In my last blog, I wrote about the first step in limiting procrastination. It’s simply knowing that you are at a fork in the road and that you have two choices – to do the task at hand or to avoid it by doing something much more pleasurable. The reason people usually do the “something else” is because they are trying to engage in what scientists call “mood repair.” They often pick the more appealing task because it obviously makes them feel better, but in the end, they feel worse because they’ve accomplished nothing. So, realizing when you are about to procrastinate is very important, because when you know you’re at that fork in the road, you can take action. So the next question becomes “How do you get yourself to actually take such action?”
Experts in the area of procrastination say that an individual must make the “barrier to entry” almost nonexistent. In other words, you must make the threshold for getting started incredibly low so that you are almost positive you can be successful. For example, let’s say that you want to clean out your closet, but you’ve put off the task for months because it’s so unappealing. This time, instead of moving it to another day on your to-do list, you tell yourself, “Okay, I’m going to just walk into my closet and line my sandals up. That’s it. Sandals only!” Research shows that even the worst procrastinators can improve significantly by creating simple action items to get started. And, they feel a lot better when they’ve done something, even if they haven’t completed their ultimate goal, such as cleaning out the entire closet.
The sample principal works for students. I’ve found that many middle and high schoolers do not know how to set simple goals to help them get started, so they give into “mood fixers” such as Instagram, Twitter, or texting. Students can make behavior changes by focusing on one of two areas: time (setting a specific time limit) or task (finishing a simple duty). Here’s how it works:
Time: Set the timer for five minutes and say to yourself, “I’m just going to do this math for only five minutes.” Often, students find that they can keep on going after getting started.
Task: Give yourself something easy to do just to get started. You may say to yourself, “Okay, I’m just going to do the first problem on my math homework for now. Just one problem!” Again, merely starting reduces anxiety and gives students a small sense of accomplishment and confidence to keep on going.
Here are some examples of how students can lower the bar to reduce procrastination:
| Feeling
|
Problem | Strategy | Solution |
| It’s Wednesday and you are tired. You have a Spanish test on Friday. You want to put off studying today and push it all to tomorrow, Thursday, which is what you typically do. | In the past, this hasn’t really worked because you feel overwhelmed and stressed out. You end up staying up late and are exhausted the next day. | You give yourself a very easy task that you know you can easily accomplish. | You decide to study just five vocabulary words since learning vocab is the easiest thing for you. |
| You have an essay due for your English class and you’re feeling overwhelmed. You have good ideas, but getting them onto paper is hard. | You think you need extra adrenaline to get it done. You decide to watch TV and to start writing right before bed when you’re pressured to finish. | Instead of viewing the essay as “all or nothing”, you figure out what you can easily do to get started. | You set a simple task for yourself – to write the first sentence before you eat dinner. |
| Chemistry is a tough subject and you need extra help from your teacher. Meeting with her after school would be beneficial. | You are starving and want to go to Chipotle, but you also don’t know how to solve those darned chemical equations. | In lieu of getting help with the whole assignment, you ask your teacher for help with the first question only. | You meet with your teacher for just a few minutes, ensure that you understand how to do the work, and then bolt to Chipotle. |
In the end, recognizing when you are in “mood repair” mode and then creating easy tasks for yourself to get started, really works!
It’s interesting. I can suggest these types of strategies to my 15 year old sophomore, but my ideas often fall on deaf ears; however, when his tutor makes almost identical suggestions, he’s more than willing to give them a shot. Funny how that works! If you feel time management, or lack thereof, is negatively impacting your child, drop me a line. I can help to hand-select a tutor who your child just may listen to!