There was a cartoon character from my childhood that always said, “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” Another useful childhood productivity message was from Bluebirds group. Part of our code was, “Always finish what you begin.” When you get older and things get more complicated, some insight on why these simple principles are so hard to implement can be valuable.
The Procrastination Equation, created by Dr. Piers Steel, is an eyeopener on why we put off starting and finishing tasks and projects. The formula is that motivation to start or complete a task depends on four main factors: expectancy, value, impulsiveness and delay.
Expectations are what we tell ourselves or how we envision the task. If we think the chances are low for success, we have much less motivation to begin. Why would you want to work hard or risk heart break if you felt like the outcome would be unfavorable?
The value has to be high enough. If a task is really low value, aka pay-off, the likelihood of being highly motivated is nil. Have you noticed how much money we now have to offer children to get them to do a chore?
Impulsiveness is the “squirrel” factor—what is the faster, easier dopamine hit we are going to get that will distract us from our task? If you have your phone on, a snack tempting you, a super sale on the Nordstrom website or a fresh issue of Vogue on your desk, you are less likely to stay on task and complete something.
The deadline or reward can’t be too far in the future. If you give yourself a year to do something, it’s less likely you will make progress than if you tighten up the deadline to a month or a week. If you are too tough on yourself and make yourself wait too long for a reward, won’t be very motivated.
So how do we overcome these de-motivators? Breaking up a task or project into the smallest, yet still meaningful, pieces possible will help.
Expectations: Smaller, more manageable tasks mean you can expect greater success. If you break up a project like “Write the Great American Novel,” with smaller tasks such as, “Write Three Sentences,” you are much likelier to start and keep going because your expectation for success is much higher.
Value: It can be tricky to motivate yourself by perceived value of a task because sometimes the pay-off does take a while. It might take months pecking away at a garage clean-out before you are gliding your car into a spacious parking place and feel that wonderful, “This is bliss!” feeling. It might take months of denying yourself flour and sugar before you slide your bod into your formerly tight jeans, easily zip them and think, “This is bliss!” And it might be a long time before creating and sticking to a budget shows up as a chunky and satisfying account balance.
In terms of value, we need to remind ourselves worthwhile projects often marathons, not sprints.
Impulsiveness: This is where the sprinters like to live. Small short bursts of impulsive activity seem to be productive but usually aren’t. Checking in on all our friends on Instagram seems like we are connecting. Getting into online rabbit holes of research and chatting with an AI “friend” seems so productive. Checking e-mail seems like a worthy endeavor, but if it is done more than a couple times a day it is probably just a distraction from more meaningful work.
Keep your phone off and out of reach while you are working on a task. Set a timer if you need to–45 minutes is a good length of time to work. Look up and rest your eyes and walk outdoors for at least five minutes when your timer goes off, then set it for another five if you want to allow yourself some phone distraction before knuckling back down to the task at hand.
Delay: When you get the above three de-motivators identified and worked out, the tendency to delay is lessened. But be careful. Even saying, “I’ll do it tomorrow,” which seems harmless because after all, it’s just 24 hours, is dangerous. Remember all those diets we were going to start tomorrow? That was many quarts of Ben & Jerry’s ago. Do something, anything, today. You’ll go to bed feeling virtuous and bit by bit, procrastination will be a thing of the past.
Note: You might have noticed that one vowel and one consonant has changed in my byline. I decided to make this year about two things: lightening up (literally and metaphorically) and identity. Changing my name was a big symbolic shift I’ve wanted to make since early 2020. I finally braved the lines at the County Clerk’s office (there were none) and downtown Napa parking (also a phantom problem, go figure) to make it a reality. A couple thousand dollars and copious official documents later, I feel lighter and more “on purpose.” As writer (and inspiration for my new name) Aldous Huxley might say, it’s a Brave New World.