Procrastination
Page 13
Here are the basics: ADD is characterized by three core symptoms of distractibility, impulsivity, and restlessness.9 This does not refer to the garden-variety distractibility that all of us experience from time to time,10 but rather to the experience of not being able to focus, attend, or remember, even though one wants (often very badly) to do so. About 30-40 percent of children with ADD experience a diminishing of symptoms as they move through adolescence.11 For the rest, symptoms can persist throughout adulthood, leaving in their wake unfulfilled dreams, unfinished projects, and countless missed deadlines.
But what does it actually mean to say that someone is distractible, impulsive, or restless? Russell Barkley, a scientist who has researched ADD since the 1970s, believes that the fundamental problem lies in the inability to inhibit oneself. That is, people with ADD cannot “inhibit immediate reactions to the moment so as to use self-control with regard to time and the future.”12 Instead of thinking, “I want an A in my history class, so I’ve got to finish this homework and turn it in tomorrow,” the student with ADD feels, “This is boring! I don’t want to do it!”—and then finds something much more fun and interesting to do. Procrastination in action.
Inhibition is a crucial activity of the brain, and a brain that does not inhibit itself effectively leaves its owner at the mercy of impulse.13 It is because we can inhibit our instant reactions that we can think through a problem, delay gratification (how else would anyone graduate from high school or college?), and keep sexual and aggressive impulses under control. It is this capacity for inhibition that gives us the feeling that we are free to decide—we don’t have to respond to the immediate stimulus; we can wait a moment, think and reflect, and then choose whether and how to respond. As Barkley says, waiting is not a passive act. Inhibition takes effort.14
Inhibition is also closely linked to having a sense of time. When you can remember that something is important to you in the future and that what happens in the future is linked to what you do in the present, you are more able to inhibit your urges to respond to immediate desires. Research has demonstrated that people with ADD are not able to sense time as accurately as people who don’t have ADD.15 Subjectively, time passes more slowly for them than for others; things seem to take longer than expected, and they quickly feel frustrated and impatient. Not knowing where they are located in time, they focus on what is immediately at hand, with no sense of what lies ahead. Being “blind to time,” they do not see events approaching and end up careening from crisis to crisis.16 This focus on immediate satisfaction instead of long-term benefit underlies the observation that many people with ADD have trouble pursuing educational goals, saving money, or engaging in behaviors that support long-term health (such as diet and exercise). If you can’t grasp that you exist in time, preparing for and taking care of yourself in relation to the future seems irrelevant.
Barkley notes that people with ADD are hyper-responsive to environmental stimuli. Everyone has trouble sustaining attention; after a few seconds all of us look away from what we’re doing, adjust our bodies, have another thought, or notice a sound or sensation. It has been estimated that our minds wander 15-20 percent of the time without our even realizing it,17 and that the tendency to get distracted increases with age.18 But people without ADD can return to the task easily and seamlessly, whereas people with ADD take longer and struggle harder to return to the task. It is more difficult for people with ADD to sustain attention, for sustained attention is also sustained inhibition.19
Recent findings in brain research support Barkley’s view. Some parts of the brain (in the frontal cortex) appear to be smaller or less active in people with ADD compared to those without the disorder; these are precisely the structures that are central to sustaining attention, regulating impulses, planning for the future, and employing self-control.20 And in some children who have ADD, parts of the frontal cortex develop about three years later than in children who don’t have ADD, so the parts of the brain most closely involved with the regulation of attention and motor activity are most delayed in developing. 21 This finding helps explain why some children outgrow their symptoms by their late teens.
It has also been observed that people with ADD often have low levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine in their brains; since dopamine is a substance that helps us experience pleasure, one speculation is that people with ADD must do more and risk more in order to experience the well-being that people without ADD experience at ordinary levels of intensity. Psychiatrists Ned Hallowell and John Ratey describe the feeling as an “itch,”22 a need for an intense, high level of stimulation that becomes a biological necessity—the person feels she or he must do something to alter an unbearable inner state. When people with ADD take stimulant medication (such as Ritalin, Adderal, or Concerta), the amount of dopamine in the brain is increased and brain activity increases to near normal levels.23
Most researchers have come to view ADD as an extreme variation of a normal trait, like height or weight, that has a strong genetic and biological component .24 Others believe that “culturally induced ADD” is developing as well.25 We are faced with so many distractions, so many competing demands for our attention, that ADD may be “the official brain syndrome of the information age.”26 To be successful in today’s society, you have to be able to function in an ADD-like way: shifting attention rapidly and constantly, tracking multiple projects simultaneously, and operating in sound bites.27 So, as you watch a favorite program on TV, station logos flash at you, news crawlers move across the bottom of the screen, and reminders about upcoming programs pop up every few minutes, and on top of all that, you’re simultaneously checking your e-mail, the weather report, and sports scores on your Blackberry.
Thus, rather than seeing ADD as brain damage, a moral failing, or a character flaw, we can look at it as a condition caused by a host of complex genetic, biological, and environmental factors. If you have ADD, you have a brain that really does work differently, and you are much more likely to procrastinate. It really is harder to keep your focus on a task, to return to it after each one of the numerous, inevitable distractions that claim your attention. If you find yourself “addicted” to the frenzy of last-minute action, you may be medicating yourself with adrenaline, your own naturally produced stimulant, which increases your ability to focus. Consider whether this ad hoc self-medicating, with all the drama surrounding it, is worth it—or whether you could use prescribed medication to achieve better focus without last-minute panic or find work that provides the fast pace and intensity you need for your mind to feel fully engaged.
DEPRESSION: THEME AND VARIATIONS
There are many different variations on the theme of depression, some having to do with the severity (for example, major depression versus its milder, chronic form, dysthymia), others having to do with cyclical patterns (for example, bipolar illness, seasonal disorders, hormonal changes). What these conditions have in common is that you feel less energized, engaged, or connected to life than you’d like, less interested, motivated, or optimistic than usual. If you’re consumed by sadness, feel hopeless, or don’t care about life, you’re probably not going to care about doing a good job at work, doing well in school, getting together with friends, doing your taxes, or taking care of your body. If you’re depressed, you’re probably procrastinating on something (maybe a lot of things) important to you. It feels impossible to drag yourself out for a walk; it’s overwhelming to sort through boxes when you barely have the energy to brush your teeth. It seems pointless to work hard for a promotion if the future looks bleak and empty. And why would you even think about calling a friend if you’re convinced nobody cares about you?
We now know there are strong biological underpinnings for depression, especially if it is the downward swing of bipolar disorder. While there is no single approach that works for everyone, treating this life-draining experience is not only possible but critically important. Although most episodes of depression will get better over time, being depressed leaves you at gre
ater risk for more depression in the future.28 And depression can be very costly indeed: depression, along with the procrastination that may accompany it, affects not only your feelings about yourself but your job or school performance, your physical health, your financial well-being, and your relationships.
Depression has biological, psychological, and environmental facets. There may be situational triggers to depression—for example, a significant loss, difficulties in a relationship, or a major life change, such as moving, children leaving home, or retirement. It is normal to grieve losses, feeling sad or empty for a time. But normal grief doesn’t bring the self-hatred or the pessimism about self, world, and future that come with depression.
With symptoms of depression, people often have a chemical imbalance in the brain of the neurotransmitters serotonin or dopamine, and medication can be useful in restoring the balance. If depression is one side of bipolar disorder, mood stabilizing medications are essential. Beyond the issue of a potential chemical imbalance, however, is the more disturbing evidence that depression can permanently alter some structures of the brain, such as the hippocampus, and that the longer and more severe the depression, the greater the damage to individual neurons as well as larger structures.29
Many studies have shown that the best treatment for chronic depression is a combination of medication and talk therapy, and the more chronic the depression, the more important it is to continue both medication and therapy.30 Regular, moderate aerobic exercise has been shown to reduce depression,31 but it’s hard to get yourself moving when all you want to do is sleep. You may have to treat your depression in order to have the energy and the hopefulness to take the steps necessary to end procrastination.
If your procrastination takes the form of feeling sluggish, lethargic, and unable to motivate yourself to get going during winter months, you may suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD).32 People with SAD typically describe feelings of wanting to go into hibernation as the days shorten and darkness surrounds them. Rather than feeling sad, they feel fatigued. They lose energy, have trouble waking up in the morning, and want to withdraw from the world. They cancel social activities and hide out in their offices so they don’t have to talk to anyone. They often crave carbohydrates, yet have trouble getting themselves to exercise, and so gain weight each winter. They have trouble thinking or being creative. Endeavors that seem easy in the summer seem impossible during the winter, so the list of undone tasks can spiral out of control. Then spring comes along—moods lighten, motivation and energy return, engagement with friends resumes, creativity comes alive, and procrastination is a distant memory—at least until the following fall.
Students, even in primary grades, can suffer from SAD. They may start the school year full of energy, enthusiasm, and motivation, but by December, to the puzzlement of everyone, they have trouble just getting out of bed in the morning and their performance plunges. Students who procrastinate should take a close look at any seasonal variations in their performance. Typically, more than a dozen winter depressions have come and gone before a patient is correctly diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder.33
The reduction of environmental light as the days shorten is a primary factor in SAD; the duration of symptoms tends to vary with geographic latitude with people farther away from the equator experiencing longer periods of fatigue than those who live at lower latitudes. Blood serotonin levels have been found to vary with the amount of sunlight on the day the blood sample was taken,34 supporting the observation that medications that increase serotonin often improve the symptoms of SAD. Researchers have also found that SAD tends to run in families, so there appears to be a significant genetic component to the condition.35
ANXIETY DISORDERS
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) can contribute to procrastination: while people with OCD are making lists of pros and cons or checking that the stove is turned off, nothing else is getting accomplished. They repeat thoughts and behaviors because their brains are stuck in a process it can’t stop. Normally, one part of the brain worries about mistakes (orbital frontal cortex), one part responds with heightened anxiety that something bad is going to happen unless they do something to prevent it (cingulate gyrus), and one part shifts gears when the crisis is over (caudate nucleus).36 In people with OCD, the signal that the crisis is over doesn’t happen, leading to a state Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz at UCLA calls “brain lock.”37 The brain does not change gears automatically, so the gears must be changed consciously to break the loop of endless thoughts or behaviors. For example, one could break the anxious thoughts by instead thinking: “The stove is off; the real problem is that I’m having an OCD attack.” Engaging in a pleasurable activity (but not for too long!) or taking a step toward your goal can interrupt brain lock.
You don’t have to have OCD to experience brain lock. Procrastinators can be so anxious about making mistakes that they become paralyzed. When we were writing the first edition of this book, Jane was stuck right at the beginning. She could not make progress with the first chapter she tackled, “Fear of Success.” (Irony noted. . . . ) She devised an outline, but when she tried to write, she could not get past the first paragraph. Overwhelmed and frustrated, she lamented to Lenora, “How am I going to explain fear of success to America?” Lenora had the brilliant idea (which Jane strongly resisted at first) of beginning with a chapter that would be easier to write, one that would not have the emotional charge carried by “Fear of Success.” So Jane began working on the chapter dealing with setting behavioral goals and found that she could think clearly and write more easily.
Clutter and Hoarding
While most of us probably have more clutter than we would like, some people procrastinate so much on clearing it out that their quality of life is compromised significantly. During one of our first radio talk shows in New York City, a caller asked for help: he couldn’t bring himself to throw out even a single issue of the six years’ worth of the New York Times that was stacked floor to ceiling in his apartment. He and other clutter procrastinators often harp on themselves for not getting rid of things that have accumulated for years; they may be hounded by spouses who are tired of being surrounded by mountains of stuff; they may be isolated because they wouldn’t dream of allowing visitors into their homes. Because it is so difficult to make decisions about what to keep and what to discard, they put off cleaning out. Everything must be kept “just in case.”38 As Neziroglu and her colleagues note:Indecisiveness + Fear of Making a Mistake = Clutter39
Even though it may be embarrassing or feel overwhelming to live with so much “stuff,” the anxiety and discomfort of dealing with it feels worse—hence, “I’ll do it later.”
When clutter expands to fill every nook and cranny so that you can’t walk across the room in a (mostly) straight line, and you still can’t bring yourself to throw things away, you may have graduated from clutter to hoarding. If so, you’re not alone; there are an estimated one million compulsive hoarders in the United States40 and many millions more who have hoarding tendencies. Hoarding and saving are known to run in families (a chromosomal marker has been found), and there appears to be a “different pattern of cerebral glucose metabolism” in hoarders than in people in general who don’t hoard or in OCD patients who do not hoard.41
So, if you save, accumulate, hoard, and put off throwing things away, know that you will need to work hard to create new brain pathways to compete with these powerfully entrenched circuits. If you even think about sorting or throwing things out, the familiar circuits will warn you: “Don’t do it! You might need it. . . . You may never find another one. . . . It could be worth a lot of money someday. . . . It belonged to my grandmother!” Remember that the reasons you give yourself for holding onto your stuff are a form of brain lock and that it’s important for you to find a way to shift your mental gears—get a fun friend to sort through things with you, put on your favorite music and dance your way to the wastebasket, or remind yours
elf that you can find any information you really want on the Internet, so you don’t need to hold onto those old magazines or newspapers for those articles you hope to read “someday.”
THE EFFECTS OF STRESS
Most procrastinators know that putting things off can be very stressful: you worry about what there is to do, yet don’t do it; when you finally gear up to meet a deadline, the intensity of the last-minute push stresses you out even more. Chronic procrastination can mean chronic stress, which is not good for your brain or your body.
The stress response, known as the “fight-or-flight” response, is an important biological mechanism designed to protect us from danger; it mobilizes us to react quickly when our survival is threatened, just as the zebra runs to safety when a lion approaches on the savannah .42 One part of the brain, the hypothalamus, triggers an alarm system, increasing heart rate, raising blood pressure, providing energy, and shooting the hormones adrenaline and cortisol throughout the body. Our bodies need time to recover from the intensity of this self-protective spurt of energy; we all need a chance to return to a state of rest, in much the same way that a good night’s sleep helps us recover from the activity of one day and prepares us for the next.