environment.

So, slacker, do you feel bored when you face tasks you tend to procrastinate about? Or or do you feel anxiety, or resentment, or something else?

[slacker]

So, slacker, do you feel bored when you face tasks you tend to procrastinate about? Or or do you feel anxiety, or resentment, or something else?

I found it difficult to answer this question at first, but I now think I know why. I feel that "boredom" is a catchall term used for everything one does not want to do. Merriam-Webster defines it as "the state of being weary and restless through lack of interest". So, I guess, boredom is implied in all of the tasks I procrastinate about. Anxiety, on the other hand, may be present in some cases, but not all of them (dishes, chores).

[slacker]

The NA is not "update my resume", but "open my resume file", not "call my old boss", but "dial ins-ert-phon".

For more, try searching this forum on "cringe-busting".

So, the 2-minute rule does not apply to such "leading tasks" ?

As I understand, "update my resume" is a project, part of a bigger project "get a job", but NA is "open my resume". What goes on the to-do list?

[TC1965]

rather than in conflict.

Fiore identifies about 5 main reasons for procrastination and these are a mixture of the runway right up to 50,000ft level. GTD is only really focussed on the runway and 10,000ft level so it is no surprise that it only addresses a couple of the issues.

Some of the tips that Fiore gives on breaking things down and making sure that everything is captured are easily transferrable to GTD. Even the relaxation and focus techniques can be parralleled with the need to be operating in the here and now.

Although I am still a work in progress I have found both books very useful.

[ActionGirl]

I found it difficult to answer this question at first, but I now think I know why. I feel that "boredom" is a catchall term used for everything one does not want to do. Merriam-Webster defines it as "the state of being weary and restless through lack of interest". So, I guess, boredom is implied in all of the tasks I procrastinate about. Anxiety, on the other hand, may be present in some cases, but not all of them (dishes, chores).
I don't think boredom is a very helpful term for this discussion just because it's so vague. As far as dishes and chores go, I don't even consider that procrastination. I may be more or less consistant about doing chores, but it doesn't fit my concept of "procrastination" unless I'm avoiding the task AND there is an important reason that I shouldn't, e.g., the health inspector is coming or I'm expecting guests. I *procrastinate* about school projects or filing taxes, whereas I simply put off housework or don't do it as well as or often as might be ideal. (Maybe I'm also reacting the fact that housework is never really done--there will be more dishes to do tomorrow, so it doesn't really matter that much if I do them once a day or once a week.)

What makes it procrastination, in my book, is that I know perfectly well that it's completely irrational to put off the task, and yet still have immense trouble starting and/or completing it.

[delphil]

slacker, i have a ph.d. too and i have nearly all the things on your checklist as well ! believe my surprise when I read your thread. the only difference is that I do get motivated to get a job and dont slack on that for some reason. I have read GTD and Now habit a number of times and still I have some of the problems. I dont have the answers but some ideas:

1. Tony Robbins has helped me a lot bc I think I just had some more fundamental problems.
2. Are there some big things in your life, family, relationships that you havent properly faced that are still haunting you ?
3. Do you see a psychologist/psychiatrist to help you with (2). i feel it helps me.
4. Just do nothing for a series of days. Just indulge yourself. You will get so sick of yourself that you will start doing something.

Sorry if Im being too interventionist but these things have helped me.

[Desultory]

So, the 2-minute rule does not apply to such "leading tasks" ?
The 2-minute rule applies to dealing with your in-box. The "leading tasks" I am suggesting apply to making starting work on such projects less frightening.



As I understand, "update my resume" is a project, part of a bigger project "get a job", but NA is "open my resume".
Exactly! If "open my resume" seems too small, try "work on my resume for 15 minutes".



What goes on the to-do list?
The NA. Depending on your system, you may want to enter related notes what the goal of the NA is.

[Desultory]

Even the relaxation and focus techniques can be parralleled with the need to be operating in the here and now.

Although I am still a work in progress I have found both books very useful.
Me too. I have found the relaxation techniques helpful, and more helpful after a bit of rewording to make them work better for me.

[avrum68]

Just do nothing for a series of days. Just indulge yourself. You will get so sick of yourself that you will start doing something.

Ha, finally somebody shared this tactic. Though it's not much of a tactic, rather, something that happens every now and again. And I agree, it works like a charm.

[slacker]

slacker, i have a ph.d. too and i have nearly all the things on your checklist as well ! believe my surprise when I read your thread. the only difference is that I do get motivated to get a job and dont slack on that for some reason.

Actually, I think procrastination is very common among science grad students and such. If your life/work involves a lot of thinking, generating ideas, making choices, trying to be more creative than the rest of the world, sifting through an increasingly vast amount of information coming your way, it's not surprising that your "psychic RAM" gets overwhelmed.



4. Just do nothing for a series of days. Just indulge yourself. You will get so sick of yourself that you will start doing something.


My problem isn't "doing nothing", but rather going off in various directions at once, doing everything except the things I should be doing. Part of me invents stuff to do, so that I would have an excuse not to do what I avoid doing.

Lately, after getting involved with the forums and reading about The Now Habit (I read the PDF summary), I realized that Neil Fiore was right. My procrastination is mostly caused by inner conflict. Part of me (The Manager) makes plans and creates estimates of how long it will take to complete certain tasks. It sets deadlines, and tries to force the rest of me (The Grunt) to work. The Grunt doesn't accept The Manager's leadership.

So, as has been suggested, I'm now working on

1. changing the language in which I speak to myself, replacing "should", "must", "have to" with "going to", "choose to" and "want to". Basically, I'm trying to convince The Manager and The Grunt that they are on the same team.

2. Scaring The Grunt - his well-being is also at stake - he owns stock in the Slacker company ;-)

3. Scheduling regular play time, so The Grunt does not feel victimized.

I believe all of these ideas are from The Now Habit.



P.S. I'd like to thank everyone who replied, by the way. Many things people wrote were very helpful.

P.P.S. I don't have multiple-personality disorder, I just use The Manager and The Grunt as a metaphor.

[slacker]

Is there something tangible that you must do in order to be able to make that list of the most likely employers? [...] if you are creating a list, do you need to figure out a way to identify possible or probable employers.

I'm mostly making a list. I've largely identified the relevant search keywords, starting points and selection criteria. There is no way around it, actually applying them will take some time, dozens of hours perhaps. It will be routine / boring, but not routine enough that I could write a program to do it for me. All of this, coupled with my natural predisposition to avoid this task, is what makes it "hard".

[Arduinna]

The Easy Button Culture

Having been through this issue my whole life, and finding it can get worse, not better, with age, I did the same thing you seem to be doing--analyze it for its roots to try to find a logical way to overcome it. For me, that went only so far. The desire to avoid experiences I anticipated as painful has proven very powerful. But as I've gotten older, I've become impatient with certain types of self indulgence. What a horrendous waste of time and life itself, to tie yourself up in knots avoiding doing what has to be done, flirting with real disaster in the not doing. It's insane. It leaves you with a half-lived life, much like someone who's managing a drug addiction in secret. And like junkies of all degrees and stripes, slackers (I count myself one) can guarantee themselves steadily accruing deficits with time. Lack of growth. Lack of advancement. Ability to cope and resilience undeveloped. As long as we're mired in this juvenile reaction to improperly administered authority from our youth (my favorite theory about the "cause"), we're mired in a sort of perptual infancy.

I think you have to get impatient with this nonsense and see it for what it is to get beyond it. The objective is to stop having issues with these must-dos, right? Work to minimize their importance. In my experience, none of them has proven as painful as I've anticipated, and I think a lot of people have that experience. "I don't know what the big deal was, once I did it, it was nothing." Forget about root cause, because you can't "fix" that anyway. Even if you saw it in a brilliant, blinding flash, the cathartic effect you probably anticipate wiping the dysfunction away would not be strong enough to work against years of ingrained habitual avoidance and slacker behavior. You just have to damn the demons, and get down to work to overcome it.

You've gotten a lot of good suggestions on the problem in this thread. I've used just about all of them to advantage in shoring up my resolve to deal with it. Cringebusting is a great concept and the blog entry on it a great read. The tricks people have given you to help you get started, the initial hurdle, are also excellent. Sustaining momentum can be as simple--and difficult--as starting. You just start again, and again, and again.

Pull in every insight you have about yourself and why you do this if it helps you to move toward productivity and peace. I realized I was a big baby and just wanted to play. Then I realized that I don't find dilettantes and self-indulgent twits very appealing playmates. I like people in motion. People who think and do, people who accomplish, people who don't sit in front of a mountain saying, "Oh god, it's so big, I better get used to sitting in its shadows, I just can't deal with it," but climb over or tunnel through to the other side. Life strews plenty of difficulties in your path. It doesn't make sense to allow some dysfunctional aspect of yourself to have the upper hand and create more. Get out of your own way, and the blocks and mountains themselves will start to erode. But decide to do it, don't study it, waiting for a magic answer or panacea. That's must more dilatory churning. There is no easy button, but hard is hardest when you're avoiding the work. IMO, of course.

Arduinna

[dal1mdm]

Arduinna,

Just wanted to commend you on your insightful post. Very helpful.

-Mark

[avrum68]

There is no easy button, but hard is hardest when you're avoiding the work. IMO, of course.

Arduinna

I loved reading your post. I'm curious though, have you found GTD, and all the time it takes to read, do and tweak the system, to help with procrastination? Or do you find it to be one more, pie-in-the sky attempt at doing what you claim many are guilty of...a childish fantasy that this book, or that system, will help us do what we're avoiding.

In other words...do you use it?

[TesTeq]

GTD will not cure you of procrastination. It can help to improve your productivity but only when you have developed the strong vision of the successful outcomes.

The procrastination is closely related to the internal honesty and ability to keep promises (agreements with yourself). You are not honest with you when you say "I will do it today" and then begin to procrastinate and look for excuses.

First decide what you want to achieve and then there are no excuses - just the hard work towards the goal.

[legidan]

As long as we're mired in this juvenile reaction to improperly administered authority from our youth (my favorite theory about the "cause"), we're mired in a sort of perptual infancy.

And this is true for much of why we self-sabatoge w/o any apparent concious reason for doing so. And that's partly why self-help/business books do so well. Then answers offer hope, but alas, they're usually one more attempt to purchase a quick fix.


I think you have to get impatient with this nonsense and see it for what it is to get beyond it.
My experience exactly. Either a very big carrot, or a painful stick gets me moving.


wiping the dysfunction away would not be strong enough to work against years of ingrained habitual avoidance and slacker behavior.
So very, very true. And if you genogram your family, I'll be you find similar patterns going back many generations.


Get out of your own way, and the blocks and mountains themselves will start to erode.
:-? How have you done this?


There is no easy button
I'd take a complex button if it worked.

[Arduinna]

I loved reading your post. I'm curious though, have you found GTD, and all the time it takes to read, do and tweak the system, to help with procrastination? Or do you find it to be one more, pie-in-the sky attempt at doing what you claim many are guilty of...a childish fantasy that this book, or that system, will help us do what we're avoiding.

In other words...do you use it?

Oh, I don't think it's a childish fantasy to think that a book or a system can help us do what we're avoiding. I was characterizing my behavior as childish. I'd tried intellectualizing the whys and wheretofores to arrive at an equation that could conclude in a solution, and while great things were going on in my head, the translation to motor activity didn't happen.

As Tes Teq says, "GTD will not cure you of procrastination. It can help to improve your productivity but only when you have developed the strong vision of the successful outcomes." GTD does give you a great structure for organizing the activity that constitutes movement, productivity. Those of us who live in the twilight state of purpose-avoidance won't plug into it if we remain committed to stasis. Tes Tec's advice, "decide what you want to achieve and then there are no excuses - just the hard work towards the goal," is the core of the solution. On this board, we spend a lot of time discussing the mechanics of GTD--filing setups, trusted systems, weekly reviews--and a lot less on the business of deciding what we want to achieve. But as Tes Teq suggests, that is key to GTD. More than just "getting things done," I think it's vital to achieving perpetual, self-renewing motivation and inspiration.

I also think that it's the most difficult aspect of the entire deal. It's why the weekly review is avoided by so many. It requires looking at the scope of your desiderata, and in a world in which people define themselves by what they do, that means running a constant appraisal of ourselves. It means seeing, for example, that most of the focus in our lives may be on maintenance--just keeping going--with too little devoted to changing our reality. It means recognizing the limitations on our lives, that we may be living in response to someone else's needs and demands, and completely out of touch with the reason we're on the planet. Facing unpleasant facts and finding the resources to change are the kind of inimical challenges generated by a attempting full implementation of GTD. For me, they kicked in well before I got anywhere near "full." So I stalled, stopped, stomped, walked out of the room, came back in and flopped on the sofa, looked at GTD again, pouted, paced..... you get it. Anything but actually doing it. But I kept trying, and something's taken hold, is taking off. I am finding that, with this more cold-eyed view of myself and the consequences of my behavior, I'm moving toward making the system work for me. I have tweaked with nearly every aspect of it to suit my personal tastes and certain habits I'd already had that worked, like using hanging files instead of having a manilla mess sliding around in a drawer. I remain trained on what I see as the objective of GTD, to increase accomplishment and personal productivity in a way that becomes nearly effortless.

To answer the question about removing obstacles, the GTD device of breaking projects down into NAs is quite effective. "Mountains" are seemingly imponderable or overwhelming tasks; the GTD focus breaks them down into a series of doable actions. In that respect, it melts mountains. The slacker's high of frenzied deadline-meeting is supplanted by a sense of fluidity of events, which to me suggests DA's "mind like water" metaphor. It feels much better, replacing the constant fear and panic of procrastination with the pleasure of being in the here and now. All I can say is, keep trying and don't give up. It's worth the struggle.

Arduinna

[legidan]

Arduinna...

You've got a book in you, and it'd be a nice companion to GTD. I'll buy it :wink:

Curious...when you've got a mountain, say "job search" or "design web page", besides throwing it into a "project" category, how to do you discern you NA from a mountain. What do you folks do to take that first step?

[kewms]

I find breaking a big project mountain into doable NA molehills (or even doable NA anthills) can be an iterative process.

Project: Write book NA: Plan outline of book
Project: Write Chapter 1
Subproject: Research Chapter 1 NA: Web search Chapter 1 topic
smaller NA: Read IEEE review paper on Ch 1 topic
even smaller NA: Renew IEEE online subscription

And so forth.

The key, at least for me, is to keep breaking it down instead of letting myself get paralyzed by a task that is too big.

Katherine

[legidan]

More examples of morphing mountains - hills - pebbles etc, would be appreciated. Not looking for the whole the process...just the first couple of breakdowns.

[dal1mdm]

Arduinna,

Would you agree that what we are really procrastinating about is not the weekly review, the next action, or the project, but defining and pursuing our purpose in life?

[kewms]

Based on the time stamps on your posts, I'm guessing you spent about half an hour thinking and writing about your procrastination problem. As your Procrastinators Anonymous sponsor, I've got to tell you that's a bad sign...

My two favorite quotes about writing are:
"I never get writer's block, I just lower my standards." and
"There is no writing, however terrible, that cannot be improved, but a blank page is just a blank page."

Or, if you like physical metaphors better, one of the things we tell beginners in aikido is to keep moving. Don't worry about doing the perfect thing, just do *something.* Then you can decide why it isn't perfect, and improve it.

The point of all of this being to say that no matter what the underlying cause of your procrastination might be, the fact remains that you aren't getting stuff done. Any hack that helps you get stuff done will be an improvement, whether it addresses the underlying cause or not.

Now, to an outside observer, it looks like the problem is actually pretty simple: you don't like your job. The solution is therefore equally simple: get a different one. Few people have to beat themselves over the head to do work they enjoy.

Katherine

[TesTeq]

Now, to an outside observer, it looks like the problem is actually pretty simple: you don't like your job. The solution is therefore equally simple: get a different one. Few people have to beat themselves over the head to do work they enjoy.
It is not easy in many cases because for many people the preferred job is watching TV, playing computer games etc.

[kewms]

It is not easy in many cases because for many people the preferred job is watching TV, playing computer games etc.

I don't think that's actually true. When people have the opportunity to watch TV or play computer games for 40 hours a week -- say when they're on vacation -- they usually get bored and move on to other things after a while. And jobs that do involve watching TV for 40 hours a week -- like TV critics -- don't seem to be completely overrun with applicants.

Katherine