Psychological Tips to Overcome Procrastination

I meant to start my weekly blog post late last week but here I am, Monday morning and I’m just getting started. The irony is, I’m writing about procrastination. In my defense, I’ve been busier than normal. I was in Denver last week for work, then Jane’s birthday was this weekend. However, the bigger issue was writer’s block, just not knowing what to write about this week.

After doing my normal morning walk on Saturday, I sat down outside to enjoy a beautiful spring morning. I listened to a podcast and the guest talked about procrastination towards the end of the show. As he spoke I recalled seeing his Ted talk on the subject.

The more I listened, the more I thought about the psychology of procrastination. Much of it has to do with scarcity. The principle of scarcity is the human tendency to value things more when you think they are rare, or diminishing, going away. 

Deadlines are a form of scarcity. When there are no deadlines, many of the things we’d like to do, we never end up doing. However, when there is a deadline, quite often we wait until the last moment to frantically finish things.

Real Life Example

This was probably no more evident than when you were in school. You might’ve had all semester to write a term paper but you waited until the last few days to take care of it. Certainly, there were other assignments that needed to be completed during the semester, but the reality is you could’ve set aside a little bit of time over a long period to complete your assignment. Doing so would have removed much of the stress that comes with the mad rush towards a deadline.

Fortunately, there’s another principle of influence that can help avoid the stress that comes with procrastinating up to a deadline. Consistency is a well-documented psychological principle highlighting the fact that humans feel better about themselves when they live up to their word. When we tell someone we’re going to do something, we feel better about ourselves when we follow through. The icing on the cake is, we also look better to those to whom we committed.

When you come up to an assignment that has a deadline you have a couple of choices. First, ask the person you’re responsible to for a timetable with deadlines. Your next best option would be to break down the assignment yourself. Put it into manageable parts that will need to be taken care of sequentially. After doing that, create deadlines for each individual task for personal accountability. 

Research on Deadlines

Here’s proof that procrastination isn’t a good option and should be avoided if possible. Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist from Duke, and author of several books including The Upside of Irrationality, looked at ways students respond to deadlines. He divided his students into three groups. 

  • Group 1 had no deadlines. All they had to do was turn in three papers by the end of the semester. 
  • Group 2 chose their due dates. They could have chosen to submit all three papers on the last possible day, or they could set up any deadlines throughout the semester. Most set their own timetables and didn’t default to the last possible date. 
  • Group 3 was given deadlines by Ariely.

Which group do you think had the best grades? Logically it should have been those who could wait till the last day because that meant they could spend the most time on each paper. However, that wasn’t the case and they had the worst grades. Procrastination usually wasn’t helpful. This is why I don’t believe people when they say, “I operate better when a big deadline approaches.” I think that’s learned behavior coupled with justification.

The group that determined their due dates performed better than those who waited until the final day. Apparently, some pressure was a good thing and procrastination was held at bay.

The group that performed the best were the students who had three deadlines imposed on them by professor Ariely. Apparently, humans respond well when called to do so.

When it comes to applying yourself over time versus cramming, consider this example. Nobody crams for a marathon. If you have an intention of completing 26.2 miles, and want to do it well, you will create a plan and do your best to adhere to the timetable laid out. Why should we think it’s any different from other tasks in life?

Bonus Idea

Here’s one final idea around consistency. If you want to strengthen your resolve to hit whatever deadline you have, share the deadline(s) with someone such as a professor, a boss, or coworker. This is important because you’ll feel worse about yourself having shared with someone what your intention is, but then not following through. 

We’ve all had the experience of setting internal deadlines or goals (New Year’s Eve Resolutions) and when we don’t hit them, while we might feel a little bad, you don’t feel nearly as bad as when you told someone else what you planned to do.

Conclusion

The human brain is amazing! The more you understand how your brain works, and use that knowledge to your advantage, the greater your possibilities. 

So what are you waiting for?

Brian Ahearn

Brian Ahearn is the Chief Influence Officer at Influence PEOPLE. An author, TEDx speaker, international trainer, coach, and consultant, Brian helps clients apply influence in everyday situations to boost results.

As one of only a dozen Cialdini Method Certified Trainers (CMCT) in the world, Brian was personally trained by Robert Cialdini, Ph.D., the most cited living social psychologist on the science of ethical influence.

Brian’s first book, Influence PEOPLE, was named one of the 100 Best Influence Books of All Time by Book Authority. His follow-up, Persuasive Selling for Relationship Driven Insurance Agents, was an Amazon new release bestseller. His latest book, The Influencer: Secrets to Success and Happiness, is a business parable designed to teach you how to apply influence concepts at home and the office.

Brian’s LinkedIn courses on persuasive selling and coaching have been viewed by more than 500,000 people around the world!

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