How you can beat procrastination

Welcome to The Productivity Blueprint newsletter 🗞️

So, how did last weeks prioritization challenge go? I found that it really helped me execute on my days better (even if I still did plan a few lower scored, less important tasks into my day). Checking off those 10s felt really good and left me feeling successful. What did you all think? Let us know in the poll or send us a message! 😊

If you missed last week, you can catch up here 🙂

Today, we’re going to take a deeper look at procrastination and how it functions in our lives. Let’s dive in!

The article challenges the common belief that procrastination is solely a self-control issue. Let’s see what author, Charlotte Lieberman believes is the true nature of procrastination, and how to overcome it.

Here are some of the key points:

1. Emotions vs. Self-Control: Procrastination is often linked to our emotional state rather than a lack of self-control. As the author puts it, "Procrastination isn’t a unique character flaw or a mysterious curse on your ability to manage time, but a way of coping with challenging emotions and negative moods." The reason for our aversion varies — it could just be inherently unpleasant (like having to clean a dirty bathroom) or it may be linked to deeper feelings such as self-doubt, low self-esteem, anxiety or insecurity.

2. Present bias: Procrastination is a perfect example of present bias, our hard-wired tendency to prioritize short-term needs ahead of long-term ones.

3. The Procrastination Cycle: In the immediate present, putting off a task provides relief — “you’ve been rewarded for procrastinating,” And we know from basic behaviourism that when we’re rewarded for something, we tend to do it again. This is precisely why procrastination tends not to be a one-off behaviour, but a cycle, one that easily becomes a chronic habit.

4. Breaking the Cycle: In the case of procrastination, we have to find a better reward than avoidance — one that can relieve our challenging feelings in the present moment without causing harm to our future selves. That’s why the solution must be internal, and not dependent on anything but ourselves (sadly, the productivity apps below may not be of too much use alone in breaking your procrastination cycles). Here are few suggestions:

   1. Forgive yourself in the moments you procrastinate! This allows you to move on from past instances.

   2. Treat yourself with kindness and understanding in the face of your mistakes and failures. Procrastinators tend to have high stress and low self-compassion, suggesting that self-compassion provides “a buffer against negative reactions to self-relevant events.”

5. Managing the Emotions: Awareness and management of your emotions that lead to procrastination is key. Try the following to help:

   1. Cultivate curiosity: If you’re feeling tempted to procrastinate, bring your attention to the sensations arising in your mind and body.

   2. Focus on the next action: don’t think a few steps ahead, just the next one. This can help calm nerves and trick yourself into doing it all. “Motivation follows action.”

   3. Make your distractions more inconvenient: It’s still easier to change our environment than ourselves.

While the author pushes that ‘self-control’ is not why you procrastinate — we think that the message of this article is that you can take back control (just not in the way you would have originally thought) by being more forgiving and compassionate with yourself in those moments. With this mindset, you can manage your emotions and put an end to procrastination 🙏

Looking forward to hearing how this goes for everyone next week.

Until then,

The Productivity Blueprint Team