Procrastination is something that affects everyone at some time or another. Even if there is something we really want to achieve or really want to do, we can find ourselves lost in endless other tasks that often don’t help move us toward that goal. In the Ted Talk below, you will find quite the animated discussion about procrastination and how everyone is technically a procrastinator to one degree or another.
One thing we notice is how urgency is the true motivator for many tasks. However, what about when there is no clear urgency? There are tasks we need to accomplish before we can get to our writing, which we obviously want to do. In this situation, there are a few problems. The goal of getting to our writing is abstract and, since life must be handled first, it can be difficult to make it more concrete. As a whole, writing must flow around the rest of life. There is no real quantifiable goal and, with self-publishing, we might not even have a deadline. How can we, when life must come first, and life has that annoying tendency to throw extra tasks or situations into the mix when we are already juggling several at any given time?
Also, if we are self-publishing our works, we have the option of allowing our creativity room to blossom without having to force it into the I–have-to-get-it-done-now-whether-I-have-the-creative-spark-or-not box. This gives lots of room for the procrastination monkey to play. However, other than to make that one point, this is not the aspect on which I would like to focus at the moment.
That procrastination monkey will look at the concept of get-things-done-in-order-to-get-to-my-writing as very unclear. Plus, the tasks that stand in the way tend to be in a category which we could label as not fun. Of course, we’ve heard of the “Set a goal and when you meet it, reward yourself” trick. This can work, but it requires discipline in and of itself. Consider this: procrastination is a form of reward. You are doing things that are fun or, at least, distracting, in order to get away from the less desirable tasks. So, essentially, when you try the trick of rewarding yourself when you have accomplished your task, what you are really doing is rewarding yourself as an incentive not to reward yourself.
This is why I say the trick requires self-discipline, or a reward that is big enough to make you work for it over a period of time rather than just taking the smaller but instant reward that comes with procrastination. If you have the discipline, then you probably are not worried about procrastination as a whole because self-discipline is the most powerful weapon we have against this monster which devours our aspirations and dreams. If you can use the reward trick to your advantage, all well and good, but many will find this slight of hand leaves them playing 52 card pick up.
What about negative reinforcement? The problem with that is, we are not usually good at punishing ourselves and even if we can manage it efficiently, it is not a good habit. Self-punishment can open a Pandora’s box of problems better left locked away. I believe one should consider the concept of natural consequences rather than punishment. “If I don’t get all of my tasks accomplished, I must cut out something I enjoy in order to get those tasks completed.” Obviously, this also requires self-discipline. You must be willing to set aside the thing that you enjoy in order to get the tasks done with the understanding that it will all work together to give you more time for writing.
What if we consider procrastination to be like a goblin instead of a monkey? This goblin encourages us to take the easy road, which is full of fun pit stops and detours, but, in the end, that goblin is leading us into a trap where we are unable to achieve our goals. In this trap, we are haunted by the ghosts of lost opportunity and lost hours and even days in which we follow the goblin further to distract us from the ghosts. How’s that for a visual to inspire negative feelings about this procrastination monster?
We have reviewed the harm procrastination can cause and a couple of the main techniques given over and over to help fight procrastination. We also talked about the difficulties with these techniques. Don’t dismiss them just because I say they don’t work for everybody. They might work for you. However, in the next post I will give a detailed description of a game I like to play to beat the monster of procrastination. It is my hope that with a variety of techniques we will all be able to beat this monster in order to achieve our goals and dreams so that we can all enjoy the wonder.
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