Should I Do This Now? Or…

There comes a moment in everyone’s life where they have a choice to make between completing a task right away and waiting until the very last moment. This phenomenon is called procrastination.

Hi, my name is Addison, and I’m going to tell you some experiences I have had with procrastination and give some tips to help overcome this invisible barrier. I happen to know a thing or two about procrastination, the doctors said I would be born on July 30, 1993, so naturally, I waited until 11:59:59 p.m. to be delivered. I have perfected my ability to time out how long an assignment will take and complete it with just seconds to spare. It is a gift and a curse.

My time in the military has made me exceptional at time management. As my leadership used to say, “15 minutes early is on-time.” However, for some reason, this only applies to being on time for an event, work, or class. My military job was to be a training non-commissioned officer (NCO). I was behind the scenes organizing ranges, ammunition, and weapons. Being on-time is a non-negotiable, but when managing the ranges, ammunition, and guns, we always seemed to wait until the last possible second.

Procrastination

What is procrastination? It is voluntarily delaying a task and doing so against our own better judgement. Procrastination is impressive because it is entirely irrational for us to do. We voluntarily wait to do something even though we know doing so is terrible? Yes, and unfortunately, emotions and evolutionary changes cause procrastination.

Emotions

Charlotte Lieberman of the New York Times says procrastination is a way for humans to deal with emotions. Emotions like boredom, anxiety, insecurity, frustration, self-doubt, and many more can cause us to procrastinate. Dr Pychyl, a psychology professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, said, “Procrastination is an emotion regulation problem, not a time management problem.” So, in short, we now know procrastination is not related to our inability to manage time, but it is related to our inability to control our moods and emotions. The empty hole that we create when we procrastinate only becomes larger the more we procrastinate.   

Evolution

For centuries we have been programmed to complete our short-term tasks before our long-term. Procrastination and impulsivity are genetically linked. As the Association for Psychological Science puts it, impulsivity makes sense, our ancestors needed to seek short-term rewards because the next day was uncertain. If we are impulsive, we lose sight of the long-term goal. Conflict avoidance is a better way to understand the genetic disposition of procrastination. As Sharad Paul MD says, “The genes progressed down generations because these people were still holed up in caves fearful of predators [saying], ‘My tools are not sharp enough. I better spend more time perfecting this spear.'”

Solutions

• Rewards: reward yourself like a puppy when you complete a task. The larger the job, the greater the reward. You will be ringing the bell to go potty in no time.
• Divide and Conquer: By splitting up larger tasks into smaller ones, you eliminate the dread of completing SO MUCH WORK.
• 10-minute rule: spend 10 minutes performing a task; once you finish the 10 minutes, take a break and then do 10 more minutes until you are satisfied.
• Make a “To-do” list: create a list of everything you need to accomplish and check off as you go; the shortening list will give you a confidence boost leading up to the larger tasks.
• Routine: set a daily routine; start by making your bed. It is a small task, but it is easy and builds confidence moving forward with jobs the rest of your day.

What did we learn today?

Procrastination sucks, I know, but we all do it, and it is manageable. Our genetic disposition provides a link to how often we meander through projects. Genetics only take us so far; if we have a lower genetic tolerance, our emotions will take over. Fear not; there are ways to mitigate procrastination, like the five mentioned above. They say it takes 30 days to create a new habit, get after it. I was not born at 11:59:59 p.m., but thinking of jokes curbed my procrastination on this piece.