TheProcrastinator’sDigest

AConciseGuidetoSolvingtheProcrastinationPuzzle

TimothyA.Pychyl,Ph.D.OceanofPDF.com

Copyright©2010byTimothyA.Pychyl,Ph.D.Coverart©Copyright2010byPaulMason.Comics©Copyright2010byTimothyA.PychylandPaulMason.

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ISBN: Softcover 978-1-4535-2859-4

Ebook 978-1-4535-2860-0

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,scanning,orotherwise,withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionoftheauthor.Limit of Liability/Disclaimer ofWarranty:While the author and the publisher have used their besteffortsinpreparingthisbook,theymakenorepresentationsorwarrantieswithrespecttotheaccuracyorcompleteness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties ofmerchantabilityorfitnessforaparticularpurpose.Theadviceandstrategiescontainedhereinmaynotbe suitable for your situation.You should consultwith a professionalwhere appropriate.Neither theauthor nor the publisher shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages,includingbutnotlimitedtospecial,incidental,consequential,orotherdamages.ThisbookwasprintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.PublishedinCanadaby

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CONTENTSAcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter1:Whatisprocrastination?Whydoesitmatter?Chapter2:Isprocrastinationreallyaproblem?Whatarethecostsof

procrastinating?Chapter3:What’sthemostimportantthingweneedtoknowabout

procrastination?Chapter4:Whywewon’tfeellikeittomorrowChapter5:Excuses&self-deception:Howourthinkingcontributestoour

procrastinationChapter6:ThepowerofgettingstartedChapter7:Whygettingstartedisn’tthewholesolutionChapter8:Willpower,willpower,ifweonlyhadthewillpowerChapter9:What’sbredinthebone:PersonalityandprocrastinationChapter10:CyberslackingontheprocrastinationsuperhighwayConcludingthoughts:Ontheroadofself-change

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Sabbaticalisawonderfulpartoftheacademiclife.Itisatraditionwhereonevery seventh year scholars are given time, uninterrupted by teaching andadministrativeduties,toread,researchandwrite.Igivethanksforthisgiftofscholarship,andIdedicatemywriting to thoseatmyuniversityandfacultyassociationwhopreservethisimportanttradition.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book began to take shape from a collection of blog postings forPsychologyToday. In fact, it was inwritingmy “Don’t Delay” blog that Idiscovered how much I enjoyed writing to communicate ideas outside offormal, scholarly journal articles. I discovered that instead of “writing toearn” in my “publish or perish” academy, I was “writing to learn” andlearning towrite in awhole newway.Given this beginning to the book, Iwant toprefacemyacknowledgementsbygivingspecial thanks toLybiMa(ExecutiveEditor,PsychologyTodayandauthor)whoinvitedmetobepartofthePsychologyTodaybloggersin2008andwhohasnurturedmysenseofselfas awriter.Aswell, Iwant to thankHaraEstroffMarano (Editor atLarge,Psychology Today and author) who, like Lybi, has always been soencouraging and supportive. They are part of a truly wonderful team ofpeople.

Writing is not a solitary activity even though we may struggle withconcepts,ideasandthewordstoexpresstheseinourown“darknightofthesoul”attimes.Writingisaverysocialactfromtheinceptionofideasthroughtorevisingafinalmanuscript.So,IhavequiteafewpeopleIwanttothankforhelpingmewithmywriting.Ofcourse,asmyfatheralwaystoldme,youcandelegatetheactivitybutnottheresponsibility;youcansharethepraise,butnottheblame.Thismeansthatanyoftheshortcomingsinmywritingaremyown.Thethingsthatyoulikebestaboutthisbookaremostprobablyduetothekindinputoftheseotherswhodeservemywordsofappreciation.

As a scholar, I havedrawnon awidebodyof research inmywriting.Yet, unlike my scholarly publications, I have not cited this work in anacademicfashion,soIwanttogivecredittosomekeyindividualswhohavedeveloped the ideas that I have distilled in this digest. In terms of theprocrastination research literature specifically, my colleagues Drs. JosephFerrari (DePaul University, Chicago), Clarry Lay (retired, York University,Toronto), Henri Schouwenburg (retired, University of Groningen, TheNetherlands), Fuschia Sirois (BishopsUniversity, Sherbrooke,Quebec) andPiers Steel (University of Calgary) have provided the foundation of ideasabouthowbest tounderstandprocrastination. If Iwasnotdrawingon theirwork directly in my writing, particularly that of Ferrari, Lay andSchouwenburg,Iwasspeakingtosomeofmyownresearchwhichwasbuiltontheirwork.Iamgratefultohaveeachofthemascolleaguesandfriends.

In addition to the procrastination research, I drew on numerous otherstudiesthathavehelpedmetounderstandthenatureofself-regulationfailure,howwecanstructureour intentions tomoresuccessfullymeetourgoals,aswellasaspectsofourpersonality suchasperfectionism thatcanundermineourgoalpursuit.Althoughitisnotpossibletolisteveryone,Idowanttonotetheenormouscontributionsmadeby, respectively,Drs.RoyBaumeisterandDiane Tice (and their students at Florida State University), Brian Little(retired,CarletonUniversity,Ottawa), PeterGollwitzer (and his students atNewYorkUniversity) andGordon Flett (YorkUniversity, Toronto). I havelearnedagreatdeal fromeachof these scholars, and theirworkprovidedaframework for both understanding self-regulatory failure and strategies tomore effectively exercise self-control to break unconscious habits andpatternsofbehavior.

It is easy to see how these esteemed and accomplished scholars havecontributed to my own thinking and research. Not so obvious, but just asimportant,hasbeenthecontributionofmyownstudentstomyresearchandwriting.My research is driven bymy students, as research at the graduatelevelinparticularisameanstoteachingandlearning.Iwanttothankallofmystudentswhohaveparticipatedinprocrastinationresearchwithmesince1995aspartoftheProcrastinationResearchGroup,andIparticularlywanttoidentifytheimportantcontributionsmadebyShannonBennett,KellyBinder,AllanBlunt,MatthewDann,MohsenHaghbin,EricHeward,JenniferLavoie,Adam McCaffrey, Rick Morin, Brian Salmon, Matthew Shanahan, KyleSimpson,andRachelleThibodeau.Eachofthesestudentshastakenhisorherown research past the thesis requirements and into the scholarly literaturemoreformally.

Movingfromresearchresultstocommunicableideasforotherstoreadisacraftuntoitself.IamgratefulforthehelpofmywifeBethwho,asanon-psychologist, iswilling toaskme toclarifymy ideasormywords. It takescourageforhertopersistattimes,Ifear,becauseitiseasyformetobecomedefensive aboutmywriting. I knowher thoughtful comments alwaysmakemythinkingandwritingclearer.Inaddition,myfriend,JeannieBacon,whowaswillingtotestthestrengthoffriendshipbyprovidingherexpertisetotheeditingofmybook,hasmadeanimportantdifferenceinmywriting.Jeannie,awriterwith both graduatework inEnglish and professional experience intechnical writing, helped me to be more coherent and consistent with myprose.PlaceswhereyoustillmightfindproblemswithmywritingareplaceswhereIfailedtoheedherhelpfuladvice.

The comics in the book, which provide a different perspective on theconceptsdiscussedaswellasalittlelaughteratouralltoohumantendencyto“putitoffuntiltomorrow,”areduetothetalentsofmyfriendPaulMason.I

metPaulwhenhewasaboyand Iwas livingoneofmy“other lives”asacanoe outfitter forTrailhead in Ottawa. Along with his father Bill and hissisterBecky,Paulhasdevelopedaninternationalreputationforcanoeingandart.Iwasdelightedwhenheagreedtocollaboratewithmeonacomicseriesandtobringhisartistic talents tothedesignof thecover.Whenaparticularcomicmakes you laugh, you can be sure itwasPaul’s creative insight thatcapturedtheconceptsowell.

EachofthepeopleIhaveidentified,plusmanyotherswhoIhopeIhavenotoffendedbymissinginmywordsofthanks,havemadereadilyapparentcontributions to my research and writing.My final words of thanks are tothosewhosecontributionsaremoreobscureintermsofthewritingofabook,yetdeeplyimportanttomepersonally.Theymakelifejoyful,provide“room”formywritingandbringbalancetomylife.

My children,Laurel andAlex, alongwithmywonderful partnerBeth,bring love and laughter tomy life. Iwork hard not to procrastinate on themoremundanetasksinlifesimplytobesurethatthereistimeforthem!Mydogteamkeepsmefirmlygroundedandinthegreatoutdoorsenoughtokeephealthy and happy. Finally,my father,Walter Pychyl, is never far frommythoughts where I draw on his wisdom, love and support to build a life.Ironically, oneofmydad’smostoftenused expressions is, “we’ll seewhathappens”ashewaitsanotherdaytoact.Iusuallylaughandsaytohim,“nowonder I study procrastination!” Yet, within his words is a great deal ofwisdom.Delaymaytrulybewiseandthebestcourseofaction.Knowingthedifference between procrastination and other forms of delay is a very goodplacetostart.You’llfindsomeofthesethoughtsinChapter1.

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INTRODUCTION

If you are reading this, it is probably because you are bothered byprocrastination. You may be even be reading this because you areprocrastinatingrightnow.Youareavoidingsomeothertask.Iwanttomakethetimeyouspendofftask,rightnow,worthwhile.

That is the purpose of my writing. An hour from now, you will bepreparedtoactdifferently.Youwillbepreparedtobemoresuccessfulinyourgoalpursuit.

Are you ready to get started?That is one ofmymost basic strategies:just get started. In this book, I explainwhy this works and summarize theresearchevidenceforsuchasimple,practicalstrategy.

AboutthisbookThis is a short book—practical and no-nonsense. Although as short aspossible, each concept, topic and issue presented has been carefullyresearched.

Ihavebeen researchingandwritingaboutprocrastination for15years.Youcanlearnaboutmyresearchatprocrastination.ca.ThisWebsiteprovidesaccess to my research group and academic publications as well as myiProcrastinatePodcastsandDon’tDelayblogforPsychologyToday. Ihavehad hundreds of thousands of downloads of my podcasts and blog entries.Like this book, these resources are research-based, but meant to be veryaccessibleforpeoplewhodonotnormallyreadpsychologicalresearch.

The key difference between my blog or podcast and this book is theorganization of the ideas. The blog and podcast cover a wide variety ofimportanttopics,butyouwouldhavetospenddaysreadingorlisteningtogetitall.Thevalueofthisbookisthat it isadigestofmyresearchand,mostimportantly, this book provides a concise summary of key strategies toreduceprocrastinationinyourlife.

Whyisthebooksoshort?Toooften,westartbooks,readthefirstchapterortwo,andneverpickitupagain (although we intend to finish it!). Among procrastinators, this is aterriblerisk.Infact,procrastinationisdefinedbythisintention-actiongap.Idonotwanttocontributetothis,soIhavewrittenashortbook.Itispossible

toreadthewholethinginafewhours(fastreadersmaygetthroughthemainideasandkeystrategiesinanhourinfact).

Mostimportantly,IhavewrittenashortbookbecauseIbelievethat“lessismore.” It is quite possible forme towrite hundreds of pages about thistopic. I have in my blog and research, for example.My graduate studentsregularly write lengthy theses on the topic. However, when it comes tolearningstrategiesforchange,afewkeyideasarewhatisrequired.Workingwiththeseideasinyourown lifewillmakeadifference.Yourreadingcanmakeadifferenceinyourliferightnow—ifyouwantitto.

“If youwant it to.” This idea is very important to understand. Notechniqueonitsownwilleverworkwithoutafirmcommitmenttoagoal.Ifyouarecommitted tochange, Iknowwhatyouwill learnherewillmakeadifference. I have received emails from people from all walks of life (e.g.,lawyers, students, homemakers, consultants, medical researchers, and evenotheracademics)fromallovertheworldthatattesttothedifferencethatthesestrategiesaremakingintheirlives.

HowthebookisorganizedIhavestructuredeachchapterinasimilarwaysothatthebookiseasierandquickertoread.Youknowwhattoexpectineachchapter.

First,Ibegineachchapterwitha keyphrase thatmay become your“mantra”forchange.Amantraisanoften-repeatedexpressionoridea.Itiscommonlyassociatedwithmeditationas the focusofyour thoughts. I thinkthefirstsentenceofeverychaptercanserveyoubestasadailyfocusasyouworktowardschangeinyourlife.

When you read a chapter that really “speaks to you” in terms of yourown procrastination,memorize theopeningmantra for change,post it onyour fridgeoronyourcomputerasascreensaver.Inshort,make ityourownandreflectonitoften.

Second, I offer an example through a short story that highlights acommon problem with procrastination. These stories are based on livedexperiences sharedwithme by research participants, as replies tomy blogpostingsandpodcasts,aswellasthroughpeopleIhavemetatinvitedtalks,workshops and even at social gatherings (these arepeoplewho tellme thattheywouldbe“theperfectsubjectformystudies”).Ihopethesestorieshelpsituatetheissueinlivedexperienceforyou.

Third,Isummarizethekeyissue(s)illustratedinthestory.Here,Idrawonresearch,butIdonotquotedates,namesorotherdetails likeIdoinmyacademic papers, blog or podcasts. I write about the issue and research insimple terms to keep the concepts clear.When I do introduce a term from

research,somepsychological“jargon,”Iexplainwhatitmeans.Fourth,basedontheresearch,Ipresentstrategies thatyoumightuse

tofacilitatechangeinyourlife.Thesestrategies fleshout themantraat thebeginningofthechapter,linkingtheissueandwhatweknowfromresearchtothings you can do to reduce your procrastination. These strategies are thepractical things that you can do to solve the procrastination puzzle in yourownlife.

Asappropriate,Ialsoprovideaplaceforyoutorephrasethekeyideasinrelationtoyourownlife.Thisiswhereyoumaketheconceptsyourowninthecontextofyourownlife.This iswhereyoudoyourfirstbitofpersonalworkandgoalsetting.

Finally,youwillfindatleastoneofourcomics ineachchapter.PaulMason(anartist,creativegeniusandall-aroundgreatguy)andIcreatedthisseriesofcomicstogether.

In the comics, we embrace the notion of “carpe diem.” The LatinexpressionCarpeDiem(meaningliterally“seizetheday”)hasbeenusedforcenturies with contrasting meanings. For example, it has been used tocelebrate and defend procrastination with a focus on enjoying the moment—“Eat, drink, and bemerry, for tomorrow youmay die”—and, it has alsobeenusedasanadmonition,scoldingourselvestofocusonthepressingtaskathandwithexpressionssuchas“makehaywhilethesunshines.”

Our comics allow us to laugh at our propensity to put it off, whilelamenting the tragedy of our inability to seize the day and accomplish ourgoals. Laugh or cry, we hope you will enjoy the situations we portray.Althoughthecontextforthesecomicsiscollegeoruniversitylife,Ithinkyouwillfindthethemesapplicabletootherlifedomains.

Ok,enoughbywayofintroduction.Let’sjustgetstarted.

Whatisprocrastination?

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CHAPTER1

Whatisprocrastination?Whydoesitmatter?Allprocrastinationisdelay,butnotalldelayisprocrastination

Maria,aworkingmotherofthreeyoungchildren,reachestheendofherdaywith lots left to do.Again, she didn’t get the laundry put awayor the filessortedinheroffice.Shebeatsherselfup,callingherselfaprocrastinator,yetshe’sconfusedabouthowshe’lleverbeabletogetitalldonewhensomuchhappens each day that’s out of her control. She plans carefully, but kids’illness,changesatthedaycareandbothherandherhusband’stravelforworkalwaysseemtonecessitatechangeinherplansanddelaysonsometasks.

IssueTheseexamplesinMaria’slifeshouldnotbeseenasprocrastination.Weallhave todelay things.Delay ispartofmakingpriorities.Ofcourse,achild’sillness takes precedence overmuch ofwhatwemight plan that day. Othertasksneedtobedelayedtomaketimefordoctor’sappointments,homecare,whateverisnecessary.Thekeyissuehereisthatitisnotavoluntarydelayinthestrictestsense.

Procrastination is thevoluntarydelayofan intendedactiondespite theknowledge that this delay may harm the individual in terms of the taskperformanceoreven justhow the individual feelsabout the taskorhim-orherself. Procrastination is a needless voluntary delay. In Maria’s case, thedelay on putting away the laundry and filingwere not truly voluntary. Shewas not needlessly taking on some alternative task to avoid the laundry orfiling.Shewasoptimizingheruseoftimetomeetoneofhermostimportantlifegoals:bethebestmothershecan.

Therearemanytypesofdelayinourlives.Ibelieveweneedtolearntoappreciate this.Somedelaysarenotonlynecessary,aswith theexampleofMaria’staskdelayinfavorofherchildren’shealth,theyarewise.Wemightalsodecide to delay actionon a project becauseweneedmore informationfirst. It is wise to put things off at times rather than to act impulsively orhastily.

Delay isanecessarypartofour lives.Atanygivenmoment, thereareanynumberofthingswecoulddo.Whatwillwechoosetodo?Thischoiceis

basedpartlyonourearlierintentions,ourplansfortheday,butofcourseourchoice will also depend on the context of themoment.What is happeningright now that has an effect on our choices?What ismost important now?Whatisthewisestthingwecandogivenourgoals,responsibilities,rolesanddesires?

Procrastination,incontrasttootherformsofdelay,isthatvoluntaryandquitedeliberateturningawayfromanintendedactionevenwhenweknowwecould act on our intention right now. There is nothing preventing us fromactinginatimelymannerexceptourownreluctancetoact.

This is thepuzzlingaspectofprocrastination.Whyarewe reluctant toact?Whyisitwebecomeourownworstenemy?

Weundermineourowngoalpursuitneedlessly.Why?Howcanwesolvethisprocrastinationpuzzle?

To understand the procrastination puzzle—that voluntary but needlessdelay inour lives thatunderminesourgoalpursuit—weneed tounderstandthisreluctance toactwhen it is inourbest interest toact.We also need tohavestrategiestoovercomethisreluctance.

The conscious use of strategies to overcome our reluctance to act isessential, because procrastination for many people is a habit. That is,procrastinationisahabitualresponsetotasksorsituations,andlikeallhabitsit is an internalized, unconscious process. It is what we do without reallythinkingaboutit.Infact,cross-culturalresearchbyJosephFerrariatDePaulUniversity(Chicago)hasdemonstratedthatforasmuchastwentypercentofthe population, this procrastination habit is quite chronic and affects manypartsofourlives.

Habits are not easy to change.Weneed tomake conscious effortwithspecificstrategiesforchangetobesuccessful.Throughoutthebook,Iarguethatwe need tomakepredecisions to act in a differentway, counter to thehabitualresponse.BasedlargelyontheworkofPeterGollwitzer(NewYorkUniversity),Iemphasizemanydifferentwaysthatwecanusepredecisionstoactwhenweintendtoact,toreducetheeffectsofpotentialdistractionsandtocopemoreeffectivelywithsetbacksanddisappointmentsasweworktowardschangingourbehavior.

Inthechaptersthatfollow,Iexplainwhywemaybereluctanttoactonour intentions, and then I offer strategies for change to help developmoreeffective self-regulation by breaking habitual ways of responding. Thepurpose of this introductory chapter is to emphasize that not all delay isprocrastination,andtheimportanceoffocusingontheneedlessdelaythatisunderminingus.

StrategiesforChangeFornow,myinitialstrategyforchangeisforyoutobegintocategorize

inyourownmindwhichdelaysinyourlifeareprocrastination.Thesearethedelays that you want to do something about. Knowing this difference is agoodplacetostart.

As you begin to identify which delays are truly voluntary delays thatundermineyourperformanceandwell-being,youmayseeapatternemerge.These tasks, projects or intended actionsmay share something in common.Forexample,youmayfindthatthesetasks,projectsorintendedactionselicitcommonfeelings.

In the table that follows (or on a separate piece of paper, or on yourcomputer, or simply as a “thought experiment”), list those tasks, projects,activities or “things” in your life about which you think you areprocrastinating.Nexttoeach,jotdownwhatemotionsandthoughtscometomindwhen you think of each of thesemoments of procrastination.Do notover-thinkthis.Justwritedownwhateverthoughtsoremotionscometomindwhenyoulookatthetaskyouhavejustlisted.Itcouldbe,forexample,thatyouareuncertainaboutwhattodotocompleteatask.

Whenyouhave finishedyour list, look forpatterns in theemotionsorthoughtsinvolved.Youwillwanttoreferbacktothesewhenreadingsomeofthechaptersthatfollow.

Task,project,goal,activity Feelings,thoughtsaboutthistask/goal

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CHAPTER2

Isprocrastinationreallyaproblem?Whatarethecostsofprocrastinating?

Procrastinationisfailingtogetonwithlifeitself.

Iattendedaconferenceacouplesummersagoentitled,Livingwell&dyingwell:Newfrontiersofpositivepsychology,therapyandspiritualcare.Duringa discussion of coping with death and counseling individuals who aregrieving, one of the psychologists noted two kinds of regrets that peopleexpressintheirgriefoverthelossofalovedone:regretsofcommissionandomission.Thesecondregret,thethingsweomitteddoingwhileourlovedonewasalive,capturedmyinterest.Regretsofomissionaresooftentheresultofprocrastination.

I asked this psychologist, “What is the nature of these regrets ofomission?”adding,“Arethese:

1) Things people really intended to do, but never did (i.e.,procrastination)?2)Generalizedpossibilitiesofwhattheycouldhavedone?3) Cultural scripts ofwhat they think they should have done,whatwouldhavebeennicetodo?4)Internalizedexpectationsaboutwhatthelovedonemighthavewantedthemtodo?”

The psychologist replied that all four typeswere part of the regrets he hadseeninhispractice.

So, I pushedona little further andaskedwhich typeof regret seemedmost problematic. As I expected, given the guilt associated withprocrastination,regretoverthethingsthesegrievingpeoplereallyintendedtodobutdidnotwasmostproblematic.Theregretsofomissionrelated toourprocrastinationweremosttroublinginthegrievingprocess.

IssueEveryoneprocrastinates.Ibelievethis,andresearchhasdocumentedthisinanumberofdifferentways.Infact,Ithinkthatpeoplewhosaythattheyhavenever procrastinatedmight also say that they have never told a lie or been

rudetosomeone.Itispossible,Iguess,butunlikely.Wecertainlydonotliketoadmittotheseundesirableactions.

So,ifeveryoneprocrastinates,whyisitaproblem?The research evidence is clear. People who score high on self-report

measuresofprocrastinationalsoself-reportlowerachievementoverall,morenegativefeelingsandtheyevenreportsignificantlymorehealthproblems.Letmediscusseachofthesebriefly.

The lower achievement is easy to explain. Although we can allremember instanceswhereweprocrastinated anddidverywell (we cherishthese memories to make us feel better and to justify even moreprocrastination), on the whole, procrastination results in less time to do athoroughjob.Thisusuallymeanspoorerworkoverall.Themostrecentmeta-analysis of all of the existing procrastination research conducted by PiersSteel(UniversityofCalgary)hasshownthatitiscertainlyneverhelpfulandusuallyharmfultoourtaskperformance.

Thefact thatprocrastination isassociatedwithmorenegativeemotions(ormoods)ispuzzling.Ifweareprocrastinating,youwouldthinkwewouldactuallyfeelbetterbecausewearenotdoingthetasksthatwedonotwanttodoinfavorofthingsweenjoy.Atleastthatiswhatyouwouldthinkwearedoing.

Thethingis,ourresearchshowsthatevenwhenweareprocrastinating,and Imeanwhenwe are actually off task and researchers ask us questionsthenaboutourfeelings,wedonotreportfeelinghappiernecessarily.Thereisa mixture of feelings experienced, including guilt. So, on the whole,procrastinationdoesnotmakeusfeelthatgreat,andthisisparticularlytrueinthelongrun.

Finally, the new research by Fuschia Sirois (Bishops University,Sherbrooke, Quebec) that demonstrates that procrastination actuallycompromises our health is very interesting. Procrastination seems to affecthealth in twoways. First, procrastination causes stresswhich is not a goodthingforourhealthformanyreasons(e.g.,stresscompromisesour immunesystems).

Second, chronic procrastinators needlessly delay health behaviors suchas exercising, eating healthily and getting enough sleep. This affects ourhealth negatively, particularly over time. Sure, not exercising today or noteatingvegetablestodayisnotgoingtoharmustoday.But,youknowhowitgoes:Tomorrowisthesamesituation,werationalizeonemoredayofdelayandbeforeweknowit,ithasbeenyearsofneglected(procrastinated)healthbehaviors.Theresultscanbedevastatingwithincreasedriskforheartdisease,diabetes,andotherdebilitatingillnessesthatcanbepreventedwithmoredailyattentiontosimplebutavoidedhealthbehaviors.

Theday-to-daydelayonsmallbutcumulatively important tasksaffectsusinotherwaysaswell.Agoodexampleisretirementsavings.Itiseasytoputoffsavingtoanotherday,butthisprocrastinationcostsusinthelongrun.

All of this is true about procrastination—it is seldom helpful (but wecertainlyrecallwhenitis),anditisusuallyharmfultoourtaskperformance,psychologicalwell-beingandevenourhealth.Althoughalloftheseoutcomesarenegative,thisisnotwhatmightconcernusmostabouttheconsequencesofprocrastination.

Procrastinationisaproblemwithnotgettingonwithlifeitself.Whenweprocrastinateonourgoals,weareourownworstenemy.Theseareourgoals,ourtasks,andweareneedlesslyputtingthemoff.Ourgoalsarethethingsthatmake up a good portion of our lives. In fact, both philosophers andpsychologists have proposed that happiness is found in the pursuit of ourgoals. It isnotnecessarily thatweareaccomplishinganything inparticular,butthatweareengagedinthepursuitofwhatwethinkismeaningfulinourlives.

When we procrastinate on our goals, we are basically putting off ourlives.Wearecertainlywastingthetimewecouldbeusingtowardsourgoalpursuit.Thethingis,themostfinite,limitedresourceinourlivesistime.Weonlyhaveafiniteamountoftimetolive.Whywasteit?Whywasteitrunningawayfromtasksthatwewantorneedtodo?

Let’s return for a moment to the story I told at the beginning of thischapter. As I listened to psychologists present their research papers andtherapiststalkaboutthegrievingprocess,Ilefteachsessionmoreconvinced

of the importance of dealing with procrastination as a symptom of anexistential malaise; a malaise that can only be addressed by our deepcommitmenttoauthoringthestoriesofourlives.

Toauthorourownlives,wehavetobeanactiveagentinourlives,notapassiveparticipantmakingexcusesforwhatwearenotdoing.Whenwelearntostopneedless,voluntarydelayinourlives,welivemorefully.

Itistimetomakeacommitmenttoengaginginyourlife,achievingyourgoalsandenjoyingthejourney.Timeistooprecioustowaste.

StrategyforChangeOne of the most important pre-conditions for successful change is a deepcommitmenttothatchange.Youreallyhavetovaluethatchange.So,Iwantto focusyourattentionon thecostsofyourprocrastination toenhanceyourgoalcommitment.

Takeamomentnowtothinkaboutthelistoftasksthatyoucameupwithat theendofChapter1.Recall that thesewerethetasks(goals,projects)onwhichyouareprocrastinating.Ihaveprovidedatablebelowintowhichyoumaywant to copy this list of tasks (or goals) in the first column.Youmaywanttoaddnewonesnowtooafterreadingthischapterandthinkingfurtheraboutprocrastination.Idorealizethateveryreaderisdifferent,andthatyoumay not want to write this out. If not, stick with this as a “thoughtexperiment”andjustthinkthroughthenextlittlebit.

Next toeachof thesetasksorgoals,notehowyourprocrastinationhasaffected you in terms of things such as your happiness, stress, health,finances, relationships, etc. You may even want to discuss this with aconfidanteorsignificantotherinyourlifewhoknowsyouwell.Infact,youmay be surprised by what they may have to say about the costs ofprocrastination in your life. Like tobacco smoke, there are second-handeffects of procrastination of which youmay be unaware, including brokenpromises,unfulfilledobligations,andtheaddedburdentoothersof“pickingupthepieces”whileyouarebusywithyour“last-minute”efforts...again.

In short, it is important to recognize and acknowledge all of the costsassociatedwiththeself-regulationfailurewecommonlycallprocrastination.Thisknowledgecanbehelpfulinmaintainingyourcommitmenttochange.

What Iexpectyouwillsee in this list ishowmuchyouarepayingforyour procrastination. The reward of following through with your readingtodayistolearnhowtoeliminatetheseunnecessarycostsinyourlife.StrengtheningGoalIntentions

Itisonethingtoknowthecostofnotacting;itisquiteanothertohavea

strongcommitmenttothegoalitself.Astronggoalintention,anintentionforwhich you have a very strong commitment, is absolutely essential. As iscommonlysaid,“wherethere’sawill,there’saway.”

Tostrengthenagoalintention,itisimportanttorecognizethebenefitsofactingnow,not just the costs of needless delay.Taking time to think abouthowyourgoalsalignwithyourvaluesand larger, longer-term lifegoals,orsimply the short-term benefit of getting a necessary task done, can be animportantstepinstrengtheninggoal intentions.Thelastcolumnof thetableprovides space for this reflection.Addnotes aboutwhy this goal or task isimportant to get done, aswell as the benefits of acting now as opposed tolater.

Finally,“knowing”somethingisdifferentthan“realizing”it—makingitreal—inourlives.Forexample,wecanunderstandthathealthhabitssuchasregularexerciseoreatinglow-fatfoodsandlessrefinedsugararegoodforus.However,we can fail to act on this knowledge until somethingmakes thisinformationrealinourlives.Acommonexampleofthisisthestrengtheningof goal intentions for health behaviors following the diagnosis of a seriousillnesssuchascardiovasculardisease.With thediagnosis, theknowledgeofthe linkbetweenbehaviorandhealthoutcomesbecomes“real” inour lives,notjustknowledgeabouttheworldingeneral.

Thetroubleis, itcanbetoolate toactat thispoint,andwaitingforanepiphanyofthissortisnotthemosteffectivelifestrategy.Itisveryimportantto regularly examine our intentions as a starting point to reducingprocrastination.Totheextent thatwecanstrengthenourgoal intentions,wearemuchmorelikelytoactinatimelymanner.

Task,project,goal,activity

Costsassociatedwithprocrastination Benefitsofactinginatimelyfashion

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CHAPTER3

What’sthemostimportantthingweneedtoknowaboutprocrastination?

Iwon’tgiveintofeelgood.Feelinggoodnow,comesatacost.

Martin said that he would work on the report this morning. That wasyesterday,anditfeltgoodtoputthatawfulreportoffuntiltomorrow.Now,heisfacingthetask,andhefeelsawful.Heisanxiousandfrustrated.Hereallydislikesthisreport.Feelingawholerangeofnegativeemotions,hedecidestoworkonsomeotherlessimportantstuffinstead.Hismoodliftsashepushesthereportasideforanotherday.

IssueAstheresearchofRoyBaumeisterandDianeTice(FloridaStateUniversity)hasclearlyshown,procrastinationisaformofself-regulationfailure.Wefailtoregulateourbehavior toachieveourowngoals.Wemakean intention toact,butwedonotusetheself-controlnecessarytoactwhenintended.Thisisthe voluntary nature of the delay that I stressed in the first chapter thatcharacterizes procrastination.Wemay voluntarily delay our action, becauseweareunableorunwillingtoself-regulateourbehaviortoactnow.

There are many types of self-regulation problems including problemgambling, over-eating, reckless spending and drinking too much.Procrastinationisbestunderstoodasaproblemlikethese;aproblemwithourself-regulation.

Why dowe fail to self-regulate? Although there aremany things thatcontributetothis,themostimportantthingtounderstandisthatwe“giveintofeel good.”That is,wewant to feel goodnow, andwewill dowhatever ittakesforimmediatemoodrepair,usuallyattheexpenseoflong-termgoals.

Whenwe“give in to feelgood,”wegive in to impulsiveurges.Theseurgescantakemanyforms.Wecouldgamble,shoporeatmorethanweneed,ingest mood-altering substances or procrastinate all in an effort to avoidnegativeemotions.Ofcourse,myfocusinonhowweuseprocrastination—needlesstaskdelay—to“giveintofeelgood.”

Whenfacingataskweintendtodo,butdonotwantto,wefeelanumberofpossiblenegativeemotions.Wemayfeelfrustrated,angry,bored,resentful,

depressed,anxious,orguilty.Theseemotionsmaybesomeof theemotionsthatyou listed inyour tableat theendofChapter1.Generally,wecall thistaskaversiveness.Aversivetasksarethingsthatweallwanttoputoff.Theymakeusfeelbad.Wedonotlikedoingthesetasks.

Whoreallywantstodoanaversivetask?Noone.However,thetaskmaybenecessaryforustoreachadesiredgoal.Wemaynotwanttodothetask,butweneedtodoit.

Thekeyissueisthatforchronicprocrastinators,short-termmoodrepairtakes precedence. Chronic procrastinators want to eliminate the negativemoodor emotionsnow, so they“give in to feelgood.”Theygive in to theimpulse toputoff the taskuntilanother time.Now,notfacedwith the task,theyfeelbetter.

Ifyoufind thatyouarechronicallyprocrastinating, itmaywellbe thatyou are running away from negative feelings by putting off your tasks.Ofcourse, this is temporarily rewarding.Themomentweputoff the taskuntiltomorrow,wefeelrelieffromthenegativeemotions.And,asyoumayhavelearned in a basic psychology course, behaviors that are rewarded getrepeated.Wearereinforcingourprocrastination,anditbecomesaproblem.

StrategiesforchangeThe issueof short-termmood repair in favor of long-termgoal pursuit is acrucialonewhenitcomestoaddressingourprocrastination.Itisimportanttorecognizethat“givingintofeelgood”isattheheartofself-regulationfailure,anditisimportanttodevelopstrategiesforchange.

Iwanttobeginwiththemostbasic,andperhapsleastpalatable,strategythatIcanthinkofinrelationto“givingintofeelgood.”Thatis,whenfacedwithataskwhereournaturalinclinationistosay,“I’lldothislater,”“I’llfeelmorelike this tomorrow,”weneedtostopandrecognizethatwearesayingthisinordertoavoidthenegativeemotionswearefeelingrightnow.

Knowledge is power in this regard. First and foremost, we need torecognizethatthistaskmakesusfeelawful,andwhatwearetryingtodoistorun away from these feelings. Of course, this takes a certain amount ofemotional intelligence.This typeof intelligence isnot related to the sizeofour vocabulary or the ability to do arithmetic.Emotional intelligence is theability toeffectively identifyandutilizeemotions toguidebehavior.Recentresearch has shown that lower emotional intelligence is related to moreprocrastination, but the good news is that we can increase our emotionalintelligence. We can learn to more effectively perceive, understand andregulateouremotions.Thisisveryimportantintermsofmoreeffectiveself-control.

Inanycase,basedonwhatIknowaboutprocrastination,itseemsclearthat most people who procrastinate are emotionally aware enough torecognize that some tasks make them feel awful and that they areprocrastinatingtoescapetheseemotions.Whatmayrequirefurtherfocusandstrengtheningistheabilitytoregulateemotionsoratleastsomecommitmentnottotakethepathofleastresistance—thatis,nottogiveintofeelgood.

Whatwereallyneedtodoistocometotermswithournegativefeelingsabouta task.Weneedtofindawaytocopewith thesenegativefeelingssothatwecancontinuetopursueourintendedgoal.Thequestionis,how?

WhileIwaswritingthisbook,Ivy,apodcastlistener,wrotetometosaythatshehaddevelopedsomeofherownmantrasrelatedtotheiProcrastinatePodcasts.Here’swhatshedevelopedonthistopic:

“Don’tgiveintofeelgood,steponuptowhatshould.”

Ilikethistypeofmantraorslogan,asyouknow.Itcanhelpusfocusmoreonchangingourprocrastinationhabit.Ivy’smantracouldeasilyreplacetheoneIofferedatthebeginningofthischapter.

This toughstrategy is immediatelyeffectiveasa first step.Wehave to“suckitup”astheysay.Yes,wearefeelingawfulaboutthetaskathand.Wewouldratherrunaway,“giveintofeelgood.”However,thefirststepat themomentofprocrastinationistostayput.Ifyouturnawayinanefforttomakeyourselffeelbetter,it’sover.

Certainly,stayingputanddealingwiththeseinitialnegativeemotionsisnotthewholesolution,butitisanabsolutelynecessaryfirststep.Thekeytosuccesswith thisemotionalexperience is tobeprepared. Iwill explain justwhyIamurgingyou toprepare inacertainway later.Fornow,I justwantyou to thinkabout the followingasyour first step inananti-procrastinationstrategy:

THINK:IFIfeelnegativeemotionswhenIfacethetaskathand,THEN I

willstayputandnotstop,putoffataskorrunaway.

This “if . . . then” format of an intention has been labeled animplementationintentionbyPeterGollwitzer(NewYorkUniversity). Ihavemore to say about implementation intentions in a future chapter. At themoment, the key thing is that you need to internalize this implementationintentioninordertotakeafirststeprelatedtothenegativeemotionsthatareassociatedwithprocrastination.

AlthoughI thinkmostofushavetorecognizethatwemightverywellhavetojustexperiencethefirstmomentsofthesenegativeemotions,wedonotsimplyhavetotakea“toughguy”approachand“suckitup”tosucceed.Thereisanother,gentler,approachwecantake.

Essentially, it comesdown tochoosing theemotionsonwhichwewillfocus. For example, although the dominant emotion at themomentmay befear—wemayhavefear—thekeythingisthatwedonothavetobeourfear.We can acknowledge this fear, but choose to continue to pursue our goalsworkingfromsomeotherpartofourself.ParkerPalmer,oneofmyfavoriteeducationalwriters, speaks of this asworking from some other part of our“innerlandscape.”Ourinnerlandscape,thepsychologyofself,ismorethanthefearwemaybeexperiencing.Italsoincludesourcuriosity,ourdesiretosucceed,andanotherverystrongemotion,ourinterest.

Ifwe choose to acknowledge our fear but find “the courage to be” inspiteof this fear, toworkfromanotherpartofour inner landscape,wemaymoresuccessfullystayputandstayontask.Wewillnotgiveinto feelgood.Wewillhavemadethefirststeptowardsbeatingprocrastination.

Ofcourse,wearequiteexpertatfindingreasonsnottopersistlikethis.Inthefaceofnegativeemotions,wemighteventrytojustifywhywewanttorunaway.Wewillnotacknowledgeourfearorfrustration.Wemightsimplythink,“I’ll feelmore likedoing this tomorrow.”Weprobablywon’t. I thinkweallknowthisdeepdown.Thisispartofthestrangelypuzzlingnatureofprocrastination.Wehavebecomeourownworstenemy,andweevenknowhowtolietoourselves.

Emotionally,wearegivingintofeelgoodwhilejustifyingthischoicebythinking,“I’llfeelmorelikedoingthistomorrow.”Nowewon’t!Inthenextchapter,Iexplainwhy.

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CHAPTER4

Whywewon’tfeellikeittomorrowIwon’tfeelmorelikedoingittomorrow.

Tointroducethischapter,IwanttoshareastoryIreceivedfromareaderofmyPsychologyTodayblog. Itclearly illustrates theproblemof“tomorrow.”This reader said that the issue of “feeling more like it tomorrow” wasreminiscentofasigninabutcher’sshopwindowinhisgrandparents’villageinPoland.

Translated into English, the sign read: “Today you pay and tomorrowyougetitforfree.”

When the customers would come tomorrow for their free goods, thebutcherwouldsay“Readthesign:Todayyoupay,tomorrowit’sfree.”Asthisreadernoted,itisprettymuchthatwaywithprocrastination.The“tomorrow”in which “I’ll really feel like it” is always a day away. It never becomes“today.”

IssueThe story above captures the basic issue with procrastination; I’ll do ittomorrow.Infact,theLatinrootsofprocrastinationmean,“toputforwardtotomorrow.”Yet,asthebutcherexplainedwithhissign,that tomorrowneverreallycomes.

Aswith the butcher’s sign that implied that customerswould get freegoodstomorrow,ourthinkingplaysatricktoo.Wethinkwe’llfeelmorelikeit tomorrow.What we need to understand, so as not to be tricked like thebutcher’s customers, is why this is not true.We will not feel more like ittomorrow.

Research,particularly studiesbyDanGilbert (HarvardUniversity) andTim Wilson (University of Virginia), indicates that we are not very goodforecasters.No,Idon’tmeanweatherforecasters.Meteorologistsseemtobebetter at forecasting theweather (at least in the short term) thanwe are atforecasting our own mood in the future. Forecasting our future mood isknownasaffectiveforecasting.

Themainideabehindaffectiveforecastingis thatwehaveabiaswhenwe predict futuremood (affective) states in relation to positive or negativeevents.Forexample,acoupleofyearsafterwinningalottery,lotterywinners

were about as a happy as they were before their win, despite the generalaffectiveforecastthattheywouldbemuchhappierifonlytheycouldwinthelottery.Thisisalsotrueofpeoplewhohavesuffereddebilitatingaccidents.Afew years after the accident, despite long-term effects such as paralysis,accidentvictimswereaboutashappyas theywerebefore this life-changingevent, again,despite thegeneral affective forecast that theywouldbemuchunhappier.

Twoconceptsareused toexplain thesepeculiar findings: focalism andpresentism. Focalism is the tendency to underestimate the extent to whichothereventswillinfluenceourthoughtsandfeelingsinthefuture.Presentism,as youmight guess by the word, addresses the fact that we put too muchemphasison thepresent inourpredictionof the future.Taken together, thismeans thatwe focusonour current situationandhowwe feelnow withoutenoughconsiderationaboutthefuturesituation,whatmighthappenandhowwemightfeelthen(orhaveinsimilarsituationsinthepast).

Herearesomecommonexperiencesof this.Ifwegogroceryshoppingjustafterameal,wewillgenerallyunderestimatehowmuchwewilleatintheweekaheadandbuyless.Addictswhohavejustingestedtheirdrugofchoicewillunderestimatehowmuch theywillcrave thedrug later. Irrationally,wethinkhowwearefeelingnowishowwewillfeellater.Themostastonishingthing about this is that it is true for simple things like current and futurehungerstates.Howisthisrelatedtoprocrastination?

Weneedtoconsiderwhatthishumanbiasinaffectiveforecastingmeanstoourunderstandingofprocrastination.By thispoint, theargumentmaybeapparent. Inmaking an intention for future action,we focus on our currentaffective state with the mistaken assumption that our affective state at thepointweexpecttoactonourintentionwillbethesameasitisnow.

Therealcatchhereisthatwhenweintenda futureaction,ouraffectivestateisoftenparticularlypositive.Why?Therearetworeasons.

First, because we are putting off action until the future, we get therewardthatwediscussedwith“givingintofeelgood.”Wefeelgoodnowthattheintentionisforfutureaction.Attheveryleast,wefeelreliefthatwearenotonthehooktoactnow.

Second,weareimaginingourselvesengagedinsomeactioninthefuturethatweperceivewillmakeushappy.Thisispleasantinandofitself.Healthbehaviorsaregoodexampleshere.Ifweintendtogoforaruntomorrow,wefeel good about ourselves for making such a proactive health-relatedintention. Good for us! Our current affective state is positive, and weincorrectlyforecast thatouraffectivestate tomorrowat theintendedtimeoftherunwillbethesame.

Thereisnothinglikearighteousintentionnowforactionlatertomakeusfeelgood.“I’llruntomorrow.I’lldothatassignmenttomorrow.I’llwritethatreport later . . .”Happinessnow,paylater(ornot,as thecasemaybe).Unless we can get better at “mental time traveling” where we can setintentionswithclearerknowledgeabouthowwewillfeelabouttakingactionin the future, we will continue to be predictably irrational with ourprocrastination.

StrategiesforchangeWeneeda two-prongedapproach to increase the likelihood thatwewillactonourintentions.Onestrategyis“timetravel.”Theotheristo“expecttobewronganddealwithit.”Strategy#1—Timetravel

As numerous psychologists who study affective forecasting haveadvocated,weneedtousementalimagesofthefuturemoreoftenandmoreaccurately.Weneedtorepresentthefutureasthoughitwerehappeninginthepresent.Forexample,apersonwhoisprocrastinatingonsavingforretirementmightimagineasvividlyaspossiblelivingonhisorherpotentialretirementsavings.Tomakeafutureimagelikethismoreconcreteandaccurate,itmaybeimportanttosetoutsomenumbersforabudgetandtakeintoaccounttherealityoftheneedfor,andincreasingexpenseof,healthcareinoldage.This“timetravel”canhelpmakeourpredictionsofthefuturemoreaccurateandmotivatemoreappropriateactionnow.

Unfortunately, I amnot that confident that this approachwillwork formanypeople.First,itispossiblethatwewillputoffthisplanningtaskitself,aformofsecond-orderprocrastination.Second,evenifwedothistask, the

initialemotional response(e.g., fear)willmost likelywearoffquickly,and,moreimportantly,thefactthatretirementissofarawaymaystillresultinusdiscountingitsimportanceanddelayingoursavingsfurther.Strategy#2—Expecttobewronganddealwithit

This second strategy is more effective, but youmay think that it is a“hard-nosed”approach.Inthiscase,ratherthantryingtochangewhatseemstobeadeeplyengrainedbias inhuman thinkingby improvingouraffectiveforecasts,Ithinkweshouldsimplylearntoexpect tobewrong,andgo fromthere. We do this every day with respect to weather forecasts, and mostrecently we have been learning to do this with ridiculously inaccurateeconomicforecasts.Givenourabilitytocopewithinaccuratemeteorologicalandeconomicforecasts, Ihaveconfidencewecancopeeffectivelywithourpoor affective forecasting. This strategy, by necessity, takes two forms orapproaches.Approach#1

Whenwe are tempted to procrastinate on a current intention (or task)thinking that“we’ll feelmore like it tomorrow,”weneed tostopand think,“no,that’saproblemwithmyforecasting.ThereisagoodchanceIwon’tfeelmorelikeittomorrow.”AND,itisimportanttoaddthefollowing,

“Mycurrentmotivationalstatedoesnotneedtomatchmyintentioninordertoact.”

Thisisacommonmisconceptionaboutgoalpursuit;webelievethatwehavetoactuallyfeellikeit.Wedon’t.And,withmanyofthetasksinourlives,wewon’tfeellikeit.Thethingis,ourmotivationalstatedoesnotneedtomatchthe intention.We can do something even if we do not feel like it. Parentsspendalotoftimeexplainingthistotheirchildren.

Hereisanotherexample.Muchaswemightpreferasunnydaytogooutfor a run or a bike ride, we can put on rain gear and get outside. In fact,successfulathletesdothiseveryday.Theyarenot“fair-weather”trainers.Theweatherdoesnothave tomatch theactivity.Wecancopewithwhatwegetandstillactasintended.

Similarly,acknowledgingthatourmotivationalstateisneithernecessarynor sufficient to ensure action, we can simply remind ourselves of ourpersonal goals (a form of self-affirmation) and “just get started”—progresswillfuelwell-beingandenhancegoalattainment(moreonthisinChapter6).Approach#2

Whenwesetanintentiontoacttomorrow,andtomorrowcomes,expectthatyouprobablywillnotfeeloverlyenthused togetstarted.Given thatour

intentionwasmadeyesterday(ormuchearlier)withtheoptimisticmoodthatcomeswith having a plan, wewill probably feel less happy than expectedwith therealityof the tasknowathand(again, this isallpartofourbiasedaffectiveforecasting).

Now, the thing todo is toremember that this isa transientmood, andthinkthroughalloftheissuesraisedwithApproach#1,particularlyhowyourmotivationalstatedoesnotneedtomatchthetaskforyoutogetstartedrightnow.

Thisis“toughlove”withoneself,Isuppose.Certainlymanyofushaveheardthisadvicebeforeasweweregrowingup.Itwascouchedintermsof“growingup”and“maturity”and the“responsibilitiesof adulthood.”Thesewereoftenexpressionsoftoughlovetoo.Thiswasadvicefromadultsinourlives who were trying to nurture fortitude and realism with respect towillpower.

Insum, thestrategyIamadvocating fordealingwithourbias towardsthinking“we’llfeelmorelikeittomorrow,”isknowingthatthisisacommonproblemwithbeinghuman.Wearenotverygoodatpredictinghowwewillfeelinthefuture.Weareoverlyoptimistic,andouroptimismcomescrashingdown when tomorrow comes. When our mood sours, we end up where Istartedinthelastchapter,“givingintofeelgood.”Weprocrastinate.

The problem is pretty obvious, as is the solution: Let go of themisconception that ourmotivational statemustmatch the task at hand. Infact, social psychologists have demonstrated that attitudes follow behaviorsmorethan(oratleastasmuchas)behaviorsfollowattitudes.Whenyoustarttoactonyourintentionasintended,youwillseeyourattitudeandmotivationchange.

Thisgetsmealittlebitaheadofourstory,however.Fornow,let’skeepthe focus on the mantra for this chapter: “I won’t feel more like doing ittomorrow.”

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CHAPTER5

Excuses&self-deception:Howourthinkingcontributes

toourprocrastinationIneedtobeawareofmyrationalizations.

Allanlamentedhisprocrastinationtoanyonewhowouldlisten,butnothingseemed to change. His friends recognized him as the master of excuses,althoughAllandidn’tacknowledgehisownhiddentalentshere.Hewastrulythe“teflonguy”whenitcametobeingaccountable,eventohimself.Nothingstucktohim.Therewasalwaysanexcuseforwaitinganotherday,andtherewasalwaysanexcuseforbeingofftask.

It’snotdueforweeks.

Icandothatworkinafewhours.

Iworkbetterunderpressure.

Of course, another day always became another, and soonweeks ormonthspassedwithoutprogress.Whycan’tAllanseehowheisjustrationalizingthisneedlessdelay?

IssueInadditiontounderstandingourbasicimpulseto“giveintofeelgood”(seeChapter3)and“whywereallywon’tfeelmorelikedoingittomorrow”(seeChapter4),weneedtoconsidersomeofthebiasesinourthinking.Thereareanumberofveryimportantissuestoconsider,includingthehumantendencyto:

1)discountfuturerewardsinrelationtoshort-termrewards,2)underestimatethetimethingswilltakeandoverestimatehowmuchwecando,3)prefertomorrowovertoday,4)self-handicaptoprotectself-esteem,5) think irrationally about the task at hand and our ability toaccomplishthetask,and

6) manufactureourownhappinessbychangingourthinkingtobeconsistentwithourbehavior.

Bookshavebeenwrittenabouteachofthesetopics,buttruetothedigestnatureofthisbook(andthepromisetoprovideyouwithwhatyouneednow),Ihavesummarizedeachoftheseproblemsinourthinkingbelow.Ofcourse,thisisfollowedbystrategiesforchange.Discountingfuturerewardsovershort-termrewards

Future rewards,particularly in themoredistant future, seemsmaller insize.Itisasifwearelookingatapictureofadistantmountainandassumethat it is actually small.Wedonot seem to have perspective for sizewhentimeisinvolved.Thisisthenotionofdiscountingfuturerewardsalsoknownastemporaldiscounting.

The problem is that future rewards seem less attractive to us thanimmediately available ones. I guess this should not surprise us too much.From an evolutionary perspective, “a bird in the hand, isworth two in thebush.”Ourbrainsseemprogrammedtopreferimmediaterewards.Thisstone-age brain is not so adaptive in our modern world where we need to meetdistantdeadlinesbydoingthingstoday.ThePlanningFallacy

It isalsohumannature tobeoverlyoptimistic.Weassumewecangetmoredoneinlesstimethanisreasonable,andweassumetaskswilltakelesstimethantheyusuallydo.Thisisattheheartoftheissue—wearenotreallythinkingabouthowlongthings“usuallytake”basedonpastexperience.Wefocus on the singular event we are facing without taking into accountdistributiveinformationaboutpastexperienceorsimilarevents.Whatresultsfromthisoptimisticbiasispoorplanning.Self-handicappingtoprotectself

Toself-handicapistoprovideanexcuseforoneself.Forexample,ifyouwere to wear weighted shoes and have a running race with a friend, yourabilityorcompetenceasarunnerwouldnevercomeintoquestion.Ifyoulosetherace, itwas thefaultof the“handicap,” theheavyshoes. Ifyouwin therace, however, that is extraordinarymerit. It iswin-win for the individual’ssenseofself.Certainly,self-esteemisneverthreatened.

Asimilarsituationcanarisewithprocrastination.Totheextent thatwedelayworkonatasktothelastmoment,wecanbecreatinganotherformofself-handicapping.Aswiththerunningrace,ataskdoneatthelastminutecanbeexcused ifnotdonewellbecause itwasdone in sucha short amountoftime.And,ofcourse,ifthetaskisdoneverywell,itlooksexceptionallygoodfortheindividual.

This implies that the needless delay of a task that we defined asprocrastination may in fact fill a need. It can protect self-esteem, andexperimental research evidence by Joseph Ferrari (DePaul University)indicatesthatchronicprocrastinatorsinparticularprefernottohavefeedbackaboutselfiftheyhavethechoice.Ofcourse,delayofthissorthasbeggedthequestionofwhetherthisistrulyprocrastinationatall,becauseitcanbeseenasastrategicuseofdelay,butitisworthincludingherejusttoacknowledgethatwecanendupdelayingourtasksforreasonsthatmaynotatfirstseemapparent.

PreferringtomorrowovertodayHere isanexampleofa relation thatweallunderstand: IfB isgreater

thanA,andCisgreaterthanB,thenwecanassumethatCisalsogreaterthanA.Thisisknownasatransitiverelation.

What about this example? Imagine a task is due on Friday. It is nowMondaymorning.ItispreferabletoworkonthistaskTuesdayasopposedtoMonday. In other words, the preference for Tuesday is greater than thepreferenceforMonday.Tuesdayarrives.Ah,it’spreferabletoworkonthisonWednesdayasopposedtoTuesday.Wednesdayarrives.Again,it’spreferabletowork on thisThursday instead ofWednesday. So far, so good; these aretransitive relations. Then, Thursday arrives. Oops, we think, it is nowpreferable thatwe had begun onMonday. This is known as an intransitivepreference.ChrisoulaAndreou,aphilosopherat theUniversityofUtah,hasarguedthatwhenitcomestoprocrastination,thisisacommonproblemwithourthinking.

Certainly many health behaviors and retirement savings plans sufferfromthisproblemwithourreasoning.Itcomestoapointwheretomorrowisnotonly lesspreferred,but thatanearlierdate isactually thepreferreddate(anditisnowtoolatetoact).

Many of us know this relation from experience. Studies from ourresearch group also bear this out.Weget a reversal of our preferences thatmakes for an intransitive preference structure. The problem is that theintransitive nature of this preference structureworks against us in the long

run.Tomorrowisnotaspreferableasweoncethought.Ourirrationalthoughts

Weoftenbelievethingstobetruethatarenot.Wedonotchallengethesebeliefswithanyrealitytesting,sotheypersist.Forexample,wemightbelievethatwecannotmakeanymistakesorthatwehavetobeabletoansweranyand every question after a presentation. We might believe we need to beperfect. We might think that our whole self-worth is dependent upon ourcareersuccess.Alloftheseareexamplesofirrationalthoughts,andtheyareverycommon.

Irrationalthoughtssuchastheseareveryproblematic.Theycanleadusto experience very negative emotions, and they provide an excuse for nottrying.Forexample,ifwearefearfulthatwecannotdoataskperfectlyandthatourself-worthdependsonthisperfectperformance,thenwefeelhorribleaboutourselves,andweprocrastinate.Manufacturingourownhappiness&resolvinginternalconflict

Whenouractionsandbeliefsoreventwobeliefsareinconflict,theyaredissonant. Psychologists call this cognitive dissonance. Dissonance isuncomfortable.Wewanttoalleviatethisnegativestate.

Whenweintendtoact,whenwehaveagoaltowhichwehavemadeanintentiontoact,andwedonotact(voluntarilyandquiteirrationallychoosingtodelayactiondespiteknowingthismayaffectusnegatively),weexperiencedissonance.Thisdissonanceisoneofthecostsofprocrastination.

Here are a few typical reactions that researchers have catalogued asresponsestodissonance(andwaysthatwereducethisdissonance).

1. Distraction—we divert our attention away from dissonantcognitions and avoid the negative affective state caused bydissonance;2.Forgetting—canbeintwoforms,passiveandactive.Passiveisoftenthecasewithunimportantthoughts,whilewemayhavetoactivelysuppressimportantcognitionsthatarecausingdissonance;

3. Trivialization—involves changing beliefs to reduce the

importanceofthedissonancecreatingthoughtsorbeliefs;4.Self-affirmation—createsafocusonourcorevaluesandotherqualities that reasserts our sense of self and integrity despite thedissonance;5.Denialofresponsibility—allowsustodistanceourselvesasacausalagentinthedissonance;6. Adding consonant cognitions—often by seeking out newinformation that supports our position (e.g., this isn’tprocrastination, Ineedmore informationbefore I candoanythingonthisproject);7. Making downward-counterfactuals—“it could have beenworse”—sowedon’tlearnanything,wejustfeelbetterintheshortterm,and8. Changing behavior—to better align with our beliefs andvalues. This would mean that we would act instead ofprocrastinating, although changing one’s behavior requires effortandisoftennotthemostconvenientwaytoreducedissonance.

Wearequiteexpertatemploying thesestrategies tokeepbuoyantday-to-day. We manufacture our own happiness. It is part of our copingmechanisms.

That said, not all copingmechanisms are adaptive. Quite consistently,research has demonstrated that techniques like distraction, forgetting,trivializationanddenialof responsibilityareemotion-focusedstrategies thatare not nearly as effective in the long term as planful-problem-solvingstrategies.Yes,wehavetotakecareofouremotions,butthiscannotbewherethe coping stops. If it is, that is just another instance of “giving in to feelgood,” and we will pay in the long run if this is our dominant short-termstrategy.Themythofthearousalprocrastinator

Weoftenhearthis:“Iworkbetterunderpressure.”Thisthinkingreflectsa sensation seeker of sorts; someonewho thrives onpressure.The thing is,research frommyowngroupaswell asPiersSteel (UniversityofCalgary)andandClarryLay(YorkUniversity)hasshownthatthisisamyth,atleastforthemajorityofpeople.Sensationseekingisnotrelatedtoprocrastination.Althoughmanypeopleusethisexcusefortheirneedlesstaskdelay,itclearlyfalls into thecategoryaboveasanotherexampleofa rationalization for thedissonancewefeelwhenwefailtoactwhenintended.

Perhaps themore accurateway to rephrase thisoft-heard expression isnot that “we work better under pressure,” but that “we only work underpressure.”Why?Mostprobablybecauseof themistakenbeliefpresented inChapter4thatourmotivationalstatemustmatchthetaskathand.Whenwedonotfeelmotivatedtoworkonatask,weputitoffuntilfinallytheexternaltimepressure todo the taskmotivatesaction(typicallyso late thatapooreroverallperformanceistheresult).

StrategiesforchangeIhavebrieflysummarizedanumberofimportantbiasesinourthinkingthatcangetusintrouble.Ontheonehand,wetendtobeoverlyoptimisticaboutthe futureandminimize the importanceofmoredistantgoals.On theotherhand,when it finally comesdown todoing something,weprefer tomorrowovertodayandmakeexcusesaboutnotworkingtomakeourselvesfeelbetter.Given thesepsychologicalprocesses, changehere isnot a simple thing,butchangeispossible.

Knowledgeispower.Recognizingthatit ishumannaturetohavethesebiases,andmoreimportantly,identifyingspecificallywhatwetendtodocan

bethebeginningofchange.Forexample,ifwetypicallysaysomethinglike,“ah,it’snotthatimportant”(trivializationofthegoal)or“there’slotsoftimeyet, I’d prefer to do it tomorrow” (planning fallacy and intransitivepreferences),wecanlearntomakethese“flags”orsignalsforchange.

By a “flag” or signal, I mean that as soon as we say something like“There’slotsoftime,Icandothislater,”itactsasatriggerorstimulusforanew response. Remember the earlier example of this as an implementationintention?IFwesay“ah,it’snotthatimportant”THENwestopandremindourselvesthatthisisaformofself-deception,abiasinourthinking,andwejustgetstartedonthetaskinstead.

Thisformofimplementationintentionputsacueinthesituation(eveninourthinking)tohelpusbreakahabit.Thethoughtbecomesthestimulusforadifferent response.We break our habitual way of responding.We begin tobreakthatperniciousprocrastinationhabit.

Thetake-awayforthischapterintermsofwhatyoumightdonowistousethespacebelow(oraseparatesheetofpaperoryourcomputer)tolistthethingsthatyoucommonlysay(ordo)tojustifyyourprocrastination.Youmayneedtocompilethislistoverthenextfewdaysorweeks.Thekeythingistolearn to recognize how you are reasoning and rationalizing the voluntary,unnecessary delays in your life. Each of these statements can become yourown“flags”tosignalanewresponse.

Mytypicalexcusesforrationalizinganeedlessdelayare:____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If these are your typical rationalizations or excuses for needless task

delay,whatwillyournewresponsebe?Well, in thenextchapteryouwill see that I think the importantstep is

“just get started.” So, my standard implementation intention is, “IF I saysomethingtomyselflike“Oh,I’llfeelmorelikedoingthistomorrow,”Iwillcatchmyself inthisself-deceptionandadd“THENIwill justgetstartedonthetask”instead.

Itworks.You’dbesurprised.Inthenextchapter,Iexplainwhy.

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CHAPTER6

ThepowerofgettingstartedJustgetstarted.

I don’t have to look very far for a story about this topic. My own lifesuppliesmanyexamples,daily.WhenIfaceataskthatIfindaversive,ataskIsimplydon’twanttodo,ataskthatIfindboringortedious,orevenataskforwhich I have doubts aboutmy competence, it is tempting to walk away. Iwanttoprocrastinate.Ifindmyselfsayingthingslikethistomyself,“I’llfeelmore likedoingthis later.”This isa“flag”forme.It isasignal thatIhavelearnedtoidentifythatIamjustabouttoprocrastinate.Atthatverymoment,Iusethissignalto“justgetstarted.”Iwillstartonanythingrelatedtothetaskathand,immediately.Let’sexplorewhythisissoimportant.

IssueOncewestartatask,itisrarelyasbadaswethink.Ourresearchshowedusthatgettingstartedchangesourperceptionsofatask.Itcanalsochangeourperceptionofourselvesinimportantways.

Inaseriesofstudies,mystudentsandIusedelectronicpagerstogatherwhat is called experience-sampling data. We paged research participantsrandomlythroughoutthedayoveraweekortwo.Eachtimewepagedthem,we asked things like “What are you doing?” “Is there something else youshould be doing?” “How are you feeling?” “What are you thinking?” Inaddition,dependingonthestudy,weaskedtheparticipantstoratewhattheywere doing and what they were supposed to be doing on things like howstressful they perceived the task to be. A rating of 10 indicated extremelystressful, while a zeromeant not stressful at all (and all points in betweenreflectedthevariability).

This typeofdataallowedus to takeasortofsnapshot throughtimeofwhattheparticipantsweredoing.Importantly,wealsogotareal-timeglimpseofwhat theywere thinking and feeling aswell.Someofour findingswereexpected. Some surprised us. I have summarized these findings bysimplifying the research as a Monday-to-Friday process and by focusingmainlyonthetaskavoidance.

Asexpected,onMondaywhenparticipantswereavoidingsometask(s)(e.g., working on an assignment) in preference to other activities (e.g.,

hangingoutwithfriends),wefoundthattheytypicallysaidthingslike,“I’llfeel more like doing that tomorrow” or “Not today. I work better underpressure.” As you learned in the previous chapter, we rationalize thedissonance between our behaviors (not doing) and our expectations ofourselves(Ishouldbedoingthisnow).Ofcourse,laterintheweek,noneoftheparticipantsspontaneouslysaidthingslike“Ifeellikedoingthat[avoidedtask] today” or “I’m glad Iwaited until tonight, because Iwork better likethis.”

Surprisingly,wefoundachangeintheparticipants’perceptionsoftheirtasks.OnMonday,thedreaded,avoidedtaskwasperceivedasverystressful,difficult,andunpleasant.OnThursday(ortheweehoursofFridaymorning),once theyhadactuallyengaged in the task theyhadavoidedallweek, theirperceptions changed. The ratings of task stressfulness, difficulty andunpleasantnessdecreasedsignificantly.

Whatdidwelearn?Oncewestartatask,itisrarelyasbadaswethink.Infact,manyparticipantsmadecommentswhenwepagedthemduringtheirlast-minute efforts that they wished they had started earlier—the task wasactually interesting,and they thought theycoulddoabetter jobwitha littlemoretime.

Justgetstarted.Thatisthemoralhere.Oncewestart,ourattributionsofthetaskchange.Basedonotherresearch,weknowthatourattributionsaboutourselves change too. First, oncewe get started, as summarized above,weperceivethetaskasmuchlessaversivethanwedowhenweareavoidingit.Second,evenifwedonotfinishthetask,wehavedonesomething,andthenextdayourattributionsaboutourselvesarenotnearlyasnegative.Wefeelmore in control andmore optimistic. Youmight even say we have a littlemomentum.

I want to add that research by Ken Sheldon (University of Missouri,Columbia)alsodemonstrates thatprogressonourgoalsmakesan importantdifference. Progress on our goalsmakes us feel happier andmore satisfiedwithlife.Interestingly,positiveemotionshavethepotentialtomotivategoal-directed behaviors and volitional processes (e.g., self-regulation to stay ontask) thatarenecessary for furthergoalprogressorattainment.Veryclearly

we can see how ifwe “prime the pump” bymaking some progress on ourgoals, the resulting increase in our subjective well-being enhances furtheractionandprogress.

Of course, this simple advice is not the whole solution to theprocrastination puzzle, but it is a crucial first step towards solving it anddecreasingourprocrastination. In thenextchapter, I takeuspast this initialstep.

StrategyforChangeWhenyoufindyourselfthinkingthingslike,

I’llfeelmorelikedoingthistomorrow,

Iworkbetterunderpressure,

There’slotsoftimeleft,

Icandothisinafewhourstonight...

let that be a “flag” or signal or stimulus to recognize that you are about toneedlesslydelaythetask,andletitalsobethestimulusto“justgetstarted.”Thisisanotherinstanceofthat“if...then”typeofimplementationintention.

I’veraisedthenotionofanimplementationintentionafewtimesalready,but I have not provided details about what it is. As defined in the well-developed psychology of action created by Peter Gollwitzer (University ofNewYork),animplementationintentionsupportsagoalintentionbysettingoutinadvancewhen,whereandhowwewillachievethisgoal(oratleastasub-goalwithinthelargergoalortask).

Itisnotaseffectivetomakeourselvesa“todo”listofgoalintentionsasitistodecidehow,whenandwherewearegoingtoaccomplisheachofthetasksweneedtogetdone.ThereisanaccumulatingbodyofresearchbyPeterGollwitzer and his colleagues that demonstrates the efficacy ofimplementation intentions for initiating behaviors, including followingthrough on the intentions to take vitamins, participating in regular physicalactivityaftersurgeryoractingonenvironmentally-mindedintentionssuchaspurchasingorganicallygrownfoods.Inshort,implementationintentionsareapowerfultooltomovefromagoalintentiontoanaction.

As I have outlined in earlier chapters, these implementation intentionstaketheformof“IF...THEN”statements.The“if”partofthestatementsetsout somestimulus foraction.The“then”portiondescribes theaction itself.Theissueherereallyisoneofapredecision.Weare tryingtodelegate thecontrol over the initiation of our behavior to a specified situation without

requiringconsciousdecision.

IF I say tomyself things like, “I’ll feelmore like doing this later” or “I don’t feel likedoingthisnow,”THENIwilljustgetstartedonsomeaspectofthetask.

Notice thatwe arenot using the famousNike® slogan of “Just do it!” It’saboutjustgettingstarted.The“doingit”will takecareofitselfoncewegetgoing.Ifwethinkabout“justdoingit,”weriskgettingoverwhelmedwithallthereistodo.Ifwejusttakeafirststep,thatismucheasier.

As a strategy, you may find that you have to “just get started” manytimes throughout the day, evenon the same task.This is common.Even inmeditation, we have to gently bring our attention back to our focal point,whatever thatmaybe(e.g.,ourbreath,amantra).The thing toremember isthatjustgettingstartedmayhappenmanytimesinaday.

Allofourprocrastinationgetsstoppedshortwhenwe“justgetstarted.”It is not thewhole solutionby anymeans, but it is a huge and crucial firststep.Asiscommonlysaid,“Ajobbegun,isajobhalfdone.”

Itistemptingtorunawayfromthisstrategy,tocriticizeitbecauseitisexactlyyourproblem.Youarenotabletogetstarted.

Notso.Youthinkyouarenotabletogetstarted,probablybecauseyouarefocusedonyourfeelings(whicharenegative),andyouarethinkingaboutthewhole task, about“getting itdone”asopposed to“getting started.”Thetrickistofindsomethingthatyoucangetstartedon.

Keep it really simple.Keep it asconcreteaspossible too.ResearchbySean McCrea (University of Konstanz) and his colleagues has shown thatthinkingabstractlyaboutourgoals leadsus tobelieve that theyarenot thaturgent or pressing. More concrete thoughts about your goal or task, moreconcrete plans, lead to more timely action. In other words, more concreteplanswillhelpyouto“justgetstarted.”

Animplementationintentionhelpsyougetstarted.Itisyourpredecisionso that youdonot get caught up in thinking, choosing, deciding.Youhavealreadymadethedecision.Nowisthetimetoact.

Here is a common example from an academic context.When facing awritingtask,perhapsatermpaper,itispossibletojustsitandstareatablankcomputerscreen.Asyoudo,anxietybuilds,andprettysoonyouare“givingin to feel good.” You are away from your desk another day, and guilt isbuildingfast.

So,insteadofstaringatthatblankscreen,starttyping.Startwithatitlepage.Putyournameonit.Addthetitleifyouknowit,atleastsomethingasa

working title.Begin your reference page if you are still not ready towrite.Begin jotting down ideas about what you would write about if you couldwrite.Youdonothavetowritesentences,butyoucaniftheycome.Thethingisyouarenowactuallyworkingonthetask.Itisrough,buteverythingbeginsthatway, rough.Carpenters rough framehouses.Sculptors carve and shaperoughsurfaces into smoothones.Farmersdiskandharrowrough,ploughedfields into fields ready for planting.We are always starting somewhere toworktowardsthefinishedproduct.

Theotherwaytothinkaboutthisis theoldsayingthat“ajourneyofathousandmilesbeginswithasinglestep.”Takethatfirststep.Justgetstarted.Itcanmakeallthedifference.

Honestly,ifyouarenotreadytomakethisfirststep,tojustgetstarted,onaday-to-day,moment-to-momentbasis,thenputthisbookdownnow.Youarenotcommittedtochangeyet,andnothingelseIhavetosaywillmatterinyourself-change.Don’tgetmewrong, Iamnot trying todiscourageyou. Iamjustbeinghonest.

Iwilltellyoumoreaboutotherstrategies,theroleofwillpowerandeventheeffectsofourpersonalitiesonprocrastination inupcomingchapters,butyoumust know that it will always come down to that precipitousmomentwhenyou“justgetstarted.”Itwillalwayscomedowntothatmovementfromnotdoingtodoing.Fortasksthatwewouldratheravoid,thisisadifficultbutwonderfulmoment.

So,wearebacktowhereIbeganthechapterwiththemantra,“Justgetstarted.”TothisIhaveaddedacoupleofotherphrasesthatyoumightwanttouseasyourownpersonalmantra.Theseare:“Primethepump”,“Ajobbegunisa jobhalfdone”and“Ajourneyofa thousandmilesbeginswithasinglestep.”

Inthetable thatfollows(orasa“thoughtexperiment”),picka task(orgoal) thatyouareprocrastinatingonand that is reallybotheringyou.Writedownasmanyofthesub-tasksthatyoucanthinkofthatarerequiredtogetthistaskdone.Now,youmightusethefirstcolumntoindicatewhichsub-taskisyourpriorityorwhichsub-taskmakesthemostsenseforyoutocompletefirst. This is the place to “just get started.”However, evenwith this list oftasks,youmaynotknowhowtoproceed.Thisissimplyareality,anditmaynotbepossible tobecompletelyrational inyourapproach,butyoucanstillgetstarted.Pickatask,anytask,andletthatsuffice.Youmayevenhavetoflailaroundabit,butifyougetstarted,atleastyouwillfindyourway.Notstartingwillguaranteethatyouwillremainstuck.Youcantakethisapproachforjustaboutanygoalortaskthatyouhave.

Infact,whenyoujustcannotseemtogetstartedonatask,getstartedbybreakingdownthetaskintosub-tasks.BUT,don’tstopthere,astemptingasitmaybesomedays.Itistrueformanyofusthatafterwemakealistlikethis,wefeelbetterandwethinkwehaveaccomplishedsomethingsoweactuallystop—anotherexcuseforprocrastination.Don’tforget,thepurposeofthatlististogetyoustarted.

Justgetstarted.

GoalorTask:

PriorityorOrderofCompletion

ListofSub-tasks

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CHAPTER7

Whygettingstartedisn’tthewholesolution

Ineedtobepreparedtodealwithdistractions,obstaclesandsetbacks.

Hanshasreallybeentakinghis“stopprocrastinating”goaltoheart.Today,ratherthanputoffworkonhisreportashetypicallyhas,he“justgotstarted.”He was surprised at how good he felt. He even felt optimistic about theresults.Then,aboutforty-fiveminutesintohiswork,thephonerang.Bruce,afriend that Hans sees daily, was calling with an invitation to play squash.Bruce’s expectedpartner cancelled at the lastminute, soBrucewashopingHans would fill in even though they played yesterday. Although Hansintendedtoworkthroughtheafternoon,tomakeupfortimehe’salreadylost,he felt like thingswereundercontrolnow,sohe toldBrucehewouldmeethimat12:30atthegym.

IssueIn the scenarioabove,Hans’goalwashis report, andhemade thekey firststep of getting started. In fact, the night before, Hans had made animplementation intention tobeginhisworkrightafterhefinishedbreakfast,andhedid.Hemadehispredecisionwith:“Ifbreakfast isdone, then Iwillimmediately go to my desk and start working on the third section of myreport.”Notethathehadaconcretetaskforhisactionwiththe“thirdsection”of the report, a section that he felt would be an easy place to begin, eventhoughitwasnotthebeginningofthereportitself.

He felt very good about finally doing this. At the very least, there isusuallyasenseofreliefwhenwegettoanavoidedtask.Unfortunately,thesegoodfeelingscanbealittlebitofatrapforus.Theycanmakeusfeeloverlyoptimistic,andsomeofourbiasesinplanningandthinkingbegintoemerge.In fact, Hans felt hismind begin to wander, and typical thoughts emergedwhenhewasevenalittlebitstuckinhisprogress.Atonepointwhenhehitatoughspotinthewriting,hecaughthimselfthinking,“Ah,that’senoughfortoday.I’llfeelmorelikedoingthisparttomorrow.”Infact,hewassomewhatrelieved when Bruce called. It seemed a perfect excuse to stop. Certainlyexerciseisimportantinlife,too,hethought.

What this means in terms of more successful goal pursuit, is that wehavetorecognizeotherpointsatwhichwetypicallyabandonourgoalpursuit.Wehavetobepreparedtoaddresseachoftheseastheyarise,otherwisewewill fallback intohabitualwaysof responding. Ifyou tend toprocrastinatemore often than you like, then your habitual responsewill be to find somewaytoavoidthetaskathand.

Procrastinationisnotjustafailuretogetstarted.Wecanfaceavarietyofproblemsandneedlesslydelayactionatmanystagesofgoalpursuit.Ourfeelingsmaystillthreatentoderailus.Distractionsabound,anditiseasytoreplaceoneintentionwithanother,evenifjustforaminute.And,inallofthiswecanfindwaystojustifythistoourselves.

In the scenario above, the squash invitation can be seen as anunnecessarydisruptiongivenhowregularlyHansseeshis friend,aswellasHans’intentiontoworktoday.Perhapsamorecommonexampleforthoseofusworkingatourcomputersisbecomingdistractedandputtingoffthetaskathandbycheckingemail or surfing theWeb. I know frommyown researchthatInternet technologies inparticulararepotentdistracters,as“itwillonlytakeaminutetocheckmyemail,”andthenhourslateryoufindyouarestillofftask.IdiscussthisinmoredetailinChapter10.

Whatthismeansisthatwecannotsimplydependonourgoalintentions,nomatterhowdeeplycommittedwemightbe,tokeepourvolitionalactionsontrack.Wehavetobepreparedtodealwithchangesinourmoodrelatedtosetbacks and disappointments. We have to be prepared to deal withdistractions.Wehavetobepreparedtoovercomeobstacles.

Giventheongoingchallengestoourgoalpursuit,wewouldbenefitfromimplementation intentions related to the potential distractions and obstaclesahead.Wecanmakepredecisionstohelpusheretoo.

StrategiesforChangeThere are two main approaches to predecisions regarding potentialdistractions.Thefirstinvolvesreducingthenumberofdistractionsbeforewebegin to work. The second approach takes us back to implementationintentionstohelpusdecideaheadoftimewhatwewilldowhendistractions,obstaclesorsetbacksarise.Ioutlineeachofthesebelow.Minimizingdistractions

Different things distract each of us. Some people cannot work with aradio on in the background or in a noisy room. Others, more extravertedpersonalities,need thatbackgroundnoise.Thismeans thatwehave to thinkaboutwhatourtypicaldistractionsare.

Inaworlddominatedbycomputer-relatedtasksandjobs,certainlysomeof these distractions are other activities on the computer such as games,social-networking tools, Web searches or even just email. These are suchpotentdistractions thatIdiscussInternet-procrastination in thefinalchapter.For now, I would just add them to our list of potential distractions orobstacles.

The key to this strategy ofminimizing distractions is to beproactive.Before you begin to work, ensure that you have removed these potentialdistractions.Thismightinclude:shuttingyourdoor,shuttingtheringeroffthephone,shuttingoffyourcellphone(textmessagingisachronicdistractionformany people), shutting down social-networking tools (facebook, myspace,Twitter,whateveryouuse)and removingpotentiallydistracting things fromyourworkspace(e.g.,magazines,newspapers,etc.).

Ifyoure-readtheparagraphabove,youwillnote that“shutting”wasakeyverb.Youareshuttingyourselfawayfromdistractions tohelpmaintainyour attention and focus on your intended task.This is your predecision tohelpyouwork.

Ofcourse,youcannotanticipateeverydistraction,obstacleorsetbackinyourwork.Forexample,HansdidnotexpectBrucetocallwiththeinvitationtoplaysquash.Youwillneedanotherstrategytodealwithdistractionsastheyarise.Thatisthepurposeofimplementationintentions.ImplementationIntentions

Implementation intentions can work to shield our intentions fromcompetingpossibilitiesastheycantaketheformof“if...then”statementsthatanticipatedistractions.Infact,experimentalresearchbyPeterGollwitzerand his colleagues have shown that participants who formed temptation-inhibiting implementation intentions outperformed the groups who did not.Importantly, this effect was independent of the participants’ motivation toachievethegoalandtoignoredistractions.

Implementationintentionshaveeffectsoverandaboveourmotivationtosucceed.Thisisimportant.Commitmentandmotivationalonewillnotalwaysgetusthrough.

It is time to think about yourmain procrastinated task(s) again. In thetable that follows (or as a thought experiment), list the kind of distractionsandobstaclesthathaveresultedinfurtherprocrastinationevenwhenyouhaveactuallybeenworkingon the task.Foreachof these,notewhetheryoucanremove these prior to task engagement, and/or add an implementationintentionasyourpredecisionabouthowyouwillactwhentheseariseinthefuture.

Distraction,ObstacleorSetback

Removeproactively?

ImplementationIntention

Example:Email

Yes,shutitoffbeforeIwork.

Example:Friends’invitations

IFmyfriendscalltoinvitemeoutthisweekend,THENIwillimmediatelysay,“thanksbutno,I’mcommittedtofinishingmywork.”

Example:Stuckonmyworkanddon’tknowwhattodo

IFIgetstuck,confusedandworriedbecauseIdon’tknowwhattodo,THENIwillstayputandlistwhatIdoknowtobesurewhatitisIdon’tknow.OnceIknowthis,Icanseekhelpifneeded.Iwon’tgiveup.

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CHAPTER8

Willpower,willpower,ifweonlyhadthewillpower

WillpowerisalimitedresourcethatIneedtousestrategically.

Rachel’sexercisegoalwasn’tbecomingareality.Givenherveryearlystarteachdaytoget thekidsoff toschoolandout toworkherself,sheputasidetimeafterdinnertogetonthetreadmill.However,afteranexhaustingdayinher law firm along with the day-to-day challenges of orchestrating school,day-care schedules and the many household chores she shares with herhusband,shejustcouldn’tseemtomusterthe“getupandgo”togetupandgo.Shewasfrustrated.Shejustdidn’tseemtohavethewillpowertogetoffthe couch. Every night she put it off again, hoping tomorrow would bedifferent.

IssueWillpower is a limited resource. I think many of us know this fromexperience.Recently,RoyBaumeister (FloridaStateUniversity), aswell ashis students and colleagues, have demonstrated this in a series of cleverexperiments.Itisworthreviewingthesetomakethepoint.

Inthetypicalexperiment,researchparticipantsarerandomlyassignedtooneoftwogroups.Bothgroupsexpectthattheywillparticipateintwotasks,but thereisanimportantdifferencebetweenthegroupsintermsoftheself-regulationdemandedoftheminthefirsttask.

Inthefirsttask,theparticipantsintheexperimentalgrouparerequiredtoself-regulate a great deal, whereas the participants in the control group aresimplyaskedtodothetask.Forexample,participantsinbothgroupsmaybeaskedtowatchafunnyfilm,buttheparticipantsintheexperimentalgrouparerequiredtoself-regulatebysuppressingtheiremotionalexpression,whiletheparticipants assigned to the control group are given no specific instructionsabout how to react. In a similar study, participants in both groups arrivehungry,buttheexperimentalgroupisinstructedtoeatradisheswhileresistinga temptingplateofcookies,whereas thecontrolgroup isallowed toeat thecookiesor theradishes (youguesswhich ismorepopular). Ineachof theseexperiments, the participants in the experimental group exercise self-regulation,whiletheparticipantsinthecontrolgroupdonot.

Oncethisfirsttaskiscompleted,bothgroupsarethenaskedtocompleteasecondtaskthatinvolvesself-regulation.Participantsinbothgroupsneedtoself-regulatetheirbehaviortoachievesuccess,andthekeyoutcomemeasureishowpersistentparticipantsineachgroupare.Forexample,typicalsecondtasksincludethingslike:complexfiguretracing,solvingcomplexanagrams,drinking an unpleasant (but not harmful) “sports drink,” and, my favorite,resistingdrinking freebeer (a driving test is expected to follow).Themainideaisthatthissecondtaskrequiresself-regulation,andthehypothesisisthatthe participants in the experimental group will perform more poorly (notpersist as long), because they have already exhausted their ability to self-regulate.

The findings of these studies consistently demonstrate that theparticipants in the experimental group perform at a lower level than thecontrolgroup.Giventhedifferenceintheself-regulatorydemandsofthefirsttask,theresearchersconcludethattheparticipantsintheexperimentalgrouphave exhausted their self-regulatory strength, at least temporarily, andthereforeareunabletomustertheself-regulationrequiredforthesecondtask.

In a practical real-life example of this, one study showed that aftercopingwitha stressfuldayatwork,peoplewere less likely toexerciseandmorelikelytodosomethingmorepassivelikewatchingtelevision.Thistakesusback towherewebeganwithRachel.Nowonder she cannotmuster the“getupandgo”toexercise.Shehasexhaustedherwillpower.

It is also worth noting that other recent research by Piers Steel(University of Calgary) relating the emotion of interest to procrastinationshowedthathigherlevelsofinterestwererelatedtohigherlevelsofperceivedenergy. This increased energy level was in turn related to decreasedprocrastination.Again,itseemsthatourmotivation,inthiscasehowmuchoftheemotionofinterestwefeel,playsaroleinwhetherwe“havetheenergy”todothetaskathand,orwhetherwewillprocrastinate.Strengtheningourwillpower—theroleofmotivation

The self-regulatory impairments I discussed in the research above areeliminatedorreducedwhenparticipantsarehighlymotivatedtoself-regulateonthesecondtask.Forexample,whenparticipantsarepaidfordoingwellonthesecondtaskortheyareconvincedthattheirperformancewillhavesocialbenefits, they perform well despite the apparent self-regulatory exhaustionfromthefirsttask.

Thekeythingaboutthesefindingsisthatitindicatesthatself-regulatorydepletion may be reducing motivation. Given that depleted self-regulatorystrengthmayleaveusfeelinglikewewon’tsucceed,“we’retootiredtotry,”itmaybethatthereducedexpectancyofsuccessunderminesourwillingness

to exert effort. It’s not thatwe are so impaired thatwe cannot respond. It’sthatwe“don’tfeellike.”

Sound familiar? “I’ll feel more like it tomorrow.” This is a commonphrasewe use to rationalize our procrastination. Perhaps it simply capturesourperceptionsof self-regulatory strengthat themoment.Of course, it is aperception,and,Iargue,atleastpartlyanillusion.It’saboutourmotivationtomustertheself-regulatoryeffort;unwillingperhaps,notunable.

From thisperspective,whatwesee is thatwemay fail to self-regulatebecause we acquiesce. In the case of procrastination, we find resisting theurgetodosomethingelse(analternativeintention)impossibletoresist,sowegiveupandgivein.

StrategiesforChangeWe all feel depleted throughout the day. We all have moments where wethink, “I’m exhausted, I just can’t do anymore” or “I’ll feelmore like thistomorrow.”Thisistrue,thisishowwearefeelingatthemoment.However,successful goal pursuit often depends on us moving past these momentaryfeelingsofdepletion.

Given the role of motivation in self-regulatory failure, it is crucial toacknowledgetheroleofhigher-orderthoughtinthisprocess,particularlytheabilitytotranscendthefeelingsatthemomentinordertofocusonouroverallgoalsandvalues.Intheabsenceofcuestosignaltheneedforself-regulation,wemaygiveintofeelgood,andstoptrying.

Itisexactlywhenwesaytoourselves“I’llfeelmorelikeittomorrow,”thatwehavetostop,takeabreathandthinkaboutwhyweintendedtodothetask today.Why is it important to us?What benefit is there inmaking theeffortnow?Howwillthishelpusachieveourgoal?

From there, ifwe can justmuster the volitional strength for onemorestep, that is to “just get started,” we will find that we had more self-regulatorystrengthinreservethanwerealized.Ourperceptioncanfoolusattimes,andthisself-deceptioncanreallybeourownworstenemy.

Herearesomestrategiesthatyoumightusetomusterwhatfeelslikethe“fumes”leftinyourownwillpowergastank.

1.The“willpowerislikeamuscle”metaphorisagoodfit,asthecapacityforself-regulationcanbe increasedwithregularexercise.Even twoweeksofself-regulatoryexercisehas improvedresearchparticipants’ self-regulatory stamina. So, takeon some small self-regulatorytaskandsticktoit.Thiscanbeassimpleasdeliberatelymaintaininggoodpostureorusingyournon-dominanthandtoeat.

Thekeyelementistoexerciseyourself-discipline.Youdon’tneedtostartbig,justbeconsistentandmindfulofyourfocus.Overtime,youwillbestrengtheningyour“willpowermuscle.”

2.Sleepandrestalsohelptorestoretheabilitytoself-regulate.Ifyou seem to be at the end of your rope, unable to cope andunwilling to do the next task, firstask yourself if youaregettingenoughsleep?Sevenoreighthoursofsleepareimportantformostofustofunctionwell.3.Acorollarytosleepandrestisthatself-regulationlaterinthedayis lesseffective.Beasstrategicaspossible,anddon’t look toexercise feats ofwillpower later in the day. (Rachelmay have torethink the timing of her work out or use alternative strategiessuggestedbelowtohelphergetoff thecouchwhensheisalready“runningonempty.”)4.Aboostofpositiveemotionhasbeenshowntoeliminateself-regulatoryimpairment.Findthings,people,oreventsthatmakeyoufeelgoodtoreplenishyourwillpowerstrength.5. Implementation intentions can be added to this list ofwillpowerboosters.Makeanimplementationintentionasaplanforaction.Asyouknow, this takesaspecific form:“InsituationX, IwilldobehaviorYtoachievemygoalZ”;or“Ifthishappens,thenI’ll do this” (anticipating possible obstacles to your goal pursuit).Theeffectof these intentions is toput thestimulusforaction intotheenvironmentandmake thecontrolofbehavioranonconsciousprocess. A couple of studies have now demonstrated that theautomatic nature of the effects of implementation intentionscounters the effects of self-regulatory depletion. Let’s take theexamplewhere researchparticipantshad to control their emotionsduringahumorousmovie(suppressingtheirlaughter).Asyouwillrecall, they are usually less capable of doing a subsequentexperimental task that requires self-regulatory strength such assolving a series of anagrams.However, for participants randomlyassigned to an “if-then” implementation intention manipulation,

whopreparedbysayingtothemselves,“IfIsolveananagram,thenI will immediately start to work on the next one,” this depletioneffectwaseliminated(theysolvedasmanyanagramsasthegroupwho were not depleted beforehand). This is an interesting resultwith clear implications for how we can strengthen our flaggingwillpower at the end of a long day.An implementation intentionmaywellbethethingthatgetsyou toexercise in theeveningeventhoughyouusuallyfeelmuchtootiredtobegin.Note:Thisresearchunderscoresmyfocuson“justgetstarted.”IthinkRachelmightbemore successful with her evening exercise if she had theimplementation intentionof“If thekidsare inbed, then Iwillgodirectly to the treadmill.”Onceshestarts, shemightdiscover thatshehasthemotivationandenergythatsheneeds.6.Self-regulationappearstodependonavailablebloodglucose.Even a single act of self-regulationhasbeen shown to reduce theamount of available glucose in the bloodstream, impairing laterself-regulatory attempts. Interestingly, just a drink of sugar-sweetened lemonade eliminated this self-regulatory depletion inexperiments. The message from this research is don’t gethypoglycemic,yourself-regulationwillsuffer.Keepapieceof fruit(complexcarbohydrate)handytorestorebloodglucose.7.Beawarethatsocialsituationscanrequiremoreself-regulationandeffortthanyoumaythink.Forexample,ifyouaretypicallyanintrovertedpersonbutyouhave toactextraverted,oryouhave tosuppress your desired reaction (scream at your boss) in favor ofwhat is deemed more socially acceptable (acquiesce again tounreasonable demands), you will deplete your willpower forsubsequentaction.Thesesocialinteractionsmayevenmakeitmorelikely that you will say or do something you will regret insubsequent interactions. Getting along with others requires self-regulation, so youwillneed to thinkabout points 1-6 to be bestpreparedtodealwithdemandingsocialsituations.8.Finally,somuchofourabilitytoself-regulatedependsonourmotivation.Evenonanemptystomach,exhaustedfromnotenoughsleepandpushedtothelimitforself-regulation,wecanmusterthewillpowertocontinuetoactappropriately.Itisdifficult,butitcanbe done, particularly ifwe focus on our values andgoals to keepperspectiveonmorethanjustthepresentmoment.Indoingthis,wecan transcend the immediate (and temporary) feelings we arehavingtokeepfromgivingintofeelgoodwhichliesattheheartofsomuchself-regulatoryfailure.

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CHAPTER9

What’sbredinthebone:Personalityandprocrastination

Mypersonalityprovidesbothriskforandresilienceagainstself-regulationfailure.

FionaandDavidhavebeenmarriedforover10yearsnow.Fiona’sfriendsdescribeherasorganized.Typically,she’stheplannerintheirgroup,andtheyknowthat theycanreallycountonher.Whenthere’ssomethingtobedone,shedoesitrightaway.Davidsetshighstandardsforhimself.Heisalsoveryself-critical.Heseemstohearhisparents’voicesechoinhismindwheneverhe approaches a task, “It could be better.”When facedwith a task, Davidalwaysseemsreluctanttogetstarted.FionaandDavidareverysimilarwhenitcomestohouseholdtidiness(theyarebothquiteparticular,evenfussy),butthey can drive each other crazy at times when it comes to scheduling anddoingtasks.

IssueTheexampleabovehighlightsthenotionofindividualdifferences.Wemightthink of Fiona as “conscientious” and David as a “perfectionist.” Thisapproachtopersonalityisbasedontheconceptofpersonalitytraits.

Traits are terms that psychologists use to summarize the way wetypicallyactacrosssituations.Traitsdescribesomethingabouthowweexpectapersontoactinmostsituations.Ofcourse,howweactuallybehavedependson both personality and situation, but for the moment, I want to focus onpersonalitytraits.

Certainly, procrastination has been shown to be related to personalitytraits.Somepeoplearemorepronetoprocrastinate,andacontributingfactoris personality. This is particularly true when the situational pressures toengageinataskinatimelymannerarenotstrong.Whenthesituationisnotpushing us to act in a certain way (for example, a supervisor actuallymonitoringouractions),ourpersonalitywillhaveagreatdealofinfluenceonourbehavior.

The examples above provide two very common traits related toprocrastination,butindifferentdirections.Fiona’sconscientiousness,thatis,the fact that she is typically organized, planful and dutiful, is a trait that is

highlynegatively related toprocrastination.Themoreweareconscientious,thelesswetypicallyprocrastinate.

In contrast,David is an example of a socially-prescribed perfectionist.Yes,therearedifferentvarietiesortypesofperfectionism.Theoneweneedtofocus on is the socially-prescribed perfectionist, because it ismost stronglyrelated to procrastination. Socially-prescribed perfectionists believe thatothers hold unrealistic expectations for their behavior (and that they cannotliveuptotheseexpectations).Theyexperienceexternalpressuretobeperfect,andbelievethatothersevaluatethemcritically.Thisleadsthemtointernalizethese expectations and be self-critical as well (that “little voice in David’shead”isanexampleofthisinternalizedcriticism).

ContrastingFiona andDavid like this showshowpersonality canbe aresilience-orrisk-factorforprocrastination.Weneedtotakethisintoaccountinourownlives.

Wouldyousaythatyouhaveaprocrastination-pronepersonality?

Toanswerthisquestion,youneedtohavealittlemoreinformationabout

which personality traits have been shown to be associated withprocrastination.Someof thekey traits thatare related toprocrastinationarelistedbelow.I justneed tomakeonemorecommentbeforeyoureviewthislist.

There are potentially thousands of personality traits. Personalitypsychologistshavesimplified these intoasuper-structureof traitsknownasthe“BigFive.”Muchlikethethreecolorsofthecolorwheel,the“BigFive”aresaidtobetheprimarytraits.Othertraitsareapartofthesefiveorablendof them. You can remember the five traits with the mnemonic CANOE:Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Openness (to Experience)andExtraversion.

Ofcourse,inadigest-typebook,Icannotexplaineachoftheseindetail,and it is really not that important when our focus is on procrastination.Research pioneered byHenri Schouwenburg (University ofGroningen) andClarryLay(YorkUniversity)hasrevealedthatonlytwoof thesetraitshavemeaningful relations with procrastination—Conscientiousness andNeuroticism (which is alsoknownasEmotional Instability). I discuss thesefirst,below.

TheothertraitsthatIdiscussbelowarerelatedtotheBigFivetraits,butIhavepulledthemoutseparatelybecausetheydeservespecialconsiderationgiven their relation to procrastination. For example, impulsiveness issometimes discussed as part of low emotional stability, sometimes

extraversion. In any case, it is not necessary to focus on these definitionalissues.Justthinkofthesetraitsasaspectsofourpersonalities.Instructions:

Foreachof the traitsbelow, rateyourself from“Notat all likeme” to“Exactlylikeme”onhowmuchyouthinkthistraitdescribesyou.

1.ConscientiousnessHighly conscientious people are described as responsible, scrupulous,

persevering and fussy or tidy. You can see how this trait is negativelyassociated with procrastination and might be considered a resilience factoragainst unnecessary delay. The various facets of the trait as measured inpopularpersonality tests include:Competence(efficient),Order (organized),Dutifulness (not careless), Achievement striving (thorough), Self-discipline(notlazy)andDeliberation(notimpulsive).Iamaveryconscientiousperson.

12345678910NotatalllikemeExactlylikeme2.Emotionalinstability

Emotional instability is the alternative wording of the trait ofNeuroticism.Peoplewhoscorehighonemotionalinstabilitycanbedescribedasnervous,worrisomeoranxious.Thevariousfacetsofthetraitasmeasuredin popular personality tests include: Anxiety (tense), Angry hostility(irritable), Depression (not contented), Self-consciousness (shy), Impulsive(moody),andVulnerability(notself-confident)Typically,IwouldconsiderthatIammoreneuroticorlessemotionallystablethanothers.

12345678910NotatalllikemeExactlylikeme3.Impulsiveness

Apersonwhoscoreshighonimpulsivenesstendstoactbeforethinking.This trait reflects low self-control, especially in the presence of potentiallyrewarding activities. Impulsivity reflects less ability to consider theconsequencesofone’sactions.Typically,IwouldsaythatIamveryimpulsive.

12345678910NotatalllikemeExactlylikeme

4.Self-efficacyThistraitrepresentsthebeliefthatweareabletodowhatisnecessaryto

achieveadesiredoutcome.Itreflectsself-confidenceandcompetence.IfeelthatIamcompetentandhaveagreatdealofself-efficacy.

12345678910NotatalllikemeExactlylikeme5.Self-esteem

Self-esteemishowwefeelaboutourselves.Itisourappraisalofourselfworth. Another way to think about it is the extent to which we perceiveourselvesasbeingrelativelyclosetobeingthepeoplewewanttobe.Generally,Ifeelverygoodaboutmyself.

12345678910NotatalllikemeExactlylikeme6.Socially-prescribedperfectionism

As I noted, socially-prescribed perfectionists believe that others holdunrealistic expectations for their behavior. They believe that others expectthem to be perfect, and they can feel compelled to try to live up to theseexpectations.Ibelievethatsignificantothersinmylifeexpectmetobeperfect.

12345678910NotatalllikemeExactlylikeme

Now that you have reviewed some of the main personality traits thatresearchershave identifiedas traits associatedwithprocrastination,youcanseewhichislarger,yourriskfororresiliencetoprocrastination.Tocalculateeach,youneedtosumitemstogetheraslistedbelow.Foreachitem,writeinthenumberyoucircledwhen readingabove, and then sum these for a totalscoreoutofapossible30.PersonalityRisk:Sumitems#2__+#3__+#6__=________(EmotionalInstability,Impulsiveness,Perfectionism)PersonalityResilience:Sumitems#1___+#4___+#5___=________(Conscientiousness,Competence,Self-Esteem)

Thissimplescaleisnotscientificallyvalidated,butitdoesprovideyou

with a rough estimate of your vulnerability to procrastination from apersonalityperspective.Thesescoresprovideanindexintermsofhowyourpersonalityiscontributingtoorprotectingyoufromself-regulationfailure.Ofcourse, given that you are reading a book about procrastination, I mightassumethatyouaremoreat risk thanresilient.Youmayfind thatyour riskscoreisquiteabitlargerthanyourresiliencescore.Thequestionis,whatcanyoudoaboutthis?

StrategyforChangePersonality presents an interesting challenge when we think about self-change. By definition, we consider personality as the relatively enduringcharacteristicsoftheindividual.Theyarenoteasilychanged.

However,wedonothavetochangeourpersonalitiestosucceed.Wecanact counter to our dispositions or traits. For example, there are manyintroverted individuals who can function well socially, speak in front ofcrowdsandengageotherseffectivelyintheworkplace.Itdoestakestrategiceffortattimes,butwearesuccessfuldaily“actingoutofcharacter.”

It is important to acknowledge that some psychologists believe thatactingoutofcharacter,countertoourtraitsanddispositions,candepleteourself-regulatorystrengthorwillpower.Aswediscussedpreviously,willpowerisa limitedresource,so this is important torecognize.Wewillbe investingourenergiestoactoutofcharactertosucceed.Everythingnotedearlieraboutbolsteringourwillpowerwillbeimportanttotakeintoaccountasyouworktoaddressyourpersonalityriskfactors.

Intermsofprocrastination,itispossibletoactoutofcharacterintermsoflowconscientiousnessorhighimpulsivity.Thekeythingistobestrategic,andaswehavediscussed,partofbeingstrategicismakingpredecisionsabouthowtorespondbeforeyoufaceasituation.Ifyoucanbeproactivelikethis,you will not rely so much on your personality and habitual ways ofresponding.

Remembertheimplementationintentionsdiscussedearlier?Thesewereintentions that took the form of “In situation X, I will do behavior Y.”Implementationintentions,asyoumayrecall,areaformofpredecision.Youaredecidingaheadoftimewhatwillbeastimulusforwhatresponse.

Well, youmay find implementation intentionsuseful again in termsofcounter-actingahabitualresponsethatispartof“whoyouare”asdefinedbythese personality traits. For example, if you are rather impulsive, yourpredecision with an implementation intention might be “IF an alternativeintentionarisessuchasaninvitationtogoout,IwillsaythatIwillmakemydecision in 10 minutes.” This built in predecisional delay may help to

counteractthetypicalimpulsiveresponsetojustgetgoing.Ithinkitisclearbynowthatthekeyissueisthispredecision.Knowinga

littlebitaboutyourpersonalitytraitsthatmayputyouatrisktoprocrastinate,you can now act on that knowledge by deciding in advance how you willcounterthishabitualresponse.

Forexample,ifyouareimpulsive,itisparticularlyimportanttoreducedistractions in the surrounding environment when you are trying to work.Impulsivepeoplehavemoredifficultyresistingthesedistractions,evenwithimplementationintentions.So,asIdiscussedinthepreviouschapter,partofyour predecisional process can be to eliminate or reduce the distractionsbeforeyougetdowntowork.

Similarly, if you tend to be disorganized, deliberately working onstructuringtaskscanbeveryimportanttoreducingprocrastination.Thiscanbeassimpleascreatinga to-do listofsub-tasks thathelpyousee thestepsyouneedtotake.Itcanalsobethemorechallengingjoboforganizingyourworkareasothatitisnotsocluttered.Becareful!Someofususethistidy-upjobasourwaytoprocrastinate!Oncethedeskistidied,pencilssharpenedandnew software downloadedon to the computer,we think, “that’s enough fortoday!” Procrastination draws on our ability to deceive ourselves.We findexcusesforjustaboutanyunnecessarydelay.

The strategies above address the issues of impulsivity andconscientiousness. What about the worry and anxiety that defines lowemotionalstability?Whatifweareworriedthatwedon’thavetheabilitytodothetask?Whatifwecannottoleratefrustration?Thisseemsmoreserious,right?

Yes,someofusarepronetoworryandself-consciousness,andmanyofus have irrational beliefs that make us prone to procrastinate. Ourprocrastinationmaybebasedonafearoffailure, forexample.Theroute toself-change,bothintheshort-termbehaviorallyandthelong-termintermsofstable personality change, is to challenge your worries and beliefs as theyarise.When a task triggers thoughts such as “I can’t do this,” “I’m such ascrewup,”“Idon’tknowhow,”“I’mgoingtofail,”—it’sabsolutelyessentialthat you challenge each of these beliefs.Why do you think they are true?Whatistherealriskofnotsucceedingwhenyoutry?Throughthisprocess,mostofusrealizethatthesearetrulyirrationalthoughts,perhapspartofthehabitswecallpersonality,butnotrealintermsoftheworldaroundus.

In sum, I am arguing that these stable individual differences we callpersonality traits can contribute to our procrastination. We cannot makechanges in these traits quickly or easily, but we can recognize our relativeself-regulatorystrengthsandlimitations.Indoingthis,wesetourselvesupto

actmoreproactivelyandconsciouslytoactoutofcharacteraswemayneedtoachieveourgoals.

Perhapsmostimportanttounderstandisthatpersonalityshouldnotbeanexcuse. In fact, acknowledging and addressing our limitations can developsomeofourgreateststrengths.

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CHAPTER10

Cyberslackingontheprocrastinationsuperhighway

“Itwillonlytakeaminute”putsmeonaslipperyslopetowardsprocrastination.

It’sapproachingmidnightandAristillhasn’tstarted toworkonhis report,even thoughhe sat downat his computer at 7p.m.Whenhedidget tohisdeskearlierthatevening,hisintentionwastogettowork,buthethought,“I’lljustcheckmyfacebookpage, itwillonly takeaminute.”Now,hours later,he’sstillthere.

IssueI have included this short chapter because Internet-based technologies andother forms of technologically-mediated communication, like smart phones,havecreatedawholenewworldoftimewasting.Thereislittledoubtthatourbesttoolsforproductivity,computertechnologies,arepotentiallyalsooneofourgreatesttimewasters.Infact,thetitleofthischapterwastakenfromoneof the published papers fromour research group. In this paper, published adecade ago (long before social networking tools became popular), ourparticipants reported that 47% of the their time online was spentprocrastinating.Ithinkthisisaconservativeestimate.

IdoubtthatIhavetowriteverymuchtoconvinceyouthattheInternethasthepotentialtowastetimeifyouwantitto.PeopleIknowbemoanthisfact all of the time.Thebest example Ihave in relation to this chapter is areply tooneofmyPsychologyTodayblogposts. In response to the“itwillonlytakeaminute”theme,ananonymousreaderwrote:

“improcrastinating....that’swhyimhere...ijustgooglethingsimthinkingabout,likethis...orlikei hearsomeonehumafamiliartune,soilookupthesong to knowwhosang it . . . imean thatLITERALLY takesaminute,but then thatmakesme google acoupleotherthingsandthenitendsuplastingalotmore thana fewminutes . . .and ihonestlydontrealizewheniendupreadingthewikipediapageof some randomdiseasethat some singerhad thatwas related to the singer iwas looking up.wait,whywas ilookinghimup?ohright,cossomeoneatmyschoolwashummingasongbyhim....ohright,school....essayduetomorrow,haven’tstarted.

likerightnow,ijustrealized . . . imcommentingonanarticle . . . . iwish i could readthosearticlesaboutmyessayandtrytoget2000wordsonpaperinaday.”

Thethingis,wecanendupwastingtimeevenwhenwedonotwantto.Thisistherealproblem,andonethatweneedtoidentifyinordertomakechange.

Ijustwanttobeclearaboutsomething.Iamnotsayingwecannotworkand play online. Personally, I really enjoy these technologies, I use themintensivelyinfact,andIknowwewillseethemgrowinimportancemoreandmore.What I amemphasizing is thatwecanwaste time inunexpectedandunanticipatedwayswiththesetechnologieswhenwedon’twantto.Thisistheissue.Thesetechnologiesareparticularlyproblematicwhenitcomestoself-regulationandself-regulationfailure.

Inthescenarioabove,Arididplantoworkonhisreport.Hegottohisdeskasplanned.Whathappened?

Arimade a rational decision over an irrationally short period of time.Althoughitiscorrectthatitmightonlytakeaminuteto“checkmyfacebookpage,”aminutelaterArifacedthesamedecision.Ofcourse,aswelearnedinChapter5,ourthinkingcanletusdownhere.Wecanrationalizeyetanotherminuteofdelay,asanotherminutewillcertainlynotcompromise the reportwriting. It is an intransitivepreferenceat itsbest, isn’t it?Atmidnight,Arirecognizesthatitwaspreferabletoactmuchsoonerthanhehas(eventhougheachminutepriortothat,hepreferredtodelayjustalittlemore).

This issue of rational decisions over irrationally short periods of timecombinedwithproblemsinourthinkinglikeintransitivepreferencesarenotthe only reasons that the Internet and social networking in particular arepotentiallysohazardoustoourgoalpursuit.Thereareotherreasonsthatwearepronetoprocrastinateonline.

1. Oneof thereasons thatsocialnetworking issorewarding isthatitfulfillsabasichumanneed,atleastatsomelevel.Thatistheneedforrelatedness.Wearesocialanimals,andsocialnetworkingmakessense.2.Onlinesocialnetworkingisalsoimmediatelyrewarding.Thisisapotentiallyaddictivecombination—rewardingandimmediate. In fact, there is a great deal written about Internetaddictions.Althoughitisbeyondthescopeofmywritingtodelveintothistopic, it is importanttonotethatthepowerfullyaddictivenatureof the Internet contributes to the self-regulation failure thatyou now understand is at the heart of procrastination. It canundermineourbestintentions.3. A third reason that the Internet can be a problem forprocrastinationisthatitisareadydistraction,whichisparticularlytroublesomeforthoseofuswhoareimpulsive.Infact, itcanbea

problemforallofus,becauseofsomany“push”technologies.Forexample,emailandtextmessagesarepushedtousthroughout theday,soaswework,wecanbeconstantlyinterruptedifweleaveouremailclientandphoneactiveinthebackground.Thesedistractionscanbeexceptionallydisruptiveatmomentswhenouron-taskworkis not going well. Then, we are back to that “it will only take aminuteto . . .”andourgoalpursuitendsinfavorof tasksthatwereallyarenotchoosingtodo,atleastnotinthelongrun(althoughitcanendupthatwaytoourdetriment).4.Ontopofallofthisisthemythofmulti-tasking.Isaymyth,becausedespitepopularbeliefs,researchindicatesthatonlyaverysmall percentage of people can actually multi-task effectively.Humanshaveavery limitedattentionalchannel.Wearebetterofffocusedononethingatatime.Tragictrafficaccidentsareonlyoneexample of how potentially dangerous the myth of multi-taskingcan be. The more mundane tragedy of multi-tasking is how wedeceiveourselvesintothinkingthatweareactuallydoingourworkwheninfactweareattendingsporadicallytoourtasksinbetweenemail,social-networkingupdates,Internetsearches,ecommerceandgaming.

StrategiesforChangeAlthoughIhaveseparatedtheprocrastinationsuperhighwayoutasaseparatechapter,theprinciplesforchangearenotreallythatdifferent.Theymayjustbe awhole lot less appealing. For example,we have already addressed thenotionofminimizingdistractionswhenwediscussedimpulsivity.Minimizingdistractionsispartofthatpredecisiontokeepusontask.

Minimizing distractions is an important part of curbing our onlineprocrastination. To stay really connected to our goal pursuit, we need todisconnect from potential distractions like social networking tools. Thismeans that we should not have facebook, Twitter, email, or whatever yourfavoritesuiteoftoolsisrunninginthebackgroundonyourcomputerorsmartphonewhileyouareworking.Shutthemoff.

Ouch, I know. It is really tempting to find some excuse to keep it a“businessasusual”approachhere,butifyouarecommittedtoreducingyourprocrastination,thisissomethingyoureallyneedtodo.Youneedtoshutoffeverythingexcept theprogramyouneedonyourcomputer todo the taskathand. This means you can plan your “e-breaks” more consciously—again,this is an example of predecisions that help us break unconscious habits.Procrastinationiscertainlyahabitformanyofus.

Thisstrategyofreducingdistractionsmakes itmoreobviouswhenyouare turning away from your goal pursuit to pursue some other task. Youralternative and potentially rewarding alternative tasks are no longer only aclickaway.Alittlemoreeffortprovidestimeforyoutothinkifthisisreallywhatyouwant todo.Doyou reallywant to abandonyourgoal right now?Probablynot.

There have been all sorts of tools and “apps” designed to help peopleregulatetheirInternetusemore.Commoncurrentexamplesincludetoolsthatlockyououtofyouremailorrecordwhatapplicationsyouareusingandforhowlong.Thesemaybehelpfultoyou,buttechniquesandtechnologiescanneverbeasubstituteforacommitmenttochange.

I think it is appropriate to end this final chapter where I began ourconsiderationofwhyweprocrastinate—“givingintofeelgood.”Givingintofeel good is a big piece of the procrastination puzzle, and the Internetprovides lots and lotsof short-term,but specious, rewards towhichwecangiveintofeelgood.

Withaclickortwowecanleavethetaskwhichwefeelbadlyaboutandseek immediate mood repair. If you understand that this is what you aredoing,youaretrulyontheroadtochange.

Thatdoesnotmean that this is easy, and I turnnow to some thoughtsabout the road ahead. It is a journey that is often described as “two stepsforward,onestepback.”

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CONCLUDINGTHOUGHTS

Ontheroadofself-changeSelf-changeisajourneyItakedaily,andIwillperseverepatientlyasItaketwosteps

forwardandonestepback.

Marianna is discouraged. Yesterday went so well. She started her workexactlywhensheintendedto,andshestayedontask.Itfeltgreat.Shemadesignificant progress on her thesis. Today she feels like her old self. Shedoesn’twant todoanything.She’s alreadywasted themorning filingemail(most of which she knows she’ll never look at again) and texting friends.Feelinglowonenergy,she’sthinkingofhavinganapafterlunch.Deepdownsheknowsshe’sjustavoidingherwork,again.

IssueEven though thepurposeofmydigest-formatbookwas tobeaquick read,therearenoquickfixes.Ourold,badhabits,likeprocrastination,arehardtochangeandnewhabitsaredifficulttoestablish.Wehavetoputinagreatdealof conscious effort before our new behaviors become routine, unconsciouspatterns inour lives.Sometimeswenevercompletelyestablishanewhabit,andwehavetoputinconsciouseffortdailytomaintainourfocuswherewechoose.

The key thing is to be strategic. By being strategic, by makingpredecisionsasmuchaspossible,wecankeepfromfollowingthesameoldwornpath,thepaththatweknowbestasprocrastination.

As you have learned, there are many aspects of being human thatcontributetoourself-regulationfailure.Forexample,we:

•liketofeelgoodnow,•arepronetodiscountfuturerewards,•areoverlyoptimisticandbiasedinourplanning,•dislikedissonanceandwewillresolveitbymakingexcuses,•havealimitedamountofwillpower,•canbedisorganized,undisciplinedandoverlyself-conscious,•canbepronetodistractions,and•canhaveirrationalbeliefsaboutourexpectationsofourselves.

Eachofthesethingscancreateproblemsforusinourgoalpursuitand

contribute to our procrastination. And, even this partial list of contributingfactors to procrastination reveals some important truthsworth rememberingwhenyoufeellikeMariannadoesinthescenarioabove.

First,eachofuswillhaveadifferentconstellationoffactorsthatisour“recipe”forprocrastination.Asyoureadthisbook,Iamsurethatsometopicsandissuesspokemoredirectlytoyouthanothers.Theserepresenttheissuesthatyouneedtoaddressinyoureffortsforself-change.Thesearetheissuesyoucanaddressbeginningrightnow.

Second,wecannotchangeeverythingatonce.Myemphasishasbeenonbeing strategic.Youneed tobe strategic inyourapproach to self-changeaswell.Pickoneortwoissuesthatyourecognizeareproblemsforyou.Reviewthe chapteron these issues, if necessary, and focuson those strategies first.Youcanbuildfromthere.

Third,thisself-changeprocessisuneven.Wetrulydofeellikeonedaywe leap ahead and the next day we fall back. Although we have to becommittedtochangeandfirminoureffortstobestrategic,wealsohavetobekind to ourselves during this challenging process. We all face setbacks,disappointingmoments and frustrationswith our apparent lack of progress.Yourattitudetowardsthesesetbacksandyourselfwillbeextremelyimportanttoyourcontinuedprogress.Bekindbutfirmwithyourself,andbewillingtoforgiveyourselfwhenyoudonotliveuptoyourownexpectations.

Oneofourmost recentstudieswasabout this issueofself-forgivenessandprocrastination.Ithasimportantimplicationsforeachofusaswetaketheself-change journey. What we found was that self-forgiveness forprocrastinationwas related to lessprocrastination in the future.Specifically,whenstudentsinourstudyhadprocrastinatedquiteabitontheirpreparationforanexam,iftheyself-forgaveforthisprocrastination,theywerelesslikelytoprocrastinateontheirpreparationforthesubsequentexam.

This finding reflects the power of forgiveness to move us from anavoidancemotivation toanapproachmotivation. If, forexample,youhadatransgression with a friend, and you or your friend had not offeredforgiveness,youwouldlikelyavoidthatfriend.Inthecaseofprocrastination,the transgression is against the self, and we end up avoiding the taskassociatedwiththattransgression.Whatforgivenessdoesinbothcasesis toremove the avoidancemotivation so that friendship can be reestablished orengagementwiththetaskcanhappenagain,respectively.

Onourself-changejourney,wehavetobepreparedtoforgiveourselvesforourtransgressions,sothatwearewillingtotryagain.Wewillcertainlyhavetotryagainmanytimes.AsIsaidbefore,evenmysimplestrategyof“justgetstarted”mayhavetobeinvokedmanytimesthroughouttheday.Startandre-start.

Successwillbefoundinthiseffort.Itisworththeeffort,asitwasyourtimeinconsideringwhyitisweprocrastinate.Ihopethisreadingisyourfirststepinthisjourneyofself-change.

I would love to hear about your own journey. What worked? Whatdidn’t?What else would you like to know? Although I cannot promise toanswer every email, your input will make a difference to future writing. Iinviteyoutowritetomeatfeedback@procrastinatorsdigest.com

Finally,youmaywanttolearnmoreaboutprocrastination.Thisdigest-formatbook,while accurateand firmlybasedon research in thearea, isbynecessityshortondetails.Ifyouwanttolearnmore,youcanfindlotsmorethroughourResearchGroupwebsite:procrastination.ca.

This website provides access to many relevant resources, not just ourownscholarlypublications.Perhapssomeofthemostaccessibleinformationis available through my Don’t Delay blog for Psychology Today and theiProcrastinatePodcasts.Theblogentriesandpodcastepisodessummarizeawidevariety of information about procrastination inmuchgreater detail. Infact,youcansearchthroughtheblogentriesorthepodcasttitlesoniTunestofindinformationspecifictotheissueswithwhichyoumaybestruggling.

I must say that I make this reference to further reading with somereservation.There isnoend to readingabout a topic, and theproblemwithprocrastination,asyouhavelearned,isthatwecanalwaysfindanexcusenotto do our work. In this case, it is really quite possible to use your furtherreadingand researchaboutprocrastination toprocrastinatemore! Ironically,thisissomethingthatreadersofmyblogandpodcastlistenershavetoldmethattheydo.

So,insteadofreadingmore,IwouldreturntowhereIbeganthebooktoremind you that reducing procrastination in our lives is a practical thing—

sensible,realistic,no-nonsense.Inaddition,Iwanttoaddthatchangeisaboutdoing,not just reading. Ifyouput theseboth together,youwill see that thepractical(andno-nonsense)thingistostartdoing,nottoreadmore.

Youprobably tookan interest in thisbookbecauseyouwant to reduceprocrastinationinyourlife.Younowknowagreatdealmoreaboutthetopic.You are prepared to bolster what feels like a depleted willpower. You areaware that it is tempting to “give in to feelgood,” soyouwon’t rightnow.And,youknowthateveryjourneybeginswiththatimportantfirststep.

It is time to justgetstarted. Iknow that thiswillmakeadifference inyourlife.

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TableofContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter1:Chapter2:Isprocrastinationreallyaproblem?WhatareChapter3:What’stheChapter4:Chapter5:Chapter6:Chapter7:WhyChapter8:Chapter9:What’sbredinthebone:Chapter10:Concludingthoughts:Ontheroadofself-change

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