Episode 3
TL;DR
- According to Dr. Ellen Hendriksen, there are 3 types of procrastinator: the Avoider, the Optimist and the Pleasure Seeker.
- 5 tips to combat procrastination:
- Accept radically that you procrastinate.
- Change your environment to eliminate distractions.
- Notice when procrastination stops being fun.
- Do something easy but productive.
- Limit your to-do list.
How many times have I procrastinated for this topic? And don’t you feel that listening to an episode on procrastination1 is a form of procrastination? On a more serious note, this topic stems from a conversation I had with my cousin, who shared with me his great discovery of the concept by paraphrasing Monsieur Jourdain in Le Bourgois Gentilhomme: “I have been [procrastinating] for more than forty years without knowing it”. Today, we’re going to look at the 3 types of procrastinator and 5 tips for taking action… or not?
What type of procrastinator?
According to Dr. Ellen Hendriksen2, clinical psychologist at Boston University’s Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, there are 3 types of procrastinator: the Avoider, the Optimist and the Pleasure Seeker.
Let’s start with the first type, the Avoider. If you’re an Avoider, you’re actually avoiding unpleasant emotions like stress, uncertainty or feeling overwhelmed. For example, if you don’t know where to start, you might suffer from writer’s block. Likewise when you postpone filing your tax returns. By putting off the task, you avoid the associated negative feeling, but you’re only stretching that negative emotion over the long term.
The second type of procrastinator is the Optimist. An Optimist simplistically believes that “it won’t take long”. He tends to underestimate the time needed to complete a task, or to overestimate his abilities. That’s how you do your homework the day before when you had all week to do it. Some people who work better under pressure may actually benefit from it…
Finally, there’s the Pleasure Seeker. He simply doesn’t want to do what he’s supposed to do. Yes, Pleasure Seeker is a nice way of saying lazy. You’re too lazy to wash the dishes, unpack your suitcase or send a claim form to the NHS (those were personal examples). But beware, pleasure-seeking can lead to resentment and a reputation as an unreliable person.
5 tips to follow
Now that you’ve identified the type of procrastinator you are, here are 5 things you can do to take action.
- Accept radically that you procrastinate. Procrastination often hides behind convincing justifications. Acknowledging that you procrastinate is the first step to dealing with it.
- Change your environment. Remove from your life the things that encourage your procrastination. For example, uninstall distracting social media applications. Does doomscrolling3 ring a bell?
- Notice when procrastination stops being fun. At a certain point, even your favorite Netflix series can become boring. Use this moment as a springboard to move on to something productive.
- Do something easy but productive. Start with a simple task to get you on the road to productivity. It could be making your bed or answering an easy e-mail. Mind you, we didn’t say falsely productive like tidying your belongings or redoing your to-do list. In fact, I’d be curious to hear your opinion on these “false good ideas”…
- Limit your to-do list. Having a long one can be overwhelming. Limit it to a few key tasks that you can actually accomplish.
Remember today’s 5 tips for procrastinating less. The broader subject of motivation could still be tackled from another angle, for example, to exercise more regularly…
Here’s a personal hack: when I feel a clear drop in motivation at the end of the day (say 5pm after my snack) and I can’t get back to the previous task, I choose a useful task that I know I can finish in 1 hour or 2. For those of you who’ve been following along, that was tip № 4…
Fun Fact
Did you know that age is negatively correlated with procrastination? This means that older people tend to procrastinate less than younger people. So you can only improve… And in a nod to Episode 1, I’m the kind of guy who drinks the glass half full…