Dear procrastinator,<p>Procrastination has nothing to do with disciplining yourself or 'just doing it' This is the most common misconception about procrastination and will instead achieve exactly the opposite of what you want. Let me explain:<p>The reason why human-beings procrastinate is to feel in control of their life. The act of rebelling against an oppressor, an authorative figure telling you what to do, is your way of regaining mastery over your own fate. Very much the same way kids throw a tantrum when their parents order them to do something, the procrastinator puts off tasks because he has come to harbor resentment against the thing to be done. Why, you ask? Because in your admirable will and ambition to achieve your goals, rather ironically, you have created the only thing that can stop you from reaching your goals: a separate mental authority figure causing unneccessary internal strife. You have created a bully out of yourself.<p>Start listening to the way you talk to yourself; Instead of punishing yourself for not following up on things, you need to learn to let loose. Adopt the belief that you have the natural tendency to work productively and act creatively. Nobody needs to man up, shape up, or be disciplined. Stop framing the world as if it is a constant struggle to get things done, instead start viewing life as a sequence of awesomely fun and exciting things to work on.<p>Good luck,
Edo van Royen<p>edit: Humbled by your comments, thank you all. I write pretty regularly, just never on a public forum like this.<p>note: I notice my writing could use some nuance. Painting an extreme is just a style of writing which helps bring across a point. Obviously there are things that are objectively less fun to do.
I'm sorry to disagree, but I do. My own battle with procrastination is completely due to laziness. No one likes to do difficult things, and sometimes even things we kind of enjoy. The reality is that we, as humans, never procrastinate when we really, really want something. Not once in my life did I have to "trick" myself into playing a video game a few extra minutes or watch a big basketball game.<p>In short, we accomplish what we want to accomplish (meaning, the 'fun' stuff), unless we push ourselves.
This is not true for myself at all!<p>Actually I think in my case all the stuff you read about procrastination does not really aplly to my procrastination:<p>I think I am one of the worlds worst procastinators and it took me about 10 years to figure out what might be the main reason for my behaviour. It has nothing to with all the stuff you read in all these procrastination books. It's not about the fear of failing, it's not about the fear of winning, it's not some kind of rebellion against some outside force as you pointed out. It's something completly different:<p>I never learned to do (unpleasant) stuff!<p>When I look back on my childhood now, it's very obvious what went wrong: I grew up as a very very spoiled kid which never had to do anything "unpleasant". Did not want to clean up my room? No problem. Did not want to help my parents with preparing lunch? no problem. Did not want to do homework? no problem.<p>From all those years growing up I can remember only one occasion at which my mother tried to force me to do something. But since I was already 12 or so that this time, she gave up after 10 minutes.<p>I never learned to endure the "stress" or "pain" of all those unpleasant things I have to do (washing clothing, cooking, ...) so it's very hard for me to do them intstead of just browsing the internet and get instant satisfaction.<p>In combination with some above average intelligence and a very big portion of luck I was still able to study with good grades and I'm currently in my second year of a PhD thesis. For me it's hell on earth! Giving lectures, preparing papers, filling out forms, applying for grants, ... I postpone all of this stuff all the time not because I am afraid i could not do them or because they are pushed on me from the outside. I postpone them because I never learned to actually _do_ unpleasant stuff.<p>Does this makes sense? English is not my first language and the topic is quite hard to describe.
Wow.<p>That actually resonates with me much better than anything I've read on procrastination so far. I am burning lot of my mental cycles on thinking about my own procrastination, and it crossed my mind that when I start to do things that I'm (in broad sense) forced to - by my boss, lecturer or even myself, I feel like loosing some kind of self-awareness, control of my life... I never pin-pointed the feeling exactly, but it resonates closely with what you wrote.<p>Also, I'm so used to my personal GTD-like productivity management methods that I sometimes feel I'm not able to think or work without using pen & paper or Emacs for organizing my thoughts. Now, the thing I'm worried about is that it doesn't really feel like I have 'boosted my cognitive skills' or whatever - it feels like I'm so handicaped that I can't think without help of external tools. I look around and see people (that look) smarter and more successful than me, and they don't seem to be using <i>any</i> productivity tricks at all. Maybe it's [something]-bias [1], but it gets me really worried. Anyone on HN felt something similar?<p>[1] - need to catch up with LessWrong on that ;).
I'm not lazy, I'm not too proud to do mundane things, and I don't feel others control my life. (How would that last perspective explain procrastinating on a personal project like a painting?) I didn't understand procrastination until I understood it from this perspective (and I imagine a lot of the folks on HN are similar): I procrastinate because I'm a perfectionist. If it's not finished, it can't be judged. There's more I can tweak! Once something is turned in, published, or launched, it stands as an example of my best effort. It wears my name. And that scares the hell out of me.
There is not a singular cause for procrastination. I've mentioned it many times on HN, but I think it's again relevant to recommend "Procrastination" by Burka & Yuen.[1]<p>Half the book is spent helping you investigate the root cause or causes of your procrastination, which can include fear about control (losing OR gaining it), as well as fear of success, fear of failure, fear of separation, fear of attachment. They discuss the influence of family and culture, gender, and the role of ADD & executive dysfunction.<p>The second half of the book is a practical guide to coping with your procrastination and habitualizing better behaviors.<p>If you're serious about procrastination, my only advice is to listen to the experimentally & research-backed psychiatrists.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Procrastination-Why-You-What-About/dp/0738211702" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Procrastination-Why-You-What-About/dp/...</a>
<i>"The reason why human-beings procrastinate is to feel in control of their life."</i><p>Agree completely. Having said this, your suggested solution is incredibly hard to put into practice for many procrastinators out there.<p>I have bills to pay and a family to support, and working for the Man seems like the only option, at the moment, to meet my financial obligations. I don't particularly enjoy my day job, and I wouldn't do it if I didn't have to. To maintain an illusion that I am not just a slave tied to a very short leash, I procrastinate. Ignoring my email inbox full of pending tasks and spending the day outside in the sunshine instead can feel very liberating, but obviously it doesn't solve anything, and doesn't get me a step closer to greater freedom.<p><i>"life as a sequence of awesomely fun and exciting things"</i> sounds great, but the reality is that only a very small percentage of people are lucky enough to lead this kind of life.
Procrastination has many causes. I expect this is because humans haven't often needed to motivate themselves, as they have often been motivated by fear and hunger. Above $5 or $10 a day, basic nutrition and shelter is not an issue.<p>Here's a few reasons why I think some people procrastinate. Mix and match:<p>- The need to feel control.
- Some urge to punish or test someone (a parent?)<p>- Perfectionism (high standards, the need to over-achieve, or egotism), or a fear of being judged. If it's not done, nobody has to see your crappy work.<p>- Laziness. Sometimes an issue for people who can pass without working.<p>- Habit. See all the above.<p>- Dopamine addiction. The internet has given rise to the junk food equivalent of achievement.<p>- Unrealistic expectations, leading to a lack of motivation. Sorry, but they lied when they said the course / job you are getting into is the most important one in the world. They say that about every course / job.
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Self-Discipline-10-Days-Thinking-Doing/dp/1880115026" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Self-Discipline-10-Days-Thinking-Doing...</a> <-- this book pretty much sorted out my procrastination problem
Very well written Edo, thanks! While I disagree that this applies to <i>all</i> cases of procrastination, it definitely applies to many, and was very eye (and mind) opening to read.<p>Curious if you have other writings posted anywhere? I'd love to read more about your thoughts on other topics.
Great post.<p>Relevant tactical point:<p>Replace "I have to" with "I choose to" and "I should" with "Would I like to?"<p>It really, really, really works.<p>Instead of, "I have to take out the garbage" - "I choose to take out the garbage." (Or alternatively, "I choose not to" - that's okay too, if you choose to do it that way.)
I think the OP argument makes a lot of sense. When I was young, my mother often asked (not exactly gently) to do some tasks and many times I refused just because I was obligated.<p>In the school and in the college it was exactly the same behavior, I refused to study but when I found an interesting topic outside the college (like programming) I had a lot of will to study it by myself. I never really learned anything in the school class, I am 100% autodidact. The single fact that I was obligated to learn something made me completly ignore that stuff.
There are tons of interesting books I bought, but I have kept on procrastinating reading, since I know that I can always read them later. That feeling IMHO - that I own something and can process it later - is major cause of procrastination for me.<p>same way my browser windows are a mess with 70+ tabs open. Most of them are only open because the content is too interesting to close and I am too lazy to read!
Wow, this is such good advice. You're right, I'm constantly having stern talks with myself about being a mature, clever guy and so why the heck am I wasting time, etc etc. Thankyou.
That doesn't seem to <i>answer</i> anything. If human beings procrastinate to feel in control, what of soldiers? They can be happy and fulfilled, work damn hard, and be only doing exactly what they are told.<p>The next question, for you perhaps, is "what do you fear so much about the idea of not being in control of your life?"
I think you are replacing one extreme claim with another.<p>Becoming better at something means that either your body or your brain have to do do something that it's not used to and doesn't feel comfortable with. It doesn't matter how much you love what you do it's still going to feel harder and thus there are a million other things you would rather do.<p>When I were young I practiced the guitar 10 hours a day for a long period of time. I loved (and still love) music but it was hard even with this love for my field.<p>If I wanted to I could simply have been playing things that I already knew. Playing around and not getting any better.<p>But to become better at something you need to get the discipline to get on with it and that will "hurt".<p>There are no easy ways to become better.
"The act of rebelling against an oppressor, an authorative figure telling you what to do, is your way of regaining mastery over your own fate."<p>Surely you jest.<p>Oh, sure, some people will procrastinate as rebellion.<p>Just as sure, some people procrastinate a simple matter of choosing from a menu: choosing steak over fish is for some a simple preference, not weighed down with rebellion against diet or splurging against budget. At a given moment I have the choice to do interesting thing X or less interesting thing Y; I choose X not out of the oppression of why Y is an option at all, but just because it is what I would rather do.<p>You may struggle against authority an procrastinate as an act of rebellion. Others because it's just what they would rather do.
Great post. Many great things can be achieved with a short burst of energy/focus, but these things are often temporary and unsustainable, which is why the Man Up approach gets trumped by the I Will Continue To Do Better approach once real life kicks in.
> The reason why human-beings procrastinate is to feel in control of their life. The act of rebelling against an oppressor, an authorative figure telling you what to do, is your way of regaining mastery over your own fate.<p>The academic literature disagrees that procrastination is about rebelling, and 'efficacy' is only one factor; see <a href="http://lesswrong.com/lw/3w3/how_to_beat_procrastination/" rel="nofollow">http://lesswrong.com/lw/3w3/how_to_beat_procrastination/</a> and especially its reference section (Luke is great about jailbreaking PDFs and hosting them; I'm slowly reading through those specific PDFs).
First off, Nice post. But I disagree slightly out of experience from my own toils with procrastination. I find that I, among many other humans simply want to remain in a state of comfort, whatever that means to each person. Every little thing that deviates one from constant comfort becomes a bump in the state of mind, this bump can be smoothed out in 1 of 2 ways, You can do what you should do, the task at hand, or you can put it off in exchange for a moment of instant gratification, or some distraction action. Now in behavioral theory, there is much less mental strife or tension involve in procrastination (initially), and if the competitor action to inaction a mentally or physically longer journey requiring more energy to complete, the natural response would be the shortest of the two. Instant gratification is powerful! Its a tug-of-war calculation between actions, we will do whatever we can do that's easier or more enjoyable unless we fear the outcome of inaction so much so that it out-ways the positives of the other. We are fundamentally powerless against this. For all you fellow entrepreneurs out there, we simply love building things more than anything else. My procrastination for example consists of working on projects or prototyping a new app. I will default to that when countered with options of going to the movies, eating out, or playing video games. One could argue however that fear of failure motivates one above all others to strive for success.
Just my 2 cents.
Dear Procrastinator,<p>Go read up on the topic of procrastination, because it's actually an interesting field of research within psychology. I know you want to, because that way, you can procrastinate even more!<p>I'm appalled that nobody has yet mentioned <a href="http://procrastination.ca" rel="nofollow">http://procrastination.ca</a> — home of the Uni Ottawa procrastination research group. Also home of the excellent iProcrastinate podcast: <a href="http://iprocrastinate.libsyn.com/" rel="nofollow">http://iprocrastinate.libsyn.com/</a><p>It turns out that procrastination is an immensely complex and multi-faceted issue, and no one single solution is going to help everybody. I like the OPs advice, but don't think it applies to every procrastinator! Also, it might be the right advice for you if you want to combat your procrastination, but it won't help you combat other "bad" aspects of your psyche, and eventually, you're going to fall into your old habits.<p>I'm talking out of experience here: I originally went to a psychiatrist because my life wasn't working out anymore (it was really that general.) Several (mostly inconclusive) diagnoses and 2 years of psychotherapy later, I feel like I'm finally starting to grasp why and how my life went wrong.<p>Not everybody who procrastinates has serious mental issues. But just as a hint: if, for a prolonged period of time, say, a year, you aren't able to get back on track, or you aren't able to fulfill your dreams or expectations, try a therapist, if you can afford it. (I happen to live in a country with free health care, so I didn't have to deal with that, gladly.)
This is the first time I've heard someone speak of procrastination in this light, have to say its impressive. "Regaining mastery of your own fate" makes almost too much sense haha. It's eerily true, kid throwing the tantrum is a good example. We don't feel like doing it, but ;now we have to, so we build up stress and despise the fact that we have to. Very good advice!
Actually, I know the problem:<p>It's with our right hemisphere, it's the one of you that is creative, that had hopes as a child to really do something useful for the world, the one that is out of control, seeks freedom.<p>The thing is that you aren't doing art/music(that's what people frequently do with it) and art/music is well known as freedom, what you are probably doing is:<p>A stupid startup to proove yourself, make some money and shit. Even if you own twitter or facebook, it's still shit compared to art, believe me. It's shit.<p>If you were doing something that would eradicate some sickness in africa and would save millions of people or had anything altruist in it, i doubt your heart wouldn't be pumping from the second you started.<p>Believe me, it's because what you do is shit, your brain knows and it wants to free you from this bullshit.<p>I don't procrastinate to wash dishes for my girlfriend, no matter how much it's boring, i fucking love her. But you know, if i had to wash it for ME, i would procrastinate all day. You need love.
I like how this meshes with Cal Newport's ideas on procrastination. As I understand it, he views procrastination as the mind's natural tendency to avoid things it doesn't trust: that crappy plan you came up with for getting that project done? Yeah, you don't trust it, so why would you actually try to implement it?
The OP's point is a good one but it is not the whole story. People procrastinate for various reasons, as others have already attested.<p>Personally, I found a simple habit cured me of 50% of HN and Reddit addiction and let me work on things I had procrastinated for a long time:<p>First thing when I do every morning when I sit down at a computer is e-mail a simple TODO list to myself and also send a report of what I did on yesterdays TODO list.<p>This e-mail is very simple, a few items and simple descriptions. Only caveat is making the items "actionable" that is something you can do, not something you can just try or consider.<p>Also, if I do not complete every item on the list, I do not beat myself over it.<p>This takes a few minutes of time and was very easy to make a habit of using a Don't Break a Chain technique. After a week or so, it doesn't feel forced at all anymore.
I'd be interested in exploring the ascetic dimension of procrastination.<p>That may ring the wrong religious bells but the problem of procrastination in the West was first of all, and there's a lot of documentation surrounding this, a religious problem. Saint Jerome is the first to directly speak of idleness but it's even there in Paul's letters: How do you secure a base of pagans for your Judaic sect in a world swimming with very similar cults and mythologies? Keep em busy with your sect.<p>This is related to the consistent demand for communal surveillance stretching throgh all the church fathers; everyone should make sure everyone else is busy being faithful. So I wonder how and at what point that discussion of procrastination transforms into the modern formulation?
Just got done reading "The Now Habit", and the book concurs with this prognosis. The book also suggest several ways to tackle these issues that cause procrastination. Anybody have any recommendations/pitfalls from "The Now Habit"?
When I procrastinate, it is quite often a task I do want to accomplish for whatever reason. But I put it off because I'm tired, just don't feel like it, etc. The authority figure you refer to is the voice of wisdom telling me that if I don't go ahead and do it, I will regret it later (this figure is right 99% of the time).<p>My personality is a high 'C' (for compliance), meaning that I have an appreciation for authority. I think your original essay misses the fact that we all have different personalities and motivations.
Reading all these comments, I'm starting to believe that something like Alcohol Anonymous would not be a bad idea for chronic procrastinators... Procrastinators Anonymous?
Yeah, sometimes you can't just think your way out of it.<p>Hopefully one day we'll have a repeatable, very high success method of letting people get work done when they consciously desire it.
I have two forms of procrastination:<p>1. Virtual procrastination. This happens when I want to achieve more than I can physically do. The end of the work week is here, yet I don't have the sense to just let go and pick it up again next week. I feel burdened by my inability to complete the surplus tasks.<p>2. Vanilla procrastination. I hired an assistant. She helps me stay on track. I am a fan of this.
amazing. eloquently describes some Truth I've been banging my head against the wall trying to explain to people but not able to find the words. It's the same dichotomy of inner-authority and genuine-self that drives people to force themselves to diet and then cheat on their diets etc
What about scheduling some time (daily or weekly) for doing the things that you would normally consider your procrastination activity? Has anyone here tried that? How did it work out? The more details you can provide, the better.
Or you are simply experience "Resistance" as mentioned in the "War of Art".<p><a href="http://toblender.com/comic/resistance-the-war-of-art/" rel="nofollow">http://toblender.com/comic/resistance-the-war-of-art/</a>
The simple truth about procrastination is that it happens because you delay your happiness. The act that you are procrastinating or putting off is motivated by a risk of your final reward.
I think that procrastinating is beliving there is an easier way to reach your real goals. If your real goal is to enjoy and do nothing procrastinating is the right way to go.
I put this together a few years ago with some similar insights... <a href="http://antiprocrastinator.com/" rel="nofollow">http://antiprocrastinator.com/</a>
The other day I tried to use "LazyMeter". I got a few things done using it, but I felt <i>extremely</i> uncomfortable. The feeling was familiar: the same feeling I had in my previous job. I felt suffocated and deprived.