I’ve been meaning to write this column for some time. The reason I’m finally getting to it is because it’s an excuse to avoid doing something else.
Let’s face it, few of us, if we’re honest, wouldn’t confess to occasionally procrastinating. Our lives are busy, with lots of competing priorities, so it’s only natural to put off doing those things that we know are going to take more than their fair share of physical, emotional, or intellectual energy. But there are times when procrastination is about much more than just juggling priorities, times when it’s downright debilitating and can seriously impact our careers, relationships, and quality of life in ways that we know are unhealthy.
Like so many things we do, procrastination is a habit. We fall into it and then struggle to get out. We play mind games with ourselves and withhold rewards, or we chain ourselves to a desk until we get the job done. But it’s like psychological quicksand, the more we struggle the further into its grasp we seem to fall.
The worst part is that when you are in the throes of procrastination it feels as though you’re watching yourself being stopped So, what gives here? Why do we procrastinate and how do we break free?
I Just Can’t Do It!
It’s remarkably simple according to Mel Robbins, author of The 5 Second Rule, the problem is that we don’t really understand procrastination. We see it as the result of being lazy or having a poor work ethic or even ineptness and incompetence. All of these negative ways we describe it just feeds our frustration with ourselves. And all of that self loathing ultimately shifts our internal narrative from “I don’t want to do it” to ” I just can’t do it!”
“What we are avoiding isn’t the task but rather the stress that we are associating with the task.”
Not true says Robbins. Procrastination is not a reflection of your attitude, work ethic, or competence. Procrastination is actually a behavior meant to help us cope with stress. Whatever we are putting off is linked to something that is stressing us. Naturally, if you’re stressed you want to escape the stressor. So, we do what makes sense, we try to avoid the stress and instead seek near term satisfaction or at least a distraction and refuge from the stress. It momentarily makes you feel good to avoid the stress.
Whether it’s something we need to do for work, a relationship, or our health, procrastination is basically a coping mechanism. In fact, I’ll go even further to label it as a survival mechanism.
Chalk it up to our ancestral DNA which evolved in an environment where stress was like radar helping us avoid those things that were likely to compromise our chances for survival. If you needed to go out and hunt for food but you also imagined that there might be Raptors running around outside your cave thinking the same, you’d most likely put off getting food and find a nice corner to scratch out a few cave wall drawings. Yes, those amazing insights into humanity’s first artistic renderings were our Neanderthal ancestors procrastinating.
That’s not so different from what you do today when you turn to Facebook or Youtube. It’s the way you escape from the cause of the stress. And therein lies the gem of wisdom in what Robbins is preaching. What we are avoiding isn’t the task but rather the stress that we are associating with the task.
Knowing that provides a powerful way to suspend the negative judgment about yourself when you procrastinate. Instead, focus on why whatever it is that you’re putting off stresses you. Is the stress coming from a real threat or a perceived one? What’s the worst case scenario that you’re fearful of? This sort of honesty is a first step, and it’s helpful in developing a self awareness about why you procrastinate, but you may now spend the next few hours or days trying to unravel those questions as you procrastinate about addressing your procrastination!
The 5 Second Rule
Robbins answer is what she calls the 5 Second Rule. It’s incredibly simple and straightforward, but don’t dismiss it because it’s not overly complex. What you need is a way to alleviate the stress not add layers to it. Here’s how it works:
First, an analogy. You’re sitting on a beach What’s fascinating about this impulse-driven sort of decision making is that it is rooted in some pretty deep science. Antonio Damasio, a neuroscientist doing research on how we make decision, claims that our emotional decision making is just as important as our more rational and analytical decision making. In fact, if that part of your brain dedicated to gut reaction along with the emotions of punishment and reward (the prefrontal cortex and it’s orbitofrontal cortex) is damaged you will get stuck making even the simplest decision.
No-brainer decisions, like jumping in to help the flailing child, are actually driven The link to procrastination is that you need to activate that part of your prefrontal cortex to get out of the cycle. And guess what happens to your prefrontal cortex when you’re stressed? That’s right, it pretty much shuts down!
The irony is that when we’re finally with our back up against the wall and time has run out, on whatever we’ve been procrastinating about, even our more rational brain will finally kick in and make some effort to get the work done. The problem, of course, is that may well be too little too late.
The key is to activate your gut sooner before you’re in the twelfth hour. That’s where the 5 second rule comes into play. Here’s how it works.
1- The very first thing to do is to acknowledge that you’re stressed.
Don’t analyze or dissect it. Just accept that what you’re dealing with is not a fault, defect, or inability in you but a reaction to stress. It’s real and it’s driving your decisions. That takes a bit of the pressure off and enables your prefrontal cortex to play a role in the next decision.
2 – Make a 5 second decision that is directly contrary to the stress response.”
Robbins calls this a decision of courage. When you act with courage, your brain is not involved.Your heart speaks first and you listen.” It’s what you’d do in the drowning analogy I just gave. In other words, rather than try to rationalize the stress Sounds simple, right? It is, but like anything else in life which promises to change a fundamental behavior it takes time to build a new habit. I will caution you that if you use the 5 seconds to make a decision which you then analyze for the next 5 hours you’ve just fallen back into the same trap. The key is to activate and then do, not activate and then think about doing.
The 5 second rule is no panacea, however the simple realization that procrastination is a natural and valid response to stress, and the knowledge that you’re always just 5 seconds away from making a decision, are both a huge leap in breaking free of the irrational hold procrastination has on you.
Then again, if you’re reading this it may well be because there’s something else you’re avoiding. The good news? You’re 5 seconds away from doing it!