The Procrastination Doom Loop– and How to Break It
Six takeaways:
- It is easy for productive people to confuse “reasonable delay” (“I’ll respond to this email when I have more time to write it”), which is reasonable and can be useful– vs actual procrastination (“I have time to do this but don’t feel like doing this right now.. I’ll do it later”) which can be an avoidable act of self-sabotage.
- New research on procrastination says that it happens for two basic reasons: 1) we delay action because we feel we are in the wrong mood to complete a task, and 2) We assume that that mood or condition will change in the near future. That a better, more fitting time to complete the task will soon arrive: “If I take a nap now, I’ll have more focus later.”
- This is where “The Procrastination Doom Loop” begins. Putting off an important task makes us feel anxious, guilty, and even ashamed. This anxiety, guilt, and shame make us less likely to have the emotional and cognitive energy to be productive. That makes us even less likely to begin the task, which in turn creates more guilt. The loop continues from there.
- One common procrastination cure is the use of deadlines, but studies show that self-imposed deadlines are incredibly weak barriers to procrastination and can only worsen the Doom Loop. Deadlines imposed by others (work, friends) are far more powerful.
- Procrastinators are more likely to complete a piece of work if they’re persuaded that it’s not actually work. In one study, students were asked to complete a puzzle, but first given a few minutes to play Tetris. To Group A, the researchers described the puzzle as a ‘cognitive evaluation.’ To Group B, they referred to the puzzle as a game. Procrastinators took far longer with their Tetris Games when the puzzle was referred to as an evaluation, rather than a game.
- See this graphic for a visual of the “Procrastination Doom Loop”:
From Derek Thompson at The Atlantic:
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