The Procrastination Equation

by Piers Steel

  You probably already know what you should be doing to solve these problems. Committing to a regular schedule of exercise has been shown to decrease procrastination.25 Since many people in North America aren’t getting a good night’s sleep, I also recommend you start learning about sleep hygiene, which prevents people from polluting their bedrooms with the stress of the day, maintaining it instead as a sanctuary for escape.26 Sleep hygiene is the only thing that worked for my wife, who comes from a family of chronic insomniacs.

  2. Action Points for Energy Crisis: Being too tired is the top reason for procrastination. Your energy stores are both a limited and a renewable resource, so actively replenish them and allocate your efforts wisely.

  • Reserve your morning and mid-day peak performance hours for your most difficult tasks.

  • Don’t let yourself get hungry. Graze on small nutritious snacks as needed.

  • Make time for exercise several days each week.

  • Make sleep predictable, going to bed at the same time each night with a regular wind-down routine.

  • Respect your own limitations. If after all this, you still are too tired to tackle your responsibilities, try to cut back on your commitments or get help completing them.

  YOU SHOULD SEE THE TASK I'M AVOIDING

  The sun sets and long shadows disappear into the darkness. Eyes dilate to adjust, but still the blackness obscures: uncertainty shrouds us and anything could emerge. Vulnerable now to the limitless unknown, we feel a suffocating fear. With night comes the time of monsters. Pull the blankets over your head and don’t say a word: this is about survival . . . at least it used to be. Like three-quarters of kids, I grew up afraid of the dark, a dread largely passed on from my ancestors.27 When nighttime was truly dangerous, that fear of ghouls and ghosts kept children quiet, stationary, and safe. Imaginary fears were an adaptive part of any culture.28 The Northern Inuit teach their children of the Qallupilluit, which kidnaps children who walk too close to cracks in the ice, while the Japanese have the Kappa, water creatures that eat urchins.8c Maybe we can conjure our own monster to scare off procrastination as well.

  The technique of productive procrastination might employ such a monster. It is a well-established ploy, advocated by no less than Sir Francis Bacon, the seventeenth-century philosopher and statesman. He proposed that we try to “set affection against affection, and to master one by another; even as we use to hunt beast with beast.” We see productive procrastination in action when people spend precious hours sharpening pencils, scrubbing stoves, or cleaning bedrooms as an imminent deadline towers over them. Though by all outward appearances they seem suddenly afflicted by obsessive-compulsive disorder, such procrastination isn’t entirely a waste of their time.29 Things are getting done—though not quite the right things.30 Psychoanalysts would consider it an example of displacement, whereby we shift impulses into a related but less threatening outlet, like picking a fight with a friend after being upbraided by our boss. Behavioral psychologists would point out that we are willing to pursue any vile task as long as it allows us to avoid something worse.

  Productive procrastination isn’t perfect—it reduces the cost of dillydallying but doesn’t eliminate it. Rather than doing nothing useful while avoiding the big project, you are at least taking care of minutiae, “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” It isn’t as constructive as tackling the real work, but it does clear your plate and puts you in a much better position to dig in when you're ready. Sooner or later, though, you will have to face that monster you have been avoiding.

  3. Action Points for You Should See the Task I'm Avoiding: Don’t let the perfect—never procrastinating—get in the way of the good—productively procrastinating. Meet your procrastination impulse halfway. By engaging in productive procrastination, you put off one task only to spur yourself toward tackling another.

  • Identify a target task that you ideally should be doing now but have been putting off.

  • Identify tangent tasks that also should be done and are relatively more enjoyable than your target task. You might be putting these off too.

  • Accept the trade-off of avoiding the target task by tackling the tangent tasks. When you eventually get to the target task, you will be in a better position to complete it.

  DOUBLE OR NOTHING

  We are all too familiar with guilty pleasures. You know, the ones you indulge in after a long day doing things for others, after the kids are fed and in bed, the dishes done, and you finally get an hour to yourself. You slip off your work clothes, step into a robe, pour yourself a drink, and watch . . . oh yes, reality TV. Ah, the sweet cerebral abyss of spoon-fed entertainment. We all have the ability to self-reward, whether it be with a trashy book, a bowl of ice cream, or a luxury purchase. So let’s put this talent to good use.

  A principal problem with procrastinators is that they tend not to reward themselves after completing a task, often failing to appreciate their own hard work.31 They give themselves no whispered kind word or planned treat after a task well done. Too bad, as such rewards are the easiest to implement and personalize. The specifics of soothing self-talk or a deserved indulgence will differ from person to person, but the effects remain the same. Whether your catchphrase is a silent “Atta boy!” or a “You go girl!” a little internal self-praise is a costless incentive for overcoming a challenging task. Similarly, whether it is a fine meal or a full vacation, a self-administered reward can pull us through the drudgery of work toward a project’s completion. Even better, they offer motivational dividends, realized during subsequent endeavors.

  This technique is called learned industriousness: people can learn to love their work.32 You see, the enjoyable emotions generated by self-praise and other rewards tend to creep backward into the effort itself. That is, activities take on the attributes of their goals and can become rewarding in themselves. Money is the principal example of this phenomenon, having been instilled with value by virtue of what it can later buy. Hard work, by virtue of the achievement it can later generate, can be similarly infused, making such effort rewarding in the moment. Consequently, successful people find themselves in a virtuous circle: the anticipated rewards from winning help make the work more enjoyable, and that enjoyment helps them to win. With the future flavoring the present, they savor victory long before it is realized. It is a very nice arrangement, but the trick is in how to get it started. It may take a number of effort-reward cycles before the effort itself takes on the taste of the later reward.

  While waiting for learned industriousness to kick in, you can enhance the pleasure of work in a more direct way: blend bitter medicine with sweet honey.33 Try to find a compatible pairing between a long-term interest and a short-term impulse. If you combine an unpleasant task with one you find more enjoyable, the mixture may be enough to get you going. Getting together with a workout partner can spur you to exercise. Treating yourself to a specialty coffee can help you focus on your time sheets or your budget. But this method has its risks as well. Engaging a partner to help you finish a report or prep for an exam, for example, can degenerate into an evening-long bull-session with little learning to show for it. Still, the principle is sound. In the Adam Sandler movie Billy Madison, the title character has to redo his entire schooling, twelve grades in twenty-four weeks, to receive a sizable inheritance. In desperation, he engages an attractive tutor, who for every correct answer he gives, removes an article of her clothing.

  4. Action Points for Double or Nothing: Take the time to recognize and reward your progress. Though success itself will eventually make effort enjoyable, right now you can artificially graft a little pleasure onto most tasks.

  • Make a list of rewards you can administer to yourself, such as self-praise, frivolous purchases, or a night out.

  • Promise yourself these rewards upon completion of the task you have been avoiding.

  • Consider ways of making tasks more enjoyable, such as listening to music, sipping a specialty coffee, or working with a friend.


  • Make sure that what makes the work more enjoyable, like partnering, doesn’t override the work itself.

  LET YOUR PASSION BE YOUR VOCATION

  Perfect work exists, tasks people would do even in the absence of a paycheck. One example is gold farming.34 Gold farmers are professional video game players who have become experts in massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) like World of Warcraft, RuneScape, or Star Wars Galaxies. With their honed skills and long hours of play—at times, eighteen hours a day—they gain virtual gold and rare items that they then sell to other players for real cash. As documented by Ge Jin, a University of California PhD student and independent filmmaker, these professional gamers blur the line between work and play in a constructive way. Jin admits he was “shocked by the positive spirit there, the farmers are passionate about what they do, and there is indeed camaraderie between them.”35 Most telling is what many gold farmers do in their spare time—they continue to play.

  Apart from the problem of who would buy all this make-believe money, gold farming isn’t and can’t be for everyone. Still, it captures the Holy Grail of job design, marrying high performance with job satisfaction. And it illustrates that finding work you want to do is a major step toward avoiding procrastination. Being intrinsically motivated by your job means you are rewarded simply by doing it; no need to delay gratification here. This combination can make work almost addictive; motivation shoots upward stratospherically, souping up creativity, learning, and persistence.36 Speaking for myself, I love learning about motivation and I willingly work hard at it. Finding work you love is tricky, but let’s try.

  Finding your perfect job is at least as difficult as finding your soul mate. With almost 50 percent of marriages in our culture ending in divorce, the challenge is a tough one. With love, we seek the person who complements us; with work, we seek the job that could become a calling. In either case, a satisfying match is known as congruence, and it can be darn difficult to accomplish. The best predictor of love is familiarity brought about by physical proximity,8d a good recipe insofar as it keeps down travel costs while dating.37 At work too, we gravitate toward the best of our known options, not the best of all possible jobs. Expanding our world and improving our career choices is not a simple matter. We need to better understand ourselves and what different jobs can offer us, and then find a way to link the two.38

  For most people, finding themselves and their calling is an ongoing struggle. If we all went with our first impulse, the working world would be primarily composed of firefighters and ballerinas. If we followed the dreams of our teenage years, we would mostly be professional athletes, fashion designers, or rap stars. Ask college students, and many of them want a career in film. On the other hand, choosing sensibly to be a doctor or a lawyer doesn’t always pan out either; these were the initial career paths of Graham Chapman and John Cleese before they created Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Most of us have to search for a calling while we are already working, deepening the commitment to a current and perhaps inappropriate career path. We may need the help of a matchmaker or, as we call them in the world of work, a counseling or vocational psychologist. These professionals assess your personality as it relates to work, typically relying on an assessment tool that divides interests into six themes: realistic (doing), investigative (thinking), artistic (creating), social (helping), enterprising (persuading), and conventional (organizing).39 Jobs are profiled too, with firefighting falling under “realistic” and ballerina under “artistic.” Vocational counselors will point you toward a variety of job choices, though it is up to you to at least try “dating” them. The assessment on the next page is my own, completed when I was seventeen years old. One profession clearly dominates my profile, one that requires a combination of investigative and artistic interests—a professor. I did not take these findings seriously at the time, but drifted about for a decade before finally coming to the same conclusion. Blame my strong need for autonomy.

  As in seeking love, there is more involved in finding your calling than identifying what you desire. Though a certain job could be the one for you, your feelings may not be reciprocated. Some jobs are out of our league because they are already being pursued by an excessive number of applicants. Supply and demand is harsh, and there may not be a demand for what you supply. Fortunately, there are plenty of other jobs that you could like just as much. The O*NET program in the United States catalogues nearly a thousand jobs, identifying those that are in demand by employers and that fit your profile.8e

  After accounting for your personality and for the job market, you will also need to consider your abilities.40 Can you do what the job requires? Firefighters and ballerinas need to be athletically gifted, ranking in the top positions of the physical fitness category. If you want to be a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon, you'd better be blazingly smart. Linking individual abilities, such as stamina or mental capability, with the world of work isn’t easy.41 For example, I can tell you that if you are five feet tall, you shouldn’t foster aspirations for a career in the NBA. But most of the time it isn’t obvious whether you are following a dream or pursuing a lost cause. Just be aware that you want to find work that you not only love but have the capacity to excel at too.

  5. Action Points for Let Your Passion Be Your Vocation: Not everyone has job mobility. Some are tied down by obligations and economic constraints and have to make choices based on security or availability. If you have the gift of choice, don’t blow it! For the next little while, finding a compatible fit between what you do and who you are should be an ongoing occupation.

  • Look at careers involving activities you love or like doing.

  • Filter out all the occupations for which you don’t possess (or aren’t willing to learn) the necessary skills or abilities.

  • Rank the remaining careers by what is in demand. The harder the economic times, the fewer your choices will be.

  • If you need help answering any of these questions, find a reputable career service for employment advice.8f

  • Start job hunting!

  LOOKING FORWARD

  In chapter 2, Valerie Without Value hated to write and put off her municipal politics assignment for so long that what she produced was second-rate. Instead of working, she indulged in the far more pleasurable acts of texting her friends and binging on video snacks. Hers is a regrettably common story, especially among writers.8g To stop procrastinating, Valerie needs to find a way to heighten the value of her work. Connecting it to her greater career goals would be a good start. By identifying the type of writing she wants to do and framing the present task as a stepping-stone toward this goal, she should enact strategy elements of both Let Your Passion Be Your Vocation and Games and Goals. Also, she could have started earlier in the day, when she had the most energy, instead of toward the end, when her willpower was weakest (see Energy Crisis). And at the very least, she could have tried Double or Nothing and used that municipal politics piece to motivate her to get other work done, procrastinating productively rather than cyberslacking.

  If you scored 24 or above on Valerie’s scale about value from chapter 2, you probably can relate to her life, though your problem might lie elsewhere than in writing.42 If so, reviewing the techniques in this chapter would be a good idea, as there is indeed some wiggle room in the world to find work that suits us better and to fashion this work into something we love (or at least like). Let’s transmute those motivationally inert and tire-some tasks into golden goals that engage you. Just think, it might even be fun!

  Chapter Nine

  In Good Time

  MANAGING SHORT-TERM IMPULSES AND LONG-TERM GOALS

  He that has not a mastery over his inclinations, he that knows not how to resist the importunity of present pleasure or pain, for the sake of what reason tells him is fit to be done, wants the true principle of virtue and industry, and is in danger never to be good for anything.

  JOHN LOCKE

  Impulsiveness is the last cause o
f procrastination we will address, despite its overwhelming desire to be first in all things. “Now, now, I want it now” is its mantra. If we have an inner child, this is it, and it wants that candy right away. Impulsiveness runs through every vice that involves weakness of the will. Not only does impulsiveness form the core of procrastination but it is strongly connected to dysfunctional relationships, lousy leadership, suicide, substance abuse, and violence. In their groundbreaking book A General Theory of Crime, criminologists Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi argue that most misdeeds and misdemeanors are due to impulsiveness alone.1 What inevitably happens when vices give more immediate satisfaction than virtues? The most impulsive person will be the most corruptible.

  Consequently, impulsiveness stands at procrastination’s center-field, and has a much more intense relationship with procrastination than with any other personality trait. Whereas low self-confidence (expectancy) and propensity for boredom (value) have definite roles in creating procrastination, they are not in the same league as impulsiveness. Impulsiveness multiplies the effect of delay, making it a major determinant of the Procrastination Equation’s outcome. A person with twice the average level of impulsiveness as a typical person will generally let the deadline become twice as close before starting to work. Unfortunately, if you are impulsive, you will always be somewhat susceptible to putting life off. Though you will experience a modest decrease in impulsiveness as you age2 and not all situations will trigger impulsive action,3 you can’t escape your fate. Impulsiveness is not something you have, but something you are.

  So what can we do about a chronic lack of self-control? Civilization has been chewing over this problem for thousands of years, figuring out how to tone down the limbic system and pump up the prefrontal cortex.4 Since every generation has to rediscover these solutions in their own words, it is time for us to revisit and reframe a little ancient wisdom. Let’s go back to the beginning of the Greek empire, its legendary poet Homer, and his epic The Odyssey.