Procrastination: The pause that doesn't refresh

Think about that one pretty important task you’re putting off right now. Perhaps it’s a phone call to a difficult parent. Or a term paper due in two days. Or a doctor’s appointment you’d schedule this afternoon, if you weren’t suffering from [“errand paralysis.”]( As that chore, whatever is, emerges from a dark corner of your psyche, you’ll probably notice one of a few sensations in your body. Maybe a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach, tightness in the chest, or a reflexive urge to flee. Good. You’re perfectly primed to embrace this diversion, a fun deep-dive on the human hang-up that must be as old as our sense of duty itself. It may seem trivial, but understanding procrastination’s connection to the clutter on your desk, the connections in your brain, or the regrets you may harbor for years, is the only way to subvert its potentially devastating hold on your life. So let’s do this. Seriously. Pronto. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Obsession] Procrastination May 10, 2019 Why wait, indeed --------------------------------------------------------------- Think about that one pretty important task you’re putting off right now. Perhaps it’s a phone call to a difficult parent. Or a term paper due in two days. Or a doctor’s appointment you’d schedule this afternoon, if you weren’t suffering from [“errand paralysis.”]( As that chore, whatever is, emerges from a dark corner of your psyche, you’ll probably notice one of a few sensations in your body. Maybe a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach, tightness in the chest, or a reflexive urge to flee. Good. You’re perfectly primed to embrace this diversion, a fun deep-dive on the human hang-up that must be as old as our sense of duty itself. It may seem trivial, but understanding procrastination’s connection to the clutter on your desk, the connections in your brain, or the regrets you may harbor for years, is the only way to subvert its potentially devastating hold on your life. So let’s do this. Seriously. Pronto. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Giphy By the digits [6:]( Types of procrastination identified in a dissertation by a graduate student at Carleton University in Ottawa in 2014 [45%:]( Share of workers who said “cyberloafing” is their main form of distraction at work in a 2017 study [2.09:]( Hours workers said they spent surfing the web for personal reasons [5:]( Minutes it takes to complete Instagram founder Kevin Systrom’s procrastination-beating exercise [80-95%:]( Share of college students found to be procrastinators in a 2007 meta-analysis [32%:]( Share of college students whose procrastination habits were found to be severe and life-disrupting in a 2000 study [20%:]( Share of people prone to excessive procrastination in every country that Joseph Ferrari, professor of psychology at DePaul University, has studied Explain it like I’m 5! Know your foe --------------------------------------------------------------- The reasons we procrastinate vary, but not by much. Procrastination is really about emotional regulation. Thinking about the “why” in your procrastination can show you how to deal with it. Psychologists have found that people often push off projects [out of a fear]( that the final product—their book, painting, even a eulogy—will not be perfect. Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, who coined the term “growth mindset,” would suggest [you need to reconsider what it means to be talented:]( the imperfections you’ll inevitably encounter are training. (The opposite is a “fixed mindset,” in which the imperfection is a sign you’re not good enough.) Less profoundly, we’re often seeking quick satisfaction—what Tim Urban calls the [Instant Gratification Monkey]( a quick internet search for the etymology of “later.” As it turns out, “late” is related to the Latin “lassus” or “weary.” Which could be [yet another cause]( the fatigue from the stress of a major life event may cause a slowdown that looks like procrastination. So too can the sense of overwhelm people feel if they [put off decluttering their environment](. Their well-being usually suffers, leading to more procrastination, a pattern that worsens with age. Where were we? Either way, do something, because the risk of being caught in the [procrastination “doom loop” is real.]( “Putting off an important task makes us feel anxious, guilty, and even ashamed,” Derek Thompson writes at the Atlantic. “That makes us even less likely to begin the task in the first place. Which makes us feel guilty. Which makes us less productive. And around we go.” Unsplash/Roman Kraft Brief history [2000 BC:]( Procrastination is personified in a Zoroastrian demon known for “threatening to overcome the whole material world with her evil lethargy at break of day.” [1400 BC:]( An Egyptian hieroglyph contains this request: “Friend, stop putting off work and allow us to go home in good time.” [700 BC:]( Hesiod calls out his mooch brother in the poem “Works and Days”: “Do not put your work off till to-morrow and the day after; for a sluggish worker does not fill his barn, nor one who puts off his work…” [1387 AD:]( In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, Dame Prudence advises “…the goodness you may do this day, do it; and delay it not until the morrow.” [1894:]( first known cat video is made. [1900s:]( Colette, the 20th-century French writer, puts off writing every day by picking fleas off of her cat (some accounts say it was [her bulldog, Souci](. Quotable “Procrastination and mourning are tied tightly together: for to procrastinate is to mourn the precariousness of your creation even before you bring it into the world.” —[Costica Bradatan, American philosopher]( Giphy Million-dollar question Does procrastination fuel creativity? --------------------------------------------------------------- If it does, then it’s probably not procrastination. Most academics agree that procrastination is about putting off something even when you know that’s harmful. But taking time to stroll, sort your pencils, or even nap may be necessary, since unstructured time allows the mind to solve problems and make random connections that don’t flow freely when you’re in a focused state. Doing so because you need to—and know you need to—is what Tim Pychyl, a psychology professor and director of the [Procrastination Research Group]( at Carleton University, calls “purposeful delay.” Or, as he [tells Quartz at Work]( “this important job called ‘thinking.’” Giphy Pop quiz Which personality trait is a procrastinator likely to possess? GenerosityCreativityAgreeablenessImpatience Correct. A University of Chicago study found evidence of the long-suspected link in a 2015 study. Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. Have a friend who would enjoy our Obsession with Procrastination? [ [Forward link to a friend](mailto:?subject=Thought you'd enjoy.&body=Read this Quartz Obsession email – to the email – Watch this! What kind of procrastination newsletter would this be if it didn’t offer you a diversion? This one—an iconic work of [“Slow TV]( the antidote to YouTube clip bingeing. Cheat Sheet A concise guide to popular anti-procrastination hacks --------------------------------------------------------------- Self-help books, apps, and videos that will teach you how to stop procrastinating tend to draw from the same few techniques. Here’s a quick summary of the most repeated ideas. Tiny steps (AKA [the five-minute rule]( Take a micro-step toward the thing you’re supposed to accomplish, like writing one sentence of an email you’re avoiding. The rest may flow. Lean on a friend: “Virtual co-worker” [apps like Focusmate]( randomly connect you with a fellow freelancer with whom you share your to-do list for the next hour during a video call. At the end of your session, check in to see what was done. The offline version of this technique is called [“bookending.”]( Guided visualization: [Spend several minutes vividly imagining]( consequences of procrastinating. Pomodoro technique: Work in [manageable 25-minute chunks of time]( using a pomodoro or “tomato timer” countdown app. If necessary, take five-minute reward breaks. Structured procrastination: If you have something important to do, re-evaluate stuff lower on your list as more important. You’ll end up doing the first thing soon enough by procrastinating on the stuff you reprioritized. (Yes, it’s a mind game; it was [invented by a philosopher]( Therapy: If it’s serious, consider talking to a psychoanalyst about the root causes, or work with a behavioral therapist to retrain your habits and [uncover hidden blockages](. Reuters/Jose Luis Gonzalez The future you Avoid cool emotions --------------------------------------------------------------- Deadlines can help a chronic procrastinator. But not all goals are deadline-friendly, especially those connected to your vision of your “ideal” self. These may involve personal projects like learning a language or writing a screenplay—or they could be others-focused, like making a trip with a close friend. Serious procrastinators should build a strategy for these, because left undone, they could haunt you for a lifetime, as Columbia University psychologist Shai Davidai and Cornell psychologist Tom Gilovich [found in a recent study](. Regrets connected to obligations, or your “ought” self, trigger hot emotions like shame, they theorize. That in turn spurs reparative work, which allows us to deal with our missteps and learn lessons. They are seen “as potholes on the road,” [according to Gilovich.]( “Those were problems, but now they’re behind you.” But a dream left undone generates cool emotions, like sadness, which linger. “It’s a cold emotion. It doesn’t burn from the inside in the same way that guilt and shame does,” Davidai told Quartz at Work, but “20 years of this cold emotion can become really painful.” Fun fact! In 2018, [neuroscientists found a correlation]( between procrastination and a particular neural signature: Compared to people who are more proactive, habitual procrastinators were more likely to have a larger amygdala, which processes emotion and controls motivation, and weaker ties between the amygdala and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (DACC), which regulates competing impulses and emotions. But the brain is plastic—habits over time, or practices like meditation, could change its structure. Reuters/Stringer Poll What are you most likely to do when you procrastinate? [Click here to vote]( Scroll mindlessly on Twitter, Instagram, or otherShop or run “urgent” errandsClean, declutter, then set up your desk “just so”Take a short long nap 💬let's talk! In yesterday’s poll about [pizza boxes]( just 18% of you think the round pizza box has merit. 📧 Maíra writes: “The typical pizza boxes in Brazil are not squared.” (The aforementioned Scott Wiener has some photos—not only are there lots of round or octagonal boxes, some have die-cut pieces that can be removed and [assembled into figures like a dinosaur or plane]( 🤔 [What did you think of today’s email?](mailto:obsession%2Bfeedback@qz.com?cc=&subject=Thoughts%20about%20procrastination&body=) 💡 [What should we obsess over next?](mailto:obsession%2Bideas@qz.com?cc=&subject=Obsess%20over%20this%20next.&body=) 🎲 [Show me a random Obsession]( Today’s email was written by [Lila MacLellan]( edited by [Whet Moser]( and produced by [Luiz Romero](. The correct answer to the quiz is Impatience. Enjoying the Quartz Obsession? [Send this link]( to a friend! 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