<aside> đź“Ś Throughout our years of schooling and work, the amount and complexity of our tasks increase rapidly, but our will to do them seems to decrease just as quickly. Procrastination is unhealthy, but why is it so unhealthy, and more importantly, how do we stop? This article will explore just that.
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Procrastination is like a drug: damaging but addicting. We end up spending more time dreading the task than actually finishing it. We complain up until the final moments before we are forced to enter a period of non-stop, stressful, sleepless work where we scramble to get the work done. During this time, we are much more careless than normal, and we end up far more exhausted than if we started on time. Because we’re so exhausted, we spend time to recover while more work piles up. Then, we put off the work till the last minute again. This begins a vicious cycle of procrastinating where we are always playing catch up, finishing everything with seconds to spare.
So how do we stop procrastinating? The simple way to stop procrastinating is to stop doing tasks you dislike. Obviously, this isn't possible most of the time, so let’s discuss how to power through undesirable tasks forced upon you.
We typically procrastinate because we lack the willpower to force ourselves to accomplish the task.
To increase our willpower, we first have to understand it.
The famous chocolate and radish experiment made a compelling discovery about willpower.
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In 1998, Roy Baumeister devised an experiment where participants were asked to skip their last meal. They were split into three groups and asked to fill out a questionnaire and wait for 15 minutes. One group filled out the questionnaire in a room with freshly baked chocolate cookies and radishes. They were told they could only eat the radishes. A second group answered it in a room with cookies and radishes and were told they could only eat the cookies. The third group filled out the questionnaire in a room without either of these. All three groups were then taken to attempt an impossible problem. The second and third groups attempted it for an average of around 19 minutes each, but the second group only persevered for an average of around 8 minutes each.
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Why was the first group so eager to capitulate? Because they had to waste willpower to withstand the temptation of eating a delicious snack for so long.
This experiment built the idea that willpower is a finite resource. It depletes and replenishes after certain activities. The more tasks requiring willpower, the less willpower you will have for each subsequent task.
To maximize the willpower we have to focus on important tasks, eliminate as many strains on willpower as possible.
Simple tasks like deciding what to eat for lunch or what to wear can use up precious willpower. Resisting temptation is another significant strain on willpower. If you are forced to resist the temptation to eat delicious food like the participants of the experiment, you will have much less energy to force yourself to finish your work.
The tasks requiring the most willpower should be placed at the beginning of your day.
At the beginning of the day, you have not experienced any strains on your willpower, so you have the most of it at the beginning of the day. The tasks you dread the most should be placed at the start, so you can move on with your day. If you place difficult tasks at the end of the day, you will end up dreading them the entire day. After a tiring day, you simply don’t have the energy to work on mind intensive tasks. At this point in the day, you want your schedule to be filled with the easiest, or most rote tasks so you can do them without much effort.
Although increasing willpower is an effective strategy, we only need willpower because of how easy it is to get distracted. Thus, dealing with distractions should be another aspect to focus on when trying to banish procrastination. Here are three methods of dealing with distractions:
Work in a less distracting location.
Because of the pandemic, many people found it is quite difficult to focus on work at home because our minds have correlated our house with relaxation. There are also a lot of easily accessible distractions at home. One way to abate this distraction is to physically move to a place where getting distracted is more difficult. Places like a library, café, or classroom have far fewer distractions in them, so it is much easier to focus. Even relocating to a new room (one you don’t relax in normally) could help reduce your distraction.
Embrace distraction with breaks.
Plan breaks into your schedule. During these breaks, fulfill as many impulses and desires as possible. When you are working, you will no longer need to force yourself to resist these temptations as they were already fulfilled. One suggestion could be taking a short (around 10 minute) break every hour and a longer (around 30 minute) every 3 hours although the timings will vary from person to person.
Chunk work to make focusing easier.
Chunking and scheduling your work is another way to help you finish your work in a timely manner. If your work is broken up into smaller tasks, you are not only more organized, but your brain is not as daunted by the task. The feeling of accomplishment will combat the desire to slack off. Thinking to yourself “just half an hour left” a few times versus “uhh, I still have to work for two more hours” makes a major difference in your desire to continue work.
<aside> 💡 Speaking of a change in thinking, changing your mindset is another key to beating procrastination. Don’t tell yourself that you have to do something by a certain date. Tell yourself you are choosing to do it. Try to find something enjoyable about this task, do it with your friends, or try to remember why you are doing it. If you believe you are in control, working will feel like much less of a chore, and it will be much easier to finish your work.
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