😟 Procrastination is about emotions, not time management ⌚
Originally printed in the Hellenic Canadian Lawyers' Association's Fall 2020 Edition of Legalese (hence the lack of emojis 😂🤷♂️):
PROCRASTINATION IS ABOUT EMOTIONS, NOT TIME MANAGEMENT
Somewhat recently, while working from home, I had an email I needed to write for work. It needed some reasonably complicated legal analysis. I needed to provide an opinion. It was going to important people.
But, my workspace was (a little bit) messy. So obviously I had to clean it. And the kitchen was (really) messy. So obviously I had to clean that too. And while I was cleaning the kitchen, I looked out the window and saw the lawn. The grass was pretty long.
So I found myself outside, trying to start my lawnmower. At this point, I think it's pretty clear to all of us that I was procrastinating. But in the moment, I had good reasons. My neighbour had mowed both of our lawns last week, and I needed to get out there and mow both of our lawns before he did it again.
I tried to start the lawnmower. I primed the engine, and yanked on the cord. There was a bit of noise and then it went silent. So I primed the engine some more, and yanked on the cord again. A bit more noise, and then it went silent. So I primed a final time. It still didn't work.
Then I realized, the spark plug was unplugged. Silly me. This is easy to fix. Just plug it in and yank the cord.
Except it still didn't work.
This time, because I had overprimed it. The engine was now flooded with gas.
Most of us think that procrastination is about time management. We don't get working because we're lazy and haven't quite yet figured out how to be go-getters. But that doesn't quite fit for me. Look at my procrastination - it involved a lot of work! I cleaned two different rooms and mowed the lawn.
I was reading an article recently in the NY Times which said that procrastination was an emotional problem.
That we get stuck in procrastination cycles because we can't manage negative feelings around a task.
When you look at it through that lense, what happened to me makes a lot more sense. I was nervous about this email. I was anxious about getting it right. I was worried about what the important people would think of me. I couldn't manage these feelings properly (hell, I'm not even sure if I took the time to be conscious of them). So instead I did other things that needed doing.
Your efforts to fix something rarely work if you're focused on the wrong problem. It's like me with the lawnmower. I kept priming the engine when all I needed to do was connect the spark plug. Not only did I not solve the problem, I made it worse. By the time I was done, even the solution to the original problem (plugging in the spark plug) wouldn't work.
If I had thought that my procrastination was because I needed to be more of a go-getter, I might have tried to raise the stakes. Reminding myself how important it is and just "buckling down". By doing that, I would have increased the emotional pressure on it, increasing the negative emotions. I might finally manage to increase the self-pressure enough to overcome it, but then I've spent the day awash in negative emotions.
You do that enough, and you start to feel pretty shitty in life.
Additionally, it can be dangerous. You’ve heard of Pavlov’s dog? By feeding dogs after ringing a bell, Pavlov trained them to salivate when the bell was rung. They knew the bell meant food, so they would salivate because of the bell, even if there was no food there.
When you procrastinate, you feel better in the moment. You are Pavlov with your productivity. You’re training yourself to procrastinate in the future. It can become a negative feedback loop. That’s not ideal.
Additionally, running away from feelings generally just makes those feelings stronger. So when I put off writing that work email, the job gets harder, not easier.
So here are two suggestions to do instead:
Take a second. Whenever I try to power through, I end up raising the stakes. By noticing that I have the urge to procrastinate, I get a chance to take a moment. That's like looking at the engine instead of just deciding it needs priming.
Get to the root. What are you trying to avoid? What negative feelings are lurking just outside your peripheral vision. Is it worry? Fear? Sometimes simply naming it gives you freedom. Sometimes you’ll need to do more.
Put roadblocks in front of your stressors. I happen to stress about my inbox. Turning off my outlook (it stops incoming messages) doubles and sometimes triples my productivity as it frees up my mind to focus on the task at hand.
Work first. Reward later. I’ve never seen “just this once” stop at once. Do the task first. Reward yourself after.
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