Matthew Cornell

(Update: This post deals with behavioral causes of procrastination. However, persistent and debilitating procrastination may actually result from an underlying mental health problem. [7]. A big thanks to reader Greenman2001 for pointing this out.) Procrastination is the uber-problem - the meta problem, if you will - of productivity. It encompasses almost every "can't make progress" behavior, and is one of the top issues that clients come to me for help with. It's a tough one, and has been a problem for centuries (see How to Procrastinate Like Leonardo da Vinci). This explains why it's one of the most blogged-about topics on the web. Search for 15 seconds and you'll find every form of advice available, mostly a smorgasbord of common tips and tricks like: do the worst/pleasant/easy part first, never stop work at a bad point, break tasks down, focus on the process, make a start, poke holes in it, etc. Unfortunately, having a toolkit of activities isn't adequate to solve it, or we'd be done. Having enough how-to information isn't the problem. No, what makes procrastination so nasty is that it's an umbrella concept with multiple possible causes and deep underpinnings. I like how Wikipedia puts it: a complex of bad habits. These can include fear of failure/success/being wrong, poor discipline, distractions, lack of interest, perfectionism, and so on. This is why grab-bag blog posts, while easy to write and quick to peruse, often by themselves don't help: Taking action to solve a problem without knowing its cause can only have limited success. You might get a temporary boost from the novelty of trying something new (our brains might have novelty detectors built in [1]), but unless you address the underlying origin(s), improvements won't be lasting. So what we have is: Important problem. Difficult to solve. Unknown causes. Many possible activities/solutions. Expensive to try changes. Time pressure. In other words, A Hard Problem. So what do we do in such a situation? Experiment! Here's how to apply this [2]: Try a small number of activities (here's where grab-bags come into play), collect information, analyze your results to see what worked, and decide what to try next. Iterate until you're happy with the progress/results/state. Tips: Keep the turn-around as short as possible (days or weeks, say, not months), make the experiments as small as possible (Kaizen-style [3] tiny changes, for example), and observe and record diligently. In sum, treat yourself as a complex creature in the wild whose behavior you're trying to understand and adjust [4]. Tap your curiosity: What makes you tick? What gets in the way? Why do you do these counter-productive activities? When do they activate? What are your feelings when they kick in? Who knows, you might actually turn off the fear [5] and start enjoying the ride [6]. Finally, consider getting some help, such as asking a friend to be an accountability partner. Happy experimenting!

I'm really curious...

• What's your #1 procrastination challenge?
• What have you tried to solve it?
• How did it work out?
• Have you tried this kind of experimental approach to productivity?
• Any generalizations that come to mind?

References

• [1] Learning By Surprise: Scientific American
• [2] While descriptions of scientific methods range in complexity, we've simplified it to "Think, Try, Learn." Wikipedia's Elements of scientific method gives us more detail: The essential elements of a scientific method are iterations, recursions, interleavings, and orderings of the following:
  • Characterizations (observations, definitions, and measurements of the subject of inquiry)
  • Hypotheses (theoretical, hypothetical explanations of observations and measurements of the subject)
  • Predictions (reasoning including logical deduction from the hypothesis or theory)
  • Experiments (tests of all of the above)
  • Analysis & interpretation [added by us]
• [3] Check out related posts, or read Robert Maurer's One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way.
• [4] A big thanks to Pam Slim of Escape From Cubicle Nation fame for this perspective. If you're thinking about jumping out on your own, give her a call. She's been a tremendous resource.
• [5] Check out 10 Strides from Fear to Freedom.
• [6] Enjoy The Ride is one of thirteen maxims from Patricia Ryan Madson's delightful little book Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up. For the rest see Whose job is it? Mine!.
• [7] From the Procrastination and mental health section of Wikipedia's procrastination entry:

  Procrastination can be a persistent and debilitating disorder in some people, causing significant psychological disability and dysfunction. These individuals may actually be suffering from an underlying mental health problem such as depression or ADHD.
  While procrastination is a behavioral condition, these underlying mental health disorders can be treated with medication and/or therapy. Therapy can be a useful tool in helping an individual learn new behaviors, overcome fears and anxieties, and achieve an improved quality of life. Thus it is important for people who chronically struggle with debilitating procrastination to see a trained therapist or psychiatrist to see if an underlying mental health issue may be present.
  People who exhibit procrastination and decreased impulse control appear to be prone to internet addiction.

• [8] "How to Procrastinate Like Leonardo da Vinci": Though the official page is now for subscribers only, I found two other locations: An on-line digital version at The Chronicle of Higher Education - February 20, 2009 and one from the author's site at How to procrastinate like Leonardo da Vinci. Thanks to ever-vigilant reader Amanda for noticing!