Ryan Estrellado

Dr. Timothy Pychyl and Dr. John Perry were guests on June 12th’s Talk of the Nation.  The topic of the show was procrastination, a theme as common in conversations about productivity as the evil villain is in fairy tales.  During the show, host Neal Conan and listeners related their experiences with procrastination while Pychyl and Perry offered advice and tools to counter it.  The participants did well to keep the discussion stimulating, light, and humorous.

Many good ideas were explored, but there were a few points made that resonated strongly with my own experiences and with concepts discussed by some of my favorite thinkers in the productivity space, such as David Allen, Merlin Mann, and Steven Pressfield.  Here are three concepts from the show I found particularly interesting:

Perfectionism has its benefits, but can fuel procrastination.

If you hold yourself to the unachievable standard of “perfect”, you may be reluctant to work a project to completion until you can present a product that is close to that.  This becomes a problem when the epic path to perfection becomes the rationale for why you should put off starting for another day.  I paraphrase one of my favorite teachers, who used to say, “There is never a final product, only a due date.”  It is difficult to argue against holding high standards, but this must be balanced against the cost of not actually producing anything at all.  Perhaps the key perspective here is to set the intention to achieve your vision of perfection and have the courage and humility to be content with the closest you can come to that by the time the work is submitted.

If you can’t win the battle against procrastination, at least do something useful in lieu of what you originally intended.

Even for the best of us, there are times when we have to concede that we may not meet the challenge of starting our work. During these times, the next choice we face is deciding what to do instead.  Assuming that the time period in question is one dedicated to work (as opposed to family, recreation, or naps), the difference between choosing to do something even marginally defined as necessary (e.g., putting in that order to replenish a quickly diminishing supply of staples) and doing something that has no definition within your realm of things to do (e.g., taking your fourth self-tour of the new office filing cabinets) can have a significant impact on your sense of control.  The difference lies in whether what you do next is meaningful and necessary or a randomly selected activity designed to avoid your original intention.  The best implement in your toolbox for making this decision is a predefined list of these secondary, but ultimately necessary, tasks you can choose from when your procrastination and due dates give you permission to not start on your original intentions.

Counter procrastination by defining an intention in operational terms and breaking it into smaller and more doable tasks.

It has become such a universal mantra for productivity enthusiasts that it’s verging on being a cliche, but for the life of me I have yet to prove the idea incorrect.  The more nebulous an outcome or the path to get there, the easier it is to stare at it, ponder its vastness, and then decide that the discomfort warrants more time away from it.  The opposite also holds true.  The more defined an outcome and the more granular the steps to achieve it, the more likely you are to act on it.

I once allowed an item titled, “Replace water heater” long-term residence on my to-do list.  Visions of me with a water heater manual and an industrial size wrench justified enough non-action that “Replace water heater” gradually became the distant relative who overstayed his welcome.  After weeks, I reluctantly changed the title to “Call home warranty company re: replacing water heater.”  After one week, a new water heater, and very little additional effort on my part, I wondered why I suffered so long with lengthy heating times.

Interested in exploring more?  Read on:

• NPR: How To Be A Productive Procrastinator (Audio)
• Dr. Timothy Pychyl’s Blog: Don’t Delay
  
• Dr. John Perry’s Blog: Structured Procrastination
• Merlin Mann and David Allen Discuss Procrastination (Audio)