Procrastination

by Jane B. Burka

  INSTEAD: “I don’t have to answer the phone while I’m working. I’ll listen to the message and call back later when I’ve finished.”

  10. Watch for your excuses. Instead of using your excuse as an automatic reason to procrastinate, use it as a signal to spend just fifteen minutes on your task. Or use your excuse as a reward for taking a step.NOT: “I’m tired (depressed/hungry/busy/confused, etc.), so I’ll do it later.”

  INSTEAD: “I’m tired, so I’ll just spend fifteen minutes working on my report. Then I’ll take a nap.”

  11. Reward your progress along the way. Focus on effort, not on outcome. Watch out for all-or-nothing thinking: the cup can be half-full just as well as half-empty.Remember, even a small step is progress!

  NOT: “I can’t feel good until I’ve completely finished.”

  INSTEAD: “I took some steps and I’ve worked hard. That feels good. Now I’m going to watch a movie.”

  12. Use your procrastination as a signal. Stop and ask yourself: “What message is my procrastination sending me?”NOT: “I’m procrastinating again and I hate myself.”

  INSTEAD: “I’m procrastinating again: What am I feeling? What does this mean? What can I learn?”

  Remember: YOU HAVE A CHOICE. YOU CAN DELAY OR YOU CAN ACT.

  You can act, even though you are uncomfortable.

  The legacy of the past does not have to control what you do in the present.

  You can take pleasure in learning, growing, and challenging yourself.

  You do not have to be perfect to be of value.

  APPENDIX C

  Notes and Sources

  A NOTE TO OUR READERS

  1 Steel, P. (2007). The nature of procrastination: A meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure. Psychological Bulletin, 133(1), 65-94.

  2 Steel, op. cit.

  PART ONE. UNDERSTANDING PROCRASTINATION

  1 Meissner, W. (2007). Time, self, and psychoanalysis. New York: Jason Aronson.

  2 Doidge, N. (2007). The brain that changes itself. New York: Penguin.

  1. PROCRASTINATION: NUISANCE OR NEMESIS?

  1 The new shorter oxford English dictionary (Vols. 1-2) (1973/1993). Oxford, England: Clarendon Press.

  2 Ferrari, J. R., Johnson, J. L., & McCown, W. G. (1995). Procrastination and task avoidance: Theory, research, and treatment. New York: Plenum Press, p. 4.

  3 Johnson, S. (1751). Rambler 134. Retrieved February 21, 2007, from www.samueljohnson.com/ram134.html.

  4 “Morning Edition—Last word in business.” National Public Radio report July 21, 2008.

  5 Steel, P. (2007). The nature of procrastination: A meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure. Psychological Bulletin, 133(1), 65-94.

  6 Ferrari, J. R. (2004). Trait procrastination in academic settings: An overview of students who engage in task delays. In H. C. Schouwenburg, C. H. Lay, T. A. Pychyl, & J. R. Ferrari (Eds.) (2004), Counseling the procrastinator in academic settings (pp. 19-27). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, p. 23.

  7 Steel (2007), op. cit.

  8 Steel (2007), op. cit., p. 77.

  2. FEAR OF FAILURE:

  THE PROCRASTINATOR ON TRIAL

  1 Frost, R. O., Heimberg, R. G., Holt, C. S., Mattia, J. L., & Neubauer, A. L. (1993). A comparison of two measures of perfectionism. Personality and Individual Differences, 14, 119-128.

  2 Slaney, R. B., Rice, K. G., & Ashby, J. S. (2002). A programmatic approach to measuring perfectionism: The Almost Perfect Scales. In G. L. Flett, & P. L. Hewitt (Eds.) (2002), Perfectionism: theory, research, and treatment (pp. 63-88). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

  3 Slaney, Rice, & Ashby (2002), op. cit.

  4 Rice, K. G., & Ashby, J. S. (2007). An efficient method for classifying perfectionists. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 54(1), 72-85.

  5 Burns, D. (1980). The perfectionist’s script for self-defeat. Psychology Today; Burns, D. (1980/1999). Feeling good: The new mood therapy. New York: Avon Books.

  6 Slaney, R. B., Rice, K. G., & Ashby, J. S. (2002), op. cit.

  7 Jones, E. E., & Berglas, S. (1978). Control of attributions about the self through self-handicapping strategies: The appeal of alcohol and the role of under achievement. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 4, 200-206; Lay, C. H., Knish, S., & Zanatta, R. (1992). Self-handicappers and procrastinators: A comparison of their practice behavior prior to an evaluation. Journal of Research in Personality, 26, 242-257; Ferrari, J. R., & Tice, D. M. (2000). Procrastination as a self-handicap for men and women: A task-avoidance strategy in a laboratory setting. Journal of Research in Personality, 34, 73-83.

  8 Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York: Random House.

  9 Ibid., p. 40.

  10 Ibid., p. 16.

  11 Sarton, M. (1987/1993). At seventy. New York: W.W. Norton, p. 10.

  3. FEAR OF SUCCESS:

  HELLO PROCRASTINATION, GOOD-BYE SUCCESS

  1 Lay, C. H. (2004). Some basic elements in counseling procrastinators. In H. C. Schouwenburg, C. H. Lay, T. A. Pychyl, & J. R. Ferrari (Eds.) (2004), Counseling the procrastinator in academic settings (pp. 43-58). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, p. 45.

  2 Freud, S. (1914). Those wrecked by success. The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. XIV (1914-1916): On the history of the psycho-analytic movement, papers on metapsychology and other works. (pp. 316-331). London: The Hogarth Press.

  3 Kolodny, S. (2000). The captive muse. Madison, CT: Psychosocial Press, pp. 80-81.

  4 Fisch, R., Weakland J., & Segal, L. (1982). The tactics of change: Doing therapy briefly. San Fransicso: Josey-Bass.

  5 Balint, M. (1968/1992). The basic fault: Therapeutic aspects of regression. London: Tavistock Publications.

  6 Improving education for immigrant students: A guide for K-12 educators in the Northwest and Alaska. (2001). Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, p. 29. Retrieved on May 21, 2008, from www.nwrel.org/cnorse/booklets/immigration/4.html

  6. DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME (IT) IS?

  1 Meissner, W. (2007). Time, self, and psychoanalysis. New York: Jason Aronson.

  2 Griffith, J. (1999/2004). A sideways look at time. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin.

  3 Zimbardo, P., & Boyd, J. (2008). The time paradox: the new psychology of time that will change your life. New York: Free Press.

  4 National Institute of Mental Health. (2007). Cell networking keeps brain’s master clock ticking. Retrieved May 25, 2007, from www.NIMH.NIH.gov/science-news/2007.

  5 Sato, F., Kawamoto, T., Fujimoto, K., Noshiro, M., Honda, K. K., Honma, S., et al. (2004). Functional analysis of the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor DEC1 in circadian regulation. Interaction with BMAL1. European Journal of Biochemistry, 271, 4409-4419. Retrieved February 18, 2008, from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15560782?dopt=Abstract.

  6 Van Wassehnhove, V., Buonomany, D. V., Shimojo, S., & Shams, L. (2008). Distortions of subjective time perception within and across senses. Retrieved February 19, 2007, from www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F101371%2Fjournal.pone.0001437.

  7 Meaux, J., & Chelonis, J. (2003). Time perception differences in children with and without ADHD. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 17(2), 64-71.

  8 Zimbardo, P., & Boyd, J. (2008), op. cit.

  9 Akerlof, G. (1991). Procrastination and obedience. American Economic Review, 81(2), 1-19.

  10 Ibid.; Joireman, J., Strathman, A., & Balliet, D. (2006). Considering future consequences: An integrative model. In L. J. Sanna, & E. C. Chang (2006), Judgments over time: The interplay of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

  11 University of Cincinnati. (2002). E-briefing, “A timely look at time.” Dec 20. Retrieved May 25, 2008, from www.uc.edu/news/ebriefs/time02.htm.

  12 Rousseau, G., & Venter, D. (2004). Measuring time perception in a cross cultural environment. R
etrieved May 25, 2008, from http://smib.vuw.ac.nz:8081/.

  13 Lombardi, R. (2003). Knowledge and experience of time in primitive mental states. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 84, 1531-1549.

  14 Our timeline is drawn from Calvin Colarusso’s series of articles about the development of a time sense in different life stages. The summary article is Colarusso, C. (1998). The development of time sense: In late adolescence and throughout the life cycle. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 53, 113-140.

  15 Priel, B. (1997). Time and self: On the intersubjective construction of time. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 7, 431-450.

  16 Hagglund, T. (2001). Timelessness as a positive and negative experience. The Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review, 24, 83-92.

  17 Griffith, J. (1999/2004), op. cit.

  18 Bion, W. R. (1965). Transformations: Change from learning to growth. London: Heinemann.

  19 Priel, B. (1997), op. cit.

  20 Maroda, K. (1987). The fate of the narcissistic personality: Lost in time. Psychoanalytic Psychology. 4, 279-290.

  21 Loewald, H. (1972). The experience of time. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 27, 401-410.

  22 Atwood, M. (2000). The blind assassin: A novel. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.

  23 Colarusso, C. (1998), op. cit.

  7. CURRENT NEUROSCIENCE: THE BIG IDEAS

  1 Doidge, N. (2007). The brain that changes itself. New York: Viking; Restak, R. (2003). The new brain: How the modern age is rewiring your mind. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press.

  2 Ibid.

  3 Restak, R. (2003), op. cit.

  4 Diamond, M., & Hopson, J. (1998). Magic trees of the mind: How to nurture your child’s intelligence, creativity and healthy emotions. New York: Penguin; Doidge, N. (2007), op. cit.; Restak, R. (2003), op. cit.

  5 Doidge, N. (2007), op. cit., p. 223.

  6 Ibid., p. 242.

  7 Pascual-Leone, quoted in Doidge (2007), op. cit., p. 209.

  8 Ibid., p. 242. Italics original.

  9 Damasio, A. (1999). The feeling of what happens. New York: Harcourt, Inc.

  10 Damasio, A. (1999), op. cit.

  11 Ibid.

  12 LeDoux, J. (1996). The emotional brain. New York: Simon & Schuster, p. 267.

  13 Solms, M., & Turnbull, O. (2002). The brain and the inner world, p. 79. Italics original.

  14 Cozolino, L. (2006). The neuroscience of human relationships. New York: W. W. Norton, p. 133; Doidge, N. (2007), op. cit.; LeDoux, J. (1996), op. cit.; Solms, M., & Turnbull, O. (2002), op. cit.

  15 Cozolino, L. (2006), op. cit.

  16 LeDoux, J. (1996), op. cit., p. 250-252; Solms, M., & Turnbull, O. (2002), op cit., p. 134-135.

  17 Cozolino, L. (2006), op. cit.; Le Doux, J. (1996), op. cit.; Solms, M., & Turnbull, O. (2002), op. cit.

  18 LeDoux, J. (1996), op cit., p. 181-182; Solms, M., & Turnbull, O. (2002), op cit., p. 164.

  19 Cozolino, L. (2006), op. cit., p. 317-319; LeDoux, J. (1996), op cit., p. 265.

  20 Freud, S. (1923). The ego and the id. The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. XIX (1923-1925): The ego and the id and other works, pp. 1-66.

  21 Doidge, N. (2007), op. cit., p. 232, 235.

  22 Goldin, P., McRae, K., Ramel, W., & Gross, J. (2008). The neural bases of emotion regulation: Reappraisal and suppression of negative emotion. Biological Psychiatry, 63(6), 577-586.

  23 Cozolino, L. (2006), op. cit.

  24 Bion, W. (1959). Attacks on linking. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 40, 308-315.

  25 Gross, J. (2001). Emotional regulation in adulthood: Timing is everything. Current Directions in Psychological Neuroscience, 10, 214-219; Ray, R., Ochsner, K., Cooper, J., Robertson, E., Gabrieli, J., & Gross, J. (2005). Individual differences in trait rumination and the neural systems supporting cognitive reappraisal. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 5(2), 156-168.

  26 Goldin et al. (2008), op. cit.

  27 Schwartz, J. (1996). Brain lock: Free yourself from obsessive-compulsive disorder. New York: Harper Collins.

  28 Solms, M., & Turnbull, O. (2002), op. cit., p. 137.

  29 Kandel, E. (2006). In search of memory. New York: W. W. Norton.

  30 Winnicott, D. W. (1974). Fear of breakdown. International Review of Psycho-Analysis, 1, 103-107.

  31 Cozolino, L. (2006), op. cit.

  32 Kandel, E. (2006), op. cit.; Solms, M., & Turnbull, O. (2002), op. cit.

  33 Cozolino, L. (2006), op. cit.

  34 Ibid.

  35 Sapolsky, R. (1992) Stress, the aging brain, and the mechanisms of neuronal death. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

  36 Cozolino, L. (2006), op. cit.; Solms, M., & Turnbull, O. (2002), op. cit.

  37 Cozolino, L. (2006), op. cit.

  38 Steel, P. (2007). The nature of procrastination: A meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure. Psychological Bulletin. 133(1), 65-94.

  39 Keltner, D. (2007). “Understanding Social Intelligence” conference presentation, sponsored by the Institute for Brain Potential, in Palo Alto, California, Oct. 26, 2007.

  40 Cozolino, L. (2006), op. cit.

  41 Iacoboni, M., Woods, R., Brass, M., Bekkering, H., Mazziotta, J., & Rizzolatti, G. (1999). Cortical mechanisms of human imitation. Science, 286, 2526-2528; Ramachandran, V. S. (2000). Mirror neurons and imitation learning as the driving force behind “the great leap forward” in human evolution, Edge no. 69, May 29; Rizzolatti, G., Fadiga, L., Gallese, V., & Fogassi, L. (1996). Premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions. Cognitive Brain Research, 3, 131-141; University of California-Los Angeles (2005, February 25). UCLA Neuroscientists Pinpoint New Function for Mirror Neurons. Science Daily. Retrieved August 28, 2008, from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/02/050223163142.htm.

  42 Emde, R. (1988). Development terminable and interminable: I. Innate and motivational factors from infancy. International Journal of Psychoanalysis , 69, 23-42, quoted in L. Cozolino (2006), op. cit., p. 85. Italics original.

  43 Cozolino, L. (2006), op. cit., p. 14.

  44 Ibid.

  45 Siegel, D. (2007). The mindful brain: reflection and attunement in the cultivation of well-being. New York: W. W. Norton.

  46 Davidson, R. J. (2004). Well-being and affective style: Neural substrates and biobehavioural correlates. Philosophical Transactions Royal Society London, B, 359, 1395-1411.

  47 Davidson, R. J. (2000). Affective style, psychopathology, and resilience: Brain mechanisms and plasticity. American Psychologist, 1196-1214; Siegel, D. (2007), op. cit.

  48 Cozolino, L. (2006), op. cit.

  49 Ibid.

  50 Ibid.

  51 Davidson, R. J. (2004), op. cit.; Siegel, D. (2007), op. cit.

  52 Siegel, D. (2007), op. cit.

  53 Ibid., p. 78.

  8. PROCRASTINATION AND YOUR BRAIN

  1 Goldberg, E. (2001). The executive brain. New York: Oxford University Press.

  2 Dawson, P., & Guare, R. (2004). Executive skills in children and adolescents . New York: Guilford Press; Goldberg, E. (2001), op. cit.

  3 Packer, L. Retrieved Jan 18, 2008, from www.tourettesyndrome.net/ef.htm.

  4 Barkley, R., Murphy, K., & Fischer, M. (2008). ADHD in adults: What the science says. New York: Guilford Press; Dawson, P., & Guare, R. (2004), op. cit.

  5 Anderson, P. (2002). Assessment and development of executive function during childhood, Child Neuropsychology. 8(2), 71-82.

  6 Dawson, P., & Guare, R. (2004), op. cit.; Gioia, G. A., Isquith, P. K., Guy, S. C., & Kenworthy, L. (2000). Behavior rating inventory of executive function. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources; Packer, L. Retrieved Jan 18, 2008, from www.tourettesyndrome.net/ef.htm.

  7 Faraone, S. (2007). Neurobiology and genetics of ADHD: An expert interview with Stephen V. Faraone, Ph.D. Retrieved Sept. 25, 2008 from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/557612; Surman, C. (2008). ADD in adults: not just a childhood disorder. Conference presentation, sponsored by Shi
re Pharmaceuticals, San Francisco, CA, Sept. 20, 2008.

  8 Barkley, R. (2000). Taking charge of ADHD. New York: Guilford Press; Barkley, R., et al. (2008), op. cit.; Hallowell, E., & Ratey, J. (1995), Driven to distraction: recognizing and coping with attention deficit disorder in childhood through adulthood. New York: Simon and Schuster; Hallowell, E., & Ratey, J. (2005). Delivered from distraction: Getting the most out of life with attention deficit disorder. New York: Ballantine; Sarkis, S. M. (2006). 10 simple solutions to adult ADD: How to overcome chronic distraction and accomplish your goals. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.