pychyl-solving-procrastination-puzzle.org

Teaching Talk: Helping Students Who Procrastinate (Tim Pychyl)

http://http-server.carleton.ca/~tpychyl/PYCHYL%20Procrastination%20presentation%20March%2019%202012.pdf

Introduction

• poem by John Lea in Boys Own Paper (Vol. 37, Issue 3, Jan 1915)
  • “…and though a year was given him, the task was still undone”.
• biggest problem in education
  • and amount of self-regulation required is increasing w/ online material
• sloth in religions (time is not a renewable resource)
• 95% of students affected
• we will address:
  • “it’s me” (personality)
  • “it’s the task” (nature of the goal)
  • “it’s the way I think” (e.g. negative thinker)
  • “it’s my lack of willpower”

What is procrastination?

• self-deceptive inner dialogue
  • “Hard work often pays off after time but laziness always pays off now.”
  • “If a job is worth doing, it will still be worth doing tomorrow.”
  • “By not doing what you should be doing, you could be having so much fun.”
  • “This can wait.”
• it’s
  • all about giving in to feel good now
  • affecting our future self
  • not about having fun
• in psychology:
  • gap between intention and action
  • voluntary irrational delay despite expectation of a potential negative outcome
• all procrastination is delay, but not all delay is procrastination.
  • many things belong to tomorrow
  • sometimes we’re truly really busy
• sometimes we manage our emotions by managing tasks
• it’s not a time management issue

Consequences of procrastination

• costs as
  • reduced
    • performance
    • well-being (don’t feel good about ourselves)
    • health (through stress, more headaches, stomach aches, ill)
    • relationships (family, also through stress)
    • wellness behavior (eating, sleeping, exercising, getting timily treatments)
  • increased
    • regrets
    • guilt (paralizing emotion)
• procrastination is
  • usually harmful
  • sometimes harmless
  • never helpful
• has to do with emotions
  • do I feel like it or not?

Key pieces of the self-regulation failure puzzle

• central piece: weakness of will, self-regulation failure (like buying stuff you cannot afford, eating more than you need, problematic gambling), giving in to feel good
  • classic negative reinforcement
    • getting rid of a negative stimulus (e.g. umbrella, cold)
      • I’m having negative emotions when I think about the task
      • if I avoid the task, I feel better
      • I reinforce it => I establish a procrastination habit
      • takes a lot of work to get rid of it
      • this is the issue, let’s start here to start making changes to the habit
• Personality (way we’re made)
  • not easy to change, stable aspect of us
  • partly genetics, partly learned
  • you won’t procrastinate much if you
    • are conscientious (dutiful, self-disciplined, organized, structured)
    • are a self-oriented perfectionist (you do well for yourself)
    • have higher emotional intelligence (it’s more skill-based than trait-based)
  • you’re at risk of procrastination if you
    • are not conscientious
    • are impulsive (you cannot shield one intention from another)
    • are a socially-prescribed perfectionist (you live up to others’ people standards)
    • have lower emotional intelligence
  • you can’t push people past developmental readiness
    • prefrontal cortex is last part of our brain to develop (early adulthood to mature)
    • identity may still have to be achieved
• Nature of our goals and intentions
  • task aversiveness
    • nature varies depending on where you are in the project
      • at all stages: boredom, frustration, resentment
      • at inception/planning: lack of meaning (enjoyment, fun, pleasure, passion, self-identity)
      • during action: lack of structure (autonomy, control, initiation, uncertainty) (where advisors can make a difference)
  • abstract vs concrete
    • concrete => it belongs to today
    • abstract => it belongs to tomorrow
• What we think and belief
  • “I’m thinking I’m too stupid”
  • “I work better/only under pressure”
    • we actually make more errors
    • pathetic
    • professionals know it
    • we have to develop a different habit
  • counterfactuals
    • upward (if only I’ve studied longer)
    • downward (couldn’t have been worse)
      • it makes you feel better
• Self-control and willpower
  • it is like a muscle (we just wear it out)
  • our stonenghe brain still thinks that sugar and fat are a good idea
  • need to
    • invest strategically limited resources
    • strengthen will power

Some strategies for change

• move from anemic goal intentions (too vague) to implementation intentions
  • in situation X, I will do behaviour Y to achieve subgoal Z
    • when this workshop ends today, I’m going straight to the library to read 4 pages of this paper I’m struggling to read to achieve the subgoal that I need to summarize
    • external cue for behavior is in the environment (X)
    • helps on health and work
• to the extent you can manage emotions, you can manage procrastination (no matter how I feel, I’m going to work)
  • perceive it
  • manage it (“I can have fear, I need not be my fear, because I can work from some other parts of my inner landscape.”, e.g. I could work from my curiosity)
  • understand it (you’re not going to have always positive emotions)
  • change it
• help people see their own self-deception and be aware of your own
• at inception stage, look for meaning; at action stage, make sure you have structure
• break it down, take baby steps, know the next step (concrete => more urgent)
• recognize when you’re making excuse (“you can do it tomorrow”, “it could have been worse”)
• you can always find ways to motivate yourselves (e.g. money)
• meditate helps
  • attention non judgementally back to where it belongs
• ask yourself
  • is there any way I could do this now?
  • are you taking control of your life and having some sense of agency?
  • why is it important for me? (value affirmation)
• know enough
  • your own limits / time frame
  • good feeling of getting things done
  • upward spiral (little progress fuels us)
  • the moment where you exercise your self-control (choose whether you are going to work or not)
  • your emotions
• the busier you get, the more prone you’ll be to get things done
• bring future self into clear vision
• www.procrastination.ca