
Research into the reasons for procrastination and how to stop - DiabloD3
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/04/27/why-you-cant-help-read-this-article-about-procrastination-instead-of-doing-your-job/?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits
======
drb311
2 ways to deal with procrastination:

1\. Don't worry about it. We all procrastinate and most of the time it works
out OK. Our instincts know what they're doing.

2\. Break tough tasks down into very, very laughably small tasks. Don't even
worry about doing them. Once the first task in the list is small enough you'll
think "sod it" and do it right away.

If you try to improve your self control you will fail. Go with the grain --
either stop worrying, or find a chunk of the task so is tiny and easy that it
becomes instantly gratifying to do it.

~~~
domusliber
I didn't even click the article (the pain of reading it seemed too large) so I
came directly to the comments.

Awesome tips! "Our instincts know what they're doing" is very true. I tend to
procrastinate when two conditions are fulfilled 1) the task is boring/painful,
and 2) in the back of my mind, I've already calculated out the time and I can
afford to push it until later. Trying to force myself just increases my
expected pain of the task, so I should just go with it.

(And look, I'm procrastinating so much I made a HN account so I could comment
about procrastination!)

~~~
cylinder
Isn't procrastination a way of converting painfully boring tasks into fun
adrenaline rushes? It seems like a pretty good evolutionary adaption: I
perform better when all my senses are elevated, so why not?

Problem arises when you don't have a hard deadline (I.e., you are only
accountable to yourself).

~~~
tmrmn
>Isn't procrastination a way of converting painfully boring tasks into fun
adrenaline rushes?

must be one of my new favourite quotes. Thanks for this gem

------
abalone
That title sure promises a lot. I read all the way to the end and this is
their solution:

1\. Forgive yourself

2\. Ignore your feelings about whether you're in the mood to work on it

3\. Break it down into small steps

I would say #2 is easier said than done for an extreme procrastinator. But,
decent article. Sometimes it's good just to hear that change is possible.

I would add to it that once you adopt new patterns they can set in and make
productivity easier. It's sort of like drinking or other chronic problems..
It's rooted in your DNA and you do have to watch out for it creeping up on
you, but the more successful you are the easier it gets.

In my case, making really granular todo lists and then crossing things off
helped establish a rhythm. It showed me I could in fact accomplish a lot. It
does take time to make and prioritize the list, but good prioritization is
really important and totally worth it. Wunderlist helped a lot. Made it super
easy to add things, prioritize in free moments, and constantly check it and
"live by the list".

I would still let some high priority stuff live on top of the list for weeks
sometimes, but I could forgive myself for those lapses more readily because I
could see how overall better I was doing. And that vastly increased my chances
of eventually tackling those big scary tasks as opposed to spiraling into a
negative feedback loop.

As the article notes, it really is about emotional management. Todo lists
would be useless without structuring them in a way that lets you build up
emotional gratification and self confidence.

~~~
heimatau
I was thinking about this article and feel it 'clicked' for me. Especially
since HN had another article about procrastination recently [1]. I know
abalone is saying it's all about emotional management but...I feel the writer
of the article was confused since they quote 'you don't tell a depressed
person to be less apathetic' yet the author seems like they are encouraging
emotional management.

My big takeaway from this article and the last [1] is that two major ideas are
being seen in the research:

1\. Forgive yourself. 2\. Be kind to your future self.

#1 can be done with some mental tricks, if someone is having difficulty.
Namely, thinking about 'what if my friend did x [something i just did], what
would be my response to them'. This answer is generally positive and
procrastinators tend to be hard on themselves, so...looking at how we would
treat others would be a mental hack, for us to treat ourselves better.

#2 is where I feel something just 'clicked' for me just now. In some ways,
it's developing on the idea of 'a procrastinator would be nice to someone
else, so be nice to yourself'. Since this 'someone else' is your future you.

Self control, emotional regulation, yadda yadda. I think all of those can help
but don't help everyone. They didn't help me.

These two beliefs and mental hacks have given me insight to my behavior. I
hope the next time this issue comes up on HN, that we can have more research
into the procrastinator's disassociation between time and self. Because to me,
that's the problem, not self-control nor emotional regulation.

[1] -
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11541675](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11541675)

~~~
abalone
_> I feel the writer of the article was confused since they quote 'you don't
tell a depressed person to be less apathetic' yet the author seems like they
are encouraging emotional management_

Those are not in conflict. A clearer analogy would be, you don't tell an
alcoholic to just stop drinking. You focus on judgement-free emotional support
systems. You go to meetings, you get a chip for making it 24 hours sober, 1
month, etc.

I'm glad you didn't need something like that to overcoming procrastination.
But a lot of people don't need full-on Alcoholics Anonymous to get their
drinking in control either. Hardcore procrastinators probably need more.

~~~
heimatau
It again seems like you didn't read the article.

> [i]Tim Urban points out that the typical advice for procrastinators —
> essentially, to stop what they’re doing and get down to work, is ridiculous,
> because procrastination isn’t something that extreme procrastinators feel as
> though they can control.

> “While we’re here, let’s make sure obese people avoid overeating, depressed
> people avoid apathy, and someone please tell beached whales that they should
> avoid being out of the ocean,” Urban writes.[/i]

That's a direct quote from the article.

The research supports judgement-free internal thought life. Not support
systems. AA isn't a solid comparison but it's close. But apples to oranges
doesn't help when the problem is apples. Let's stay focused on what the
research says.

Also, I'd consider myself a hardcore procrastinator. My issue could be a
symptom of ADHD or something else but I fall in the 'hardcore' category. And
it's something that I still struggle with but 'sucking it up' or 'just stop
procrastinating with social support' won't change my situation, something
deeper needs to occur, which is why I mention the beliefs. Our beliefs affect
our behavior.

------
willcodeforfoo
Oh the irony. I came across this here, while procrastinating, and decided this
was too long so I sent it to Instapaper, where I will probably never read
it...

~~~
typicalbender
Somewhat off topic but I hadn't heard of Instapaper before, have you used
Pocket and if so what do you like better about Instapaper? Looks like they
have a speed reading and kindle sync option which is pretty cool.

~~~
lexhaynes
I use Instapaper. I haven't heard of Pocket. I like Instapaper's really
minimal design, their "Instapaper Text" extension, and the ability to save and
sort articles for later.

------
clentaminator
The real reason you procrastinate: You fundamentally don't want to be doing
whatever task it is that you're avoiding, and while it might be the logically
"correct" thing to do, that doesn't mean you want to do it. What we want and
what we are pushed into doing are not always aligned. News at ten.

~~~
justsaysmthng
I disagree. I often procrastinate on the things that I really really want to
do.

My explanation for that is not the fundamental lack of interest in the
project, but the hidden fear of failure that accompanies every project that I
work on.

I've worked on so many failed projects that I've kind of lost hope of actually
producing something that won't be forgotten immediately.

(Mind that this is not necessarily true - some of my work (as a
comedian/writer/actor) has been viewed millions of times, while some of the
code I've written is being executed by millions of machines every day, but I
still feel like I've failed at everything, because that was just "blind luck"
).

If all this effort results in disappointment and depression, why bother waste
energy on it now - this is the kind of hidden thought process that's going on
in my head and I guess in many other's people's heads too.

Paradoxically, this is the thought process that also disarms you a little bit
every day, until the task becomes painful and not worth pursuing and once
again you've failed to accomplished what you've set out to.

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy, but also hard to break since it's not
happening on a "rational" level, but on a lower "fight or flight" subconscious
level, which is very hard to control.

~~~
zepto
Do you want to do then because they give you pleasure to do, or because you
desire the results?

------
kafkaesq
Without labeling it as a form of ADHD (or anything else), necessarily, but
simply recognizing that the impulse to procrastinate is probably tied to the
brain's short-term reward cycles (dopamine-based or otherwise) in some way or
another -- and hence, that it might legitimately be thought as a kind of
micro-addiction, like the tendency to grab for tasty foods or clever-sounding
news bites every 10 minutes -- was a big help to me in getting a handle on it.

And teaching me that, at least once in a while, I can, in fact, "just say no"
\-- and try to get things done for the sake of a much large, multi-faced, and
legitimately nourishing neurohormone

------
hanoz
This may may have been just the article I needed, but I will never know
because I realised it must be a good three or four months since I last
refreshed my memory about the events leading up to the Chernobyl disaster.

~~~
corysama
It's been mentioned elsewhere in the comments here, but this is directly
relevant to your comment.

[http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-
procrastin...](http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-
procrastinate.html)

------
ratsmack
I would have to say that my problem has more to do with too many easily
available distractions, instead of procrastination. I made a point that while
at work my browser was never used for anything except work and email was only
to be read and answered at specific points during the day, and sometimes only
at the end of the day. In addition, I discouraged anyone from sending me
personal email to my work address so any personal items were addressed when I
got home. All of this seemed to cure my "procrastination" problem.

------
gerbilly
I find I procrastinate to undertake hard or frustrating tasks because, and it
sounds lame to admit it, that I'm afraid of the negative emotions I will
experience if things go wrong.

------
kpmah
Something I've noticed with my own procrastination is that it often has a
strong emotional component. For example, I'll often procrastinate with
anything to do with taxes because, even though I know I HAVE to pay it on an
intellectual level, it's emotionally difficult for me to part with money.

Often when I've rationally examined the underlying anxiety it becomes much
easier to accomplish things.

------
patmcguire
The great benefit of procrastination is that it saves a lot of work. Future
you isn't going to have to do it in two months, because no one is going to
have to do it. Something will come along and tableflip everyone's plans and
then you'll have done the original thing and the new thing too.

------
emodendroket
[http://productiveblog.tumblr.com/](http://productiveblog.tumblr.com/)

------
heyogrady_
I'll read this later

~~~
overcast
Comment winner.

------
reirob
I like the procrastinator's matrix:

[https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-
apps/imrs.php?src=https://...](https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-
apps/imrs.php?src=https://img.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/files/2016/04/Procrastinators-
Matrix1.png&w=1484)

Will print it and stick to my wall... Next time when I need to procrastinate.

------
simonebrunozzi
"The real, final, ultimate reason why you procrastinate, and how to stop":
[https://medium.com/simone-brunozzi/the-real-final-
ultimate-r...](https://medium.com/simone-brunozzi/the-real-final-ultimate-
reasons-why-you-procrastinate-and-how-to-stop-67cd2115dbe9#.s1glwit6k)

(note: I wrote it, and please take it with a grain of humor)

------
dhimes
I read this yesterday, and I didn't realize this before: Procrastination is an
_emotional_ issue. To control it you have to control your emotions. That
changed how I fundamentally look at the problem.

------
visarga
Some people call it procrastination, other people call it thinking. A little
bit of procrastination is correlated with increased creativity. When people
procrastinate too little or too much, they are less creative, but when they
procrastinate just enough to get away from the problem but not too far away,
then new perspectives pop up.

[http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/opinion/sunday/why-i-
taugh...](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/opinion/sunday/why-i-taught-
myself-to-procrastinate.html)

------
joshontheweb
How I get work done on my side project:

\- Make a trello list of tasks

\- Make sure I always do at least one task a day

The first task I do is usually very small but I find that I usually get on a
roll once I have entered 'the zone' and end up getting a lot done.

EDIT: Formatting

------
thieving_magpie
WaPo has sadly turned into click-baiters. I had to filter them out of my
google news.

It's interesting that this started around January, one month after the
headline "Bezos takes more hands on role at WaPo".

------
knivets
I think procrastination has to do with mental award system — we tend to choose
tasks which will bring the award as quickly as possible. But those tasks are
usually not very productive, while those that are productive require
significant time investments. Basically, it is about instant/delayed
gratification. So the answer, I think, is to pick jobs/tasks that are more
balanced (average time to achieve gratification, average productivity). I
think this is what "job you enjoy doing" should look like.

------
deepnet
My procrastination has a single task buffer. I find a worse task, put that at
the top of a list - then procrastinate this decoy task with the real to do
list.

------
firethief
I'd didn't know WaPo ran blogspam-style rehashes of other sites' content now.

The face study is very difficult to interpret in any interesting way - the
control group controlled for the VR setup instead of, say, a non-visual
approach to getting people thinking about the future. The only conclusion we
might draw is that when people have the future in mind the amount they say
they'd save is greater.

------
Eleopteryx
I feel like I can attribute my procrastination to a few things

1\. choice paralysis I'm fairly certain I have a cavity in one of my teeth, I
can basically see it when I look in the mirror, in addition to sensitivity to
temperature. So I need to find a dentist a) in my area b) that accepts my
insurance. There are multiple options. I want to know who the optimal dentist
is; I want the one who can pull off a painless root canal if need be, but I
definitely don't want the one who will cause agony or perform a procedure
incorrectly. I think, maybe I'll Google them and see if I can find any reviews
or other indications that one dentist is better than the next. Confronted by
20 options, I spend more time on the whole thing than I need to, optimizing
the odds that I get distracted along the way.

2\. various forms of anxiety, mostly social anxiety I really don't want to
call and talk to a stranger on the phone to schedule that appointment. I'm not
even that bad at talking to people, and yet it makes my heart race. I'm afraid
to drive to places that I've never been, to awkwardly enter an unfamiliar
building trying to figure out where to go. I'm afraid of not being able to
find a parking space. I'm afraid of a lot of stupid things that don't matter.

3\. extreme lethargy Is something I've been trying to overcome for literally
years. Inadequate nutrition is the main factor in this. I am mentally and
physically tired almost all of the time, to varying degrees, which slows me
down, and makes it harder to focus on something. I don't eat right, sometimes
eating but a single meal in a day. Sometimes I will eat nothing substantial
for an entire day. I recently tried "Mealsquares" (basically Soylent in solid
form) as means to ensure I get all the nutrients I need. I've yet to be able
to eat more than 2 in a day (usually just 1), which would equate to 400-800
calories at most. At 6' height, a target weight of a 170lbs requires me to
consume an excess of 2000 calories per day, so imagine getting 1/4-1/2 of that
on average per day. I don't even know how I get through the days as well as I
do, what is my body running on? I actually know how to prepare multiple meals,
I just don't. Instead of hunger making me voracious, it makes me feel lazy and
depressed. If hiring a full-time cook were affordable, I would do it.

At the end of the day, nothing is getting done if I simply don't have the fuel
to power my body to do it.

Procrastination feels like a pattern, a vicious cycle that feeds on itself, a
loop from which I'm trying to break free. I'm trying to reverse it and emerge
on top, and it sounds like something that can be turned around in a week, but
I feel like it's been an upward battle for most of my adulthood.

------
xufi
I always procrastinate when I want o learn something new. In this case.
relearning web technologies and whatnot. The best way I see is to force myself
to think up of something that I would find interesting to do.

This is a interesting read for sure

------
Nano2rad
Procrastination is a symptom cr character of ADHD I am pretty sure about that
because I heard from a specialist. If procrastination is part of mental
illness, recovery is only possible by treating the condition.

------
codezero
I try to say this whenever the subject comes up, procrastination is a form of
anxiety and is a real mental health issue. You should talk to a professional
about it if it's affecting your life.

~~~
dceddia
It comes and goes, for me. I notice I'm much more susceptible to falling into
a procrastination/unhappiness loop if I haven't done any exercise for a while.
Energy starts to wane, and if I trip into procrastination, it kind of builds
on itself and gets worse.

Procrastinate -> Feel Bad -> What's the point -> So far behind ->
Procrastinate...

------
felideon
I read the original Wait But Why essays a few months ago and it really helped.
Glad to see there is (not sure which came first) research that backs it up.

------
ddt_Osprey
The real reason I procrastinate is because I hate my life, and I'd be better
off dead.

~~~
swah
When I get close to that line of thinking, thoughts such as those
automagically revert it:

"If I'm going to die, I might as well finally help those old people at the
asylum and see how that feels"

"If I'm going to die, I might as well travel without money through Europe"

------
ondeodiff
I really wanted to read this but I'll probably wait till tomorrow

------
partycoder
The irony is that if you read this during work hours it becomes
procrastination.

------
dgreensp
I have to laugh whenever "hedonic pleasure" is brought into the discussion.

If avoiding your thesis by emptying the dishwasher is "giving into pleasure,"
why is there so little pleasure involved, and is it hedonism again when the
next day you feel inspired and give into the pleasure of writing your thesis?
At the same time, the very fact that your levels of motivation, courage, and
anxiety fluctuate all the time invalidates the advice, "You're never going to
feel like doing it (so just do it)." This is a form of motivational advice
where you take a truth and wrap it in a lie. Another example is, "Nobody
enjoys their job." Plenty of people enjoy their jobs, so what is really being
said? Basically that the current discomforts are to be expected and should not
cause distress. It's emotional invalidation in a digestible pill, though it
may trigger an adverse reaction.

We are emotional animals with many emotional needs and colorful emotional
states. We should learn to be aware of our own needs, and practice recognizing
and tolerating our emotional states. For example, acting with courage involves
being able to tolerate the fear state, which is a skill that takes practice.
With awareness of your emotions, you can absolutely increase happiness and
pleasure in your life, by doing activities you enjoy and hopefully going into
a line of work you take some pleasure in. Arrange your life to make your inner
animal happy. Acknowledge when your needs are not being met.

Whenever I see the term "hedonic pleasure" used, it is surrounded by a useless
caricature of the human emotional life. In this caricature, all positive
emotions are equivalent; all negative emotions are equivalent; and avoiding a
negative emotion is equivalent to seeking a positive emotion. Never mind
what's causing the emotions in the first place!

Hedonism is about the morality of sensual pleasure. Imagine you have enough
money in the bank that you never have to work again, and in fact you can live
a life of some luxury. What should you devote your life to now? Maximizing
your personal pleasure? Or should you invest in your personal relationships,
or try to make the world a better place? What's the most good or "moral" path?
Obviously, the society we live in frowns on the hedonistic choice. All of this
has nothing to do with procrastination, except by a very strained analogy. If
in procrastination, we feel that our "voice of reason" is being drowned out by
other voices representing baser drives, we can smear these other voices by
portraying them as mindless pleasure-seekers — supporters of the Pleasure
Party — and make our opposition to this party into a moral or philosophical
issue. Meanwhile, the truth could be that the "voice of reason" is an echo of
your parents insisting you need a PhD using tactics of shame and fear, while
among your "baser drives" is the desire to feel a sense of your own worth as a
person.

Humans don't "seek" emotions, anyway, we feel them. When you think about your
homework, that thought triggers an emotional cascade. The trick is altering
that emotional response over time. When you play a video game level, you
aren't "seeking" the hit of completing the level; you are actually feeling a
positive emotion throughout the whole level of being engaged with making
progress towards a goal. When you even think about going to play video games,
you get some of that feeling. This feeling is a hugely positive thing, but
like all emotions, you need to be on decent terms with it so you can reason
with it, so hear it out; feel it; and then recruit some other voices to the
conversation.

------
known
Interesting analysis.

------
Derbasti
This is more or less a copy of [http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/03/procrastination-
matrix.html](http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/03/procrastination-matrix.html). I
recommend reading that instead.

~~~
blackskad
He also did a funny TED talk on the topic. At just 14 minutes, it may be more
manageable than a lengthy article.

[http://waitbutwhy.com/2016/03/my-ted-
talk.html](http://waitbutwhy.com/2016/03/my-ted-talk.html)

~~~
outworlder
Thanks for the link, I'll watch it later.

------
dang
We changed the dismayingly linkbaity article title to one that attempts to be
more accurate and neutral, in accordance with the HN guidelines. If anyone
suggests a better title, we can change it again.

