I am not alone in falling victim to procrastination. People commonly put off doing things. While it can be harmless, this tendency can become an issue quickly. In a previous post, we discussed the reasons for procrastination. In today’s blog post, I share a few interventions to put your procrastination habit in check.

Healthy Breaks Versus Unhealthy Procrastination

Before we discuss how to overcome procrastination, we need to differentiate between two important concepts: a healthy break and unhealthy procrastination. Understanding this crucial distinction can prevent people from going to the other extreme by overly avoiding taking breaks.

 

Healthy Breaks

A healthy break allows you to take care of yourself by resetting or recharging. For a good rule of thumb, take a break for up to 15 minutes before returning to your task. Or strategically set aside the task to do something else when you feel you need a longer break. This way, your break remains healthy rather than turning it into a negative case of procrastination.  

Waiting time between steps can be a crucial aspect of doing a task appropriately. Among others, bakers and artists understand this principle. Growing up on a farm, we cut our own hay to feed the cattle. After cutting the hay (fescue for those of you who know types of hay), we had to wait for it to dry or cure. Not waiting can cause it to spoil. If we baled it first and forced it to cure in the tight bale, heat would build up. That could cause the bale to catch fire, which could risk burning down the barn. Good things really can come from taking well-timed breaks.

On the other hand, I have seen students who have a strong desire to do well, but they try to complete multi-week assignments within the first day or two they are assigned. In most cases, that is too much work to complete in too little time. Especially for schoolwork, you are most likely taking the class because you did not already know the material. Learning the coursework properly requires taking the time and effort to learn it well. Appropriate pacing with healthy breaks can help you succeed in this learning process.

Unhealthy Procrastination

Unhealthy procrastination can occur when delaying starting a task initially or after a break, and it causes bad things to happen. For example, if you repeatedly sleep in and show up late to work or school, you could experience negative outcomes such as class failure or job loss.

In most cases, people do not need the benefit of hindsight to predict whether delaying a task will lead to a negative outcome. In general, people usually can tell when putting off a task makes it less likely they will get it done or get it done well. If you struggle with awareness of your procrastination, try to look back in the past and see how it has worked for you, or reach out to a therapist for help.

My Recipe for Beating Procrastination

Now let’s get into how to beat unhealthy procrastination. The intervention I propose has 5 ingredients or steps. Following these steps will increase the level of productivity in your life.

Ingredient #1 – Address Negative Thoughts

Negative or unhelpful thoughts can start or maintain procrastination. To address these thoughts, actively think of an alternative thought that brings you closer to the desired behavior or refutes the negative thought. If you believe the task is too hard, replace the thought with “it may be difficult, but it will likely get easier if I just get started.” For thinking you have plenty of time to do it later you could instead think “doing it now gives me more time later, or if it takes longer than expected, I will be grateful I started earlier.” If you think you deserve a break, counter the thought with “I know I am tired, but I can relax much easier knowing I got it done.”

Ingredient #2 – Address Negative Emotions

Multiple emotions can lead to procrastination. Someone may feel overwhelmed with a difficult project due to its size or complexity. Others may feel apathetic toward mowing the grass. While it needs to be done, they want to do it later. Reacting to the disgust of an overflowed toilet, someone might actively delay cleaning up the mess.  

Engaging in a few minutes of mindful breathing can help with intense emotions. Focus on your breathing as you take slow, deep breaths. If your mind begins to wander, bring it back to your breathing each time. You could also try the strategy of “grounding,” or anchoring yourself in the present. Use your five senses. Name 5 things you see, 4 things you hear, 3 things you touch, 2 things you smell, and 1 thing you taste.

I also find “radical acceptance” extremely useful. Radical acceptance means fully accepting something without judgement. Most of our suffering arises from fighting our reality. The first step to changing reality is accepting it.  

Let me illustrate the use of radical acceptance in facing disgust. When my oldest daughter was one, she woke up and vomited all over herself and the crib. My wife was out at the time, so it was just me. The smell caused a gag reflex and I felt very overwhelmed. I did not know what to do to clean up. After a moment, I had a profound revelation. While this was disgusting, I simply had to do it. Accepting that I was the one who had to clean it all up actually lowered my feelings of disgust. As I got started, the task really did get easier. I still hate the idea of cleaning up vomit; however, it provided a practical lesson in radical acceptance I will always remember.

Ingredient #3 – Planning

Adequate planning can greatly reduce procrastination. First, it reduces several sources of stress that lead to procrastination (e.g., feeling overwhelmed or confusion on how to begin). Planning also helps people move from start to finish more smoothly without skipping steps.

First, break a task down into its different steps. For example, the first step of a car repair is gathering the needed tools and parts. When feeling overwhelmed or apathetic, it can be helpful to convince yourself to at least complete the first step.  

Second, display the steps in a format you will see regularly. My wife helped me finish my dissertation by writing out the tasks on a poster board and marking them off when finished. Around the house, she left reminders for simple tasks on the kitchen counter, back door, or steering wheel of the car. Many individuals find success using to-do list apps on their phones. Some families enjoy using shared documents.   

Third, schedule specific times to complete the tasks. I have learned that if I don’t put a task on my calendar, it usually doesn’t get done. A shared calendar can help add accountability. Avoid over-ambitious scheduling of tasks. A few small plans, particularly at first, can boost productivity faster than trying to make too big of a change too quickly.  

Finally, establish clear deadlines for completing each step. Many of my students have found success by setting a personal deadline for completing homework the day before the due date. After making this commitment, they found many scenarios in which this strategy helped. Sometimes the assignment was harder or more time consuming than they expected. Other times they needed the extra time to do another task or were glad the assignment was already done when something came up, such as an illness.

Ingredient #4 – Reward Yourself

I read Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg recently and found it had many influential ideas about getting yourself to do things. It contended that building habits requires starting very small. In clinical practice, I have seen a tendency to think of task completion as a binary thing. Either you did the task, or you didn’t. However, even simple tasks can consist of many tiny tasks. Brushing your teeth includes going into the bathroom, applying toothpaste, wetting your toothbrush, brushing, rinsing your mouth, and rinsing your brush. The tiny tasks are important steps that eventually lead to overall task completion. Providing rewards even for tiny tasks can improve motivation to help you achieve your larger goal. Giving rewards hijacks the reward system of the brain, making it feel good to do these tasks. Refer to this post for further reading on reward systems.

Ingredient #5 – Evaluate and Make Changes as Needed

I often need to change my plan after starting to implement it, at least slightly. Hold regular regrouping sessions, typically weekly, for the first few weeks. Evaluate how things are going and make changes as needed. Later, you can switch to monthly evaluations. Either way, schedule these regrouping sessions on a calendar.   

A regrouping session determines what you need to change and ensures you have not drifted from the plan. A few days ago, another provider and I were discussing study plans for students. An observation we both had is that students’ study plans are most likely to fail when they are needed the most. When individuals are the busiest, they are more likely to try to cut corners to save time. Ironically, cutting corners usually means getting rid of the very things that increase productivity, which can cause problems.

Beating Procrastination: Conclusion

While many people fall victim to procrastination, we have many strategies to lessen its occurrence. Limit procrastination through 5 steps: address negative beliefs and emotions, plan, use an effective reward system, and adjust your plan as needed. If you would like more help with this or other issues, please feel free to contact our office.

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Post written by Dr. Gordon D. Lamb, Licensed Psychologist and Clinical Director

Please note posts are educational in nature and are not intended to replace psychological services when needed.