# data[].attributes.body
-I'm most likely to procrastinate in school.
-yes.
-no, I already knew these things about myself.

# data[].attributes.body
The key to overcoming procrastination may be Emotional Regulation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
There are two kinds of people in the world - procrastinators, and procrastinators who deny they procrastinate. The fact is, we all put off tasks we don't want to tackle. Some of us more often than others.

As with any habit, if you want to stop procrastinating, it helps to understand the behavior's roots. Your procrastination likely stems from one of three personality traits, according to DePaul University researcher Dr. Joseph Ferrari.

Thrill seekers procrastinate because they love the excitement of racing against a deadline.

Avoiders put off tasks because they are afraid of being judged on the outcome - good or bad.

Indecisives tend to delay the job because they can't decide how best to handle it. (They are often perfectionists.)

Check Out: Why Some People Are Luckier Than Others

Recognize anyone? Dr. Ferrari has devised a flowchart to help people identify their particular type of procrastination. Answering a few yes/no questions about your fears and attitudes helps determine what drives your chronic dithering. Are you easily stressed? Are you concerned about what others think? Are you afraid of failure? Success?

Breaking the procrastination habit requires addressing these underlying issues, according to Dr. Ferrari. Thrill seekers, for example, must learn to get their kicks from other sources, like doing a great job. Indecisives should let go of their perfectionism, and understand that mistakes can be a learning opportunity. Avoiders need to embrace success and ignore what others think of their work.

If you are a serious procrastinator, this could be life-changing stuff. Look at it today. Not tomorrow!

Check Out: Why Optimistic People Are Always Late

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There are two kinds of people in the world - procrastinators, and procrastinators who deny they procrastinate. The fact is, we all put off tasks we don't want to tackle. Some of us more often than others. As with any habit, if you want to stop procrastinating, it helps to understand the behavior's roots.

# data[].attributes.body
An app designed to help you stay away from your smartphone.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Forest is an app helping you stay away from your smartphone and stay focused on your work.

# data[].attributes.body
A simple but effective website blocker

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Blacklist is a very simple website blocker designed for personal use.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Self Worth Theory: The Key to Understanding & Overcoming Procrastination | Nic Voge | TEDxPrincetonU

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It isn't really to do with laziness. It's to do with fear. If you like our films take a look at our shop (we ship worldwide): http://www.theschooloflife.com/shop/all/ Please help us by pressing 'subscribe' here: http://tinyurl.com/o28mut7 Brought to you by http://www.theschooloflife.com Produced in collaboration with Alex Morris http://www.pinvin.com/

# data[].attributes.headline
5 Little Things You Can Do to Make a Big Difference in Your Productivity

# data[].attributes.subject
5 Little Things You Can Do to Make a Big Difference in Your Productivity

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
5 Little Things You Can Do to Make a Big Difference in Your Productivity

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Because we can all relate to those tweets about procrastination...

# data[].attributes.body
Free Time Tracking Software

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We make time tracking simple for team members, and reporting easy for team managers

Our origin is simple: we needed a great time tracker, so we built one. Every design choice reflects our commitment to user-friendly experiences, ensuring time tracking remains a tool, not a dreaded chore.
Onboard your team in 5 minutes "Clients love the summaries, colleagues love the simplicity. We have used it for 7+ years and it is still going very well. The ease of use of Toggl Track is unprecedented."
5/5 stars on Capterra

- Jakub H, Founder of a design agency

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Toggl: Time Tracking Software, Project Planning & Hiring Tools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Stress-free time tracking software, project-planning, and hiring. Designed by and for teams that work from anywhere.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The surprising habits of original thinkers | Adam Grant

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Graduation film from the Royal College of Art, 2007.

An investigative and exploratory hands-on gloves-off study into the practice of putting things 'off''. Sometimes the only way to get something done is to do two dozen other things first.

Awards:

Jerwood Moving Image Award
Palm Springs International ShortFest - Best student animated short
European Film Academy Award - Nominated, European Film Award for Best Short Film
NYC Shorts - Best Animation
SF Shorts- Director's Special Recognition in Animation
Giraf Animation Festival - Audience Award
Befilm Underground Film Festival - Best Short - Animation
Langsett Independent Film Festival - Audience Award
Multivision International Festival - Best Experimental Film
Janela Internacional de Cinema do Recife - Best Film
Animadrid - Best Short Film From Animation School
Narkolepsy International Short Film Festival - Grand Prix du Public
Royal Television Society Student Awards - Postgraduate Animation
Clermont Ferrand - Special mention, Prix de Médiathèques
Premier Plans Festival - Prix UIP
London Short Film Festival - Second Prize, VX Auteur Theory 3
Exground Film Festival - Best Film, International Competition
Shark Awards - Best New Irish Director
Royal College of Art - Conran Foundation Award

--

Credits:

Story, Animation, Direction: Johnny Kelly
Voice Over: Bryan Quinn

Sound Supervision: Mike Wyeld
Foley Artist: Sue Harding
Foley Engineer: John Mark
Foley recorded at Fonic Studios, London

Bryan Quinn - nolanmuldoonagency.com/actors-male/bryan-quinn/
johnnykel.ly

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Graduation film from the Royal College of Art, 2007. An investigative and exploratory hands-on gloves-off study into the practice of putting things 'off''. Sometimes the only way to get something done is to do two dozen other things first.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Address the real reasons you procrastinate and you’re more likely to start achieving your goals.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The reason you procrastinate (It's not what you think) | Mel Robbins

# data[].attributes.body
Understand your habits using time tracking and analysis. This tool also helps you set goals, create reminders and limit online distractions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A personal analytics service that shows you how you spend your time and provides tools to help you be more productive.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Ideally, we would never procrastinate. We'd live in a world where obligations came first, personal desires second, and all of our deadlines were met with elegance and ease. Unfortunately, nobody lives in such a world.

The tendency to procrastinate is consistently annoying. Whether we're avoiding bills, the dentist, or struggling to unpack from our latest trip, some number of life's routine tasks are being deferred for future us. And, as everybody knows, future us is never happy about it.

To beat back this most pernicious habit, we look to the past. Here, we find that procrastination is the result of impartial evolution  - we didn't develop enough to escape its curse. Despite this lamentable fact, understanding procrastination is the best way to defeat it. And to understand it, we start with impulse.

Impulse

Before mammals replaced reptiles as the dominant large-bodied animals on land, creatures roamed the planet with little thought for the morrow. Impulses would emerge and, for the most part, animals would act on them. These impulses make up the root cause of procrastination.

Impulses are created by a number of physiological mechanisms in the brain. A large part of each, though, is created by dopamine - a molecule with many functions in the body. For impulse, it operates within our motor and pleasure systems to compel us toward things we want to do. Most often, these things were, at some point, advantageous for survival.

The dopaminergic response in impulse has two parts. First, it motivates us toward something we want. We crave chocolate, say, and dopamine gets secreted. The second is that it makes us enjoy certain things: When we actually eat chocolate, we secrete dopamine. Both these mechanisms work to build an impulse, pushing us toward things we find pleasant.

Animal life was guided by impulses like these for hundreds of millions of years. Once they hit, the animal didn't understand how they related to other potential wants in their future. To phrase it differently, they didn't understand how not buying Starbucks now might equal more money for houses later. This ability came with the development of something novel.

Foresight

It wasn't until we could see into the future that we learned to suppress these impulses; it took an idea of how future goals aligned with those nearby. For the most part, this ability followed the development of the frontal lobes: The more they expanded, the more we learned to suppress immediate desires for those that would come later.

The frontal lobes gave us this ability through their reciprocal connections with dopaminergic parts of the brain. When many dopaminergic signals are produced, for instance, they first get sent to the frontal lobes to determine whether they should be followed or not. If the frontal lobes look into the future and determine that no, they should not be followed, the impulse gets suppressed.

The role of the frontal lobes in impulse control is easy to see. When you suffer damage to certain parts of the prefrontal cortex, for instance, you lose the ability to establish connections between future rewards and whatever you want right now. The result is an inability to favor delayed rewards over those right in front of you.

While I don't think procrastination is entirely beatable, I do think its damage can be assuaged.

Many case studies reveal the same thing. Phineas Gage, for instance, one of the most famous trauma patients in neuroscience, had a three-foot-long railroad spike shot through his frontal lobes. After the incident, he transmogrified from a respectable young man into a petulant degenerate: He spent all his money, lost countless jobs, and treated all his friends terribly. He was, in other words, a victim of his lesser impulses.

Frontal lobe inhibition in humans didn't evolve until mammals were allowed to flourish in the wake of the dinosaur extinction. Once afforded this open niche, we evolved larger frontal lobes to better see the future. This mild clairvoyance enabled us to stifle current wants for those farther off.

A constant battle

Procrastination unfolds as a result of the battle between these two systems - the strength of our dopaminergic impulses on one hand and the ability of our frontal lobes to suppress them on the other. Failures of either ability will compel us to follow our impulses rather than ignore them.

Overzealous dopaminergic activity is a consistent driver of failures with impulse control. Many people given dopaminergic therapy for things like Parkinson's disease or restless leg syndrome, for instance, develop impulse control disorders - they succumb to things like pathological gambling or compulsive shopping. Their impulses, in other words, become too strong to ignore.

The frontal lobes can similarly create such problems. Many people, for instance, are born with a variation in a frontal lobe receptor that receives dopamine. This variation makes the receptor less adept at understanding the impulse signal. People with variations of this type are more likely to suffer things like ADHD and OCD - i.e., problems with impulse control.

Interactions between the frontal lobes and dopaminergic activity explain much of our proclivity to procrastinate. We feel the lure of an immediate reward - checking Instagram, playing guitar, writing something new - and, if the frontal lobes aren't strong enough to suppress it, it overwhelms our ability to stay on task. The result is procrastination.

Know your enemy

While I don't think procrastination is entirely beatable, I do think its damage can be assuaged. The most promising way to do this is through knowledge: If you can clearly identify the factors that help procrastination take shape, it'll be easier to expunge them from your life. At least this is the hope.

Two of the more salient causes of procrastination are how distant something is into the future and how much you actually want to do that thing. Typically, the farther off something is, the more likely you are to procrastinate. The same is true of things you don't want to do: The less you want to do them, the easier it'll be to get dragged away by other impulses.

Whatever your strategy, procrastination is a constant annoyance.

Distance is a problem because our frontal lobes are regrettably poor at comprehending future rewards. This is why immediate desires normally have a stronger pull than those far off. With this in mind, we can try to infuse more value into those things that exist in the future, enumerating the many benefits of completing them. This, or we implement some sort of punishment system to make those competing immediate rewards less desirable.

The palatability of a task similarly influences our proclivity to procrastinate. If the task is especially aversive, we'll have a difficult time sequestering the impulse to do other things. Again, the best strategy for this dilemma is to outline the benefits of that future reward, giving it more pull than the competing immediate rewards.

Whatever your strategy, procrastination is a constant annoyance. We delay assignments and doctor visits, and we neglect to clean our dishes - all because we'd rather do something else. This unfortunate disposition results from the partially defunct communication between our frontal lobes and dopaminergic impulses. But hey, at least we're not lizards.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Humans Evolved to Procrastinate - Member Feature Stories - Medium

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ideally, we would never procrastinate. We'd live in a world where obligations came first, personal desires second, and all of our deadlines were met with elegance and ease. Unfortunately, nobody lives in such a world. The tendency to procrastinate is consistently annoying.

# data[].attributes.body
A simple Pomadoro timer.

# data[].attributes.body
Do you feel bad about wasting time? Well don't because MIT professor Alan Lightman shares the benefits of procrastination and how wasting time is essential to our productivity and creativity.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
blinkist podcast - interviews | personal development | productivity | business | psychology

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
ben schuman-stoler. making big ideas personal. get personal growth and business lessons from thought leaders and entrepreneurs.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Blinkist Podcast - Interviews | Personal Development | Productivity | Business | Psychology by Ben Schuman-Stoler. Making big ideas personal. Get personal growth and business lessons from thought leaders and entrepreneurs. on Apple Podcasts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Download past episodes or subscribe to future episodes of Blinkist Podcast - Interviews | Personal Development | Productivity | Business | Psychology by Ben Schuman-Stoler. Making big ideas personal. Get personal growth and business lessons from thought leaders and entrepreneurs. for free.

# data[].attributes.body
Use SuperBetter to adopt a new habit, develop a talent, learn or improve a skill, strengthen a relationship, make a physical or athletic breakthrough, complete a meaningful project, or pursue a lifelong dream.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Researcher, game designer and inventor of SuperBetter. Her #1 goal in life is to see a game developer win a Nobel Peace Prize.

In her first TED Talk, Jane discusses the power of a gameful mindset to make a better world.

Jane McGonigal is Chief Science Officer of SuperBetter and author of the New York Times best-seller of the same name

Check out the book

We're on a mission to unlock heroic potential around the world

Our Passion is People

We're a small but mighty team dedicated to empowering individuals and communities to live epic lives that are full of joy and challenge and powered by strong social relationships, positive emotions and purpose.

Game On!

Our Epic Win is to positively impact the co-occurring epidemics of mental illness, addiction, and suicide. We forge bold alliances with mission-aligned organizations to improve resilience, recovery and mental health in the industries and populations they serve.

We're leaders in applying game science to improve real lives and solve real problems.
Learn more

Led by our CEO Keith Wakeman, we acquired SuperBetter in 2015. Keith had noted how traditional education-centric approaches for empowering positive change often struggle with weak engagement and poor outcomes.

His quest to find an effective new framework that would be broadly familiar, engaging, and intrinsically motivating led him to Jane and SuperBetter.

Video games are a cultural phenomenon, played by 2.7 billion people around the world (that's 1 in 3 globally). The SuperBetter framework of harnessing the familiar mindset and strengths of games to tackle real world challenges has potential for tremendous global impact.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Researcher, game designer and inventor of SuperBetter. Her #1 goal in life is to see a game developer win a Nobel Peace Prize. In her first TED Talk, Jane discusses the power of a gameful mindset to make a better world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Procrastinating is an ART! Watch as these people realize the importance of doing NOTHING! Subscribe for more weekly Musicals! http://bit.ly/SubscribeAVbyte Make sure to share with your friends! Download this Song: http://avbyte.bandcamp.com/track/procrastinating-the-musical What is your favorite method of procrastination? Let us know!

# data[].attributes.body
A browser-based Pomadoro timer and web blocker in one.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
CONQUER DISTRACTION & DIGITAL ADDICTIONThe Productivity App That FORCES You to Focus!No cheats or workarounds. FocusMe is a fully-customizable tool that "walls off" online temptation to instantly increase personal efficiency and take countless hours of your life back... Block, limit, or ration use of time-sucking websites & apps.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Inside the mind of a master procrastinator | Tim Urban

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tim Urban knows that procrastination doesn't make sense, but he's never been able to shake his habit of waiting until the last minute to get things done. In this hilarious and insightful talk, Urban takes us on a journey through YouTube binges, Wikipedia rabbit holes and bouts of staring out the window -- and encourages us to think harder about what we're really procrastinating on, before we run out of time.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Procrastination: Crash Course Study Skills #6

# data[].attributes.body
How do you waste your time? Identify the obstacles to your productivity and eliminate them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
April Krowel cringes every time she recalls it. It was early December and she had planned to decorate her home for Christmas with her husband and 2-year-old daughter. But she still hadn't started her 30-page practicum paper, which was due the following week.

"I really thought it would be no big deal," says Krowel, a counseling psychology doctoral student at Ball State University. "But it literally took all weekend to complete. I ended up getting it done and got a good grade, but it was at the expense of spending time with my family."

After that weekend, she made a promise to herself never to let it happen again. Now, she uses Apple's iCal calendar program to keep better track of upcoming assignments and schedules time for working on them weeks before they're due. She also sets reminders to avoid forgetting anything.

"It's very important to me that my family doesn't suffer while I'm pursuing my PhD," she says.

Krowel's ruined weekend was the result of an all-too-common phenomenon known as the planning fallacy, says procrastination researcher and Carleton University psychology professor Timothy A. Pychyl, PhD. He and other researchers have found that people tend to overestimate how long it will take to complete short tasks and underestimate the time longer projects will take. Then there's the fact that we forget to schedule time for the basics, says Pychyl.

"One of the biggest myths when it comes to time management is that next week always looks free," Pychyl says. "But if you put everything into the calendar that you have to do before you do anything else - things like eating, sleeping, buying groceries - you see right away that you really don't have a lot of time."

Time management is especially important for graduate students because they have so many concurrent projects, and that is likely to continue throughout their careers, Pychyl says. Get your schedule under control with these tips from several time management mavens:

Audit your time

Take a week to keep track of exactly how you spend your time, Pychyl suggests. Be it showering, eating or doing laundry, every activity should be tracked.

Nicholas Scheidt, for example, uses Google Calendar to schedule and color-code every single thing he does, from driving to sleeping, to going out to brunch on Sunday mornings.

"Every single hour on my calendar is accounted for, so that I have a very clear view of what I'm doing," says Scheidt, a clinical psychology graduate student at Carlos Albizu University in Miami. Then, when he needs to find extra time to study for exams or write a paper, he just looks at the calendar and reprioritizes.

"It's just so helpful to know where every hour is going because then you can really control your time better," he says. Even just tracking your schedule for a week gives you a much better sense of how you are spending your time, how long certain tasks such as grocery shopping or reading email really take. You can then build a more accurate schedule for yourself.

Find what works best for you

Experiment with a few different schedules, suggests Cady Block, a medical-clinical psychology doctoral student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. If you're a morning person, set aside a couple of hours in the morning to study. Block says she tends to work best by doing what she calls "chunking," where she does certain tasks on certain days.

"I found that shifting my mindset too many times during the day - between conducting research, attending practicum for a few hours, and then visiting another site to see patients, for example - made me inefficient," she says. "But if I lump all research into one day, and practica into another, I am able to concentrate all of my attention on what I'm doing."

She also chooses not to work on weeknights, reserving that time for relaxation, and then spends a portion of her weekend on coursework and research activities that can be done outside the lab, such as writing manuscripts.

"I know other students who do the opposite, and that works for them," she says.

Establish bright lines

Leave little room for negotiation once you put something on your agenda, Pychyl says. "There's no starting the task at 10:15 a.m. if you said you're going to start it at 10 a.m.," he says. "You have to honor your schedule as if it's set in stone, because otherwise you're setting the precedent that these things don't matter." If you must give yourself any leeway on this, plan two options for the time chunk - for example, either read studies or write a section of a paper. This strategy should apply to both work time and personal time, Pychyl says: "There needs to be a point in the day where you say, OK, I'm going to do some recreation now."

Just get started

So much of good time management is getting past the "I don't feel like it" mentality, Pychyl says. "The truth is that your motivational state does not have to match the task at hand," he says. "Very often, attitudes follow behavior, so just get started." You'll likely be surprised by your renewed interest in the task once you make a little progress.

Get (a little) help from friends

Block suggests enlisting another student in your cohort to help keep you accountable and meeting with him or her often to review progress. "I know of students who put together 'dissertation groups' where they met once per month and reviewed progress on their dissertations," she says. "Your peers can often be your key to success in graduate school, as long as you choose them well."

Use small chunks of time

How often do you think to yourself, "I only have 15 minutes before my next appointment - that's not enough time to write that memo/read that article/type up those client notes. I'll just surf the Web instead"? Pychyl suggests using that time to get started on the task. "You might be surprised at how much you can get done in a day by just using those small chunks of time to make progress on something," he says.

Use technology to avoid distraction

Social networking and email checking are a procrastinator's best friend. To help you stay on task, download a productivity tool that allows you to block certain sites on certain days and times of the week, such as Leech Block, Google's StayFocused or Apple's Focusbar app.

"If you know that Facebook or YouTube consumes a good amount of your time, these apps can help eliminate those distractors," says Sheila Modir, a clinical psychology doctoral student at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Abandon perfection

As a busy graduate student, you don't have the time and energy to give every project your all, says Aileen Chang, a school psychology doctoral student at the University of California, Santa Barbara. If there's an assignment that's not crucial to your realm of study, but that you're required to complete, Chang recommends giving yourself only a set amount of time to do it. "Once that time limit is up, consider the product 'good enough' and move on to the next task," she says.

Reward yourself

It's important to plan breaks - and even an occasional vacation - to refresh your mind and spirit, Scheidt says. While he was writing his dissertation last year, Scheidt took day trips to the botanical gardens to clear his mind. As a bigger reward - and an impetus to stay on task - he scheduled a trip to Argentina for after the project was completed.

"You really need to have incentives like that to stay motivated," he says.

Amy Novotney is a writer in Chicago.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
April Krowel cringes every time she recalls it. It was early December and she had planned to decorate her home for Christmas with her husband and 2-year-old daughter. But she still hadn't started her 30-page practicum paper, which was due the following week.

# data[].attributes.headline
Understanding why can help you break the habit.

# data[].attributes.subject
Understanding why can help you break the habit.

# data[].attributes.body
Read this article and gain a little insight into what's holding you back.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Don't you hate it when you have something you need to do, but you just don't want to do it or you can't get yourself motivated?

Everyone procrastinates at some point, but some people avoid their unwanted obligations so much that it results in a downward spiral of emotions that has a snowball effect.

So, what causes a tendency to avoid difficult tasks and seek out other things to do with your time?

One of the main reasons that procrastination is a challenge to overcome is that everybody has a different reason for doing it. What's more, the same person may have a variety of reasons for procrastinating on different tasks. Procrastination excuses are common as the cold.

Maybe you feel too tired to call your grandmother to check in, and figure "there is always tomorrow." Or, maybe you always find yourself to be too busy to start that hobby that you have been interested in doing.

The key to beating procrastination is to find out what your specific reasons are for doing so, and then addressing them at the core.If you really want to discover " why do people procrastinate", the best way to do it is to look at the causes of procrastination.

Without further ado, here are eight possible causes of procrastination.

Reason #1: Perfectionism

Perhaps you are worried you might make a mistake in your work and expose a weakness. The fear of making mistakes is a real thing, and it can cause people to put off some of their important obligations for another day.

This is a type of mindset that is addressed in Carol Dwick's Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. In this book, Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dwick, Ph.D., details the power of one's mindset. Dwick relates successes in school, sports, work, the arts, and other areas of human endeavor to how one thinks about their talents and abilities.

Dwick explains that people either have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. Those with a fixed mindset believe that their abilities are set in stone, so they only focus on their current intelligence or talents, believing they cannot be developed.

They believe that they were born with what they have, and they can't improve upon their abilities. People with a fixed mindset also believe that effort is not needed for success if someone has talent. They believe the talent just comes naturally.

So, why can a fixed mindset be dangerous? It hinders one's ability to grow, learn, and make positive changes.

Alternatively, a growth mindset allows a person to believe their abilities can prosper and be developed through dedication and hard work. They believe that people's brains and talents are a mere starting point. They are born with their individual strengths, but there is no limit to what one can accomplish. The growth mindset creates a desire to learn and an ability to overcome problems in order to be successful.

Dwick explains that one's mindset reveals how great teachers, parents, and managers can advance in their careers and achieve great accomplishments. With the correct mindset, one can motivate, lead, and teach in a way that can positively change their life and the lives of others.

According to Hillary Rettig, the author of The 7 Secrets of the Prolific: The Definitive Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism, and Writer's Block, people who procrastinate due to perfectionism tend to have a fixed mindset.

This means that they avoid doing certain tasks because they fear the risk of making a mistake and looking anything less than perfect. They want their work to be perfect. Because they believe that they will inevitably fail if the task is not in line with their given talents, it is best to set it aside for another time.

While some may think that being a perfectionist is a positive trait, it is actually quite detrimental. It is a dangerous mix of anti-productive habits and attitudes that discourage progression. Although often misunderstood as having high standards, perfectionism limits the definition of success to an unrealistic standard. This standard will never be achieved, so why try?

Reason #2: Fear of the Unknown

Picture this: You notice one day that a new mole has appeared on your skin. You start to get anxious that it may be cancerous, so you avoid getting it checked out and just hope it goes away on its own. Does this sound like you? Sometimes people are afraid of taking action because it may reveal a truth that they do not want to hear.

As it turns out, the old phrase "What you don't know can't hurt you" isn't really true. In almost every case, if you ignore something for a long period of time, hoping it will go away, it will only get worse.

Researchers from the University of Michigan conducted a study on the effects of allowing misinformation to linger in someone's mind. The study notes that misinformation remains in one's memory and continues to influence their thinking, even if the person is aware that they are mistaken. The person is also likely to make use of the misinformation, especially if it fits with their existing beliefs and makes a logical story. This then leads to spreading the inaccurate information to other people.

This study applies to detriments in the environment, in politics, and on an individual level. Having misinformation or preconceived notions about health issues such as "cancer does not run in my family, so I am probably fine" or "the mole will go away with time" can end up doing significant damage.

The researchers found that one's beliefs and personal views can be significant obstacles for changing believed misinformation. Additionally, an attempt to present someone with an unwanted truth that is against what they previously believed can even backfire and amplify their incorrect ideas. When it comes to personal health issues, ignoring the problem instead of facing the truth can certainly lead to a more severe issue, and even death.

Think about it: What if the mole is a form of cancer that is completely treatable during the early stages, but has the ability to grow malignant if it is ignored? You could be proactive in getting the mole checked out and it would be an easy fix, or you could procrastinate because you want to assume everything is ok. In this case, what you don't know certainly can hurt you, and your personal beliefs that it will go away on its own are detrimental.

Some other examples of this phenomenon include avoiding going to the dentist and continuing to tell yourself that the cavity that you suspect you have will be fine. Maybe you don't want to do your taxes because, until you have to face the truth about owing money, you don't have to worry about it. Perhaps you avoid a conversation with your spouse to delay the argument that it may cause.

All of these causes of procrastination are quite common.​

This all ties back to the findings of the researchers at the University of Michigan, because in these cases, the person doesn't want to know the truth. They are more comfortable with the possibility that everything is fine. Ignorance is bliss, right? So sometimes we procrastinate just to stay ignorant and happy.

However, ignoring these situations can lead to grave circumstances.

What is the lesson here? Knowledge is power.

Even if you hear "bad news," the earlier you hear it, the more opportunities you will have to overcome a potentially worse situation. Knowing is only half the battle - from there you have to take corrective action if necessary.

So, ask yourself these important questions, when you think about procrastination:

What am I afraid of?

What is the worst possible consequence that could happen?

What could happen if I ignore the situation?

Why am I putting this off?

What will I gain in the long run by putting this off?

How often do people actually die from doing this?

Am I trying to convince myself of something that is not true?

Am I scared of the process or the result?

Can I handle the outcome?

Am I trying to protect myself from a certain outcome?

Am I actually scared or was I just told this was scary?

Reason #3: I'll Do It Later

This common excuse is a reminder that you can work on the pending task later on. You imagine that in just a few hours or a couple of days you will have the perfect opportunity to accomplish your goal. You have nothing that you know of that you have to do later on.

However, this creates a strong disconnect between how you will ideally feel in the future and how you will actually feel in the future.

Ideally, you will suddenly be gifted with boundless energy, eat a clean and healthy diet, exercise on a regular basis, and work well into the evenings in order to get everything finished.

However, the realistic future you is tired, unmotivated, worn out, handling unruly children, and craving chocolate cake.

This phenomenon relates to two concepts: the hot-cold empathy gap and dynamic inconsistency.

The Hot-Cold Empathy Gap

This is a state of mind that causes people to underestimate the influences of their instinctive drive on their attitudes, behaviors, and preferences.

The most important aspect of the hot-cold empathy gap is that human understanding greatly depends on one's state of mind. For example, if someone is angry, it is hard for them to picture themselves being calm. If you are hungry, it is hard to think of yourself as being full.

The inability to minimize the empathy gap can cause negative outcomes in professional settings. Examples include when a doctor is gauging the physical pain of their patient or if an employer is assessing how much paid leave an employee should get for a death in the family. These subjective decisions can easily be influenced by the hot-cold empathy gap.

Maybe the doctor had previously been in a similar accident as the patient and feels like they are overreacting to their pain, or maybe an employer also recently had a death in the family but was able to return to work relatively quickly. These past experiences and feelings can have an influence on people's decisions.

Because the "future you" is unknown and you can't predict your feelings or moods that will happen in the future, this adds in a factor that could easily disrupt your plans to do something in the future. Your mood may worsen or you may get into a state of mind that further keeps you from doing the task at hand.

Dynamic Inconsistency

A dynamic inconsistency is a situation where the decision maker's preferences vary over time, and their preferences become inconsistent. This mirrors the idea that there are different varieties of oneself when making a decision. Each "self" represents the decision maker at a certain point in time, and the inconsistency happens when their preferences are not aligned.

This also adds the unpredictability factor into the future self. For example, the night before an exam, students tend to wish they had one more day to study. If the students are asked that night, some may agree to pay $10 for the exam to be postponed just one more day.

Alternatively, if asked months before the exam date, students generally don't feel the need to put the exam off. Consequently, they would not be willing to pay $10 to change the date of the exam.

While the choice is the same in both instances, it is made at different points in time. Because the decision of the student changes, they are exhibiting time inconsistency (

Another example of a dynamic inconsistency was shown in a 1999 experiment. Here, subjects were offered a free movie rental. The movies fell into two categories: lowbrow (such as ) and highbrow (such as

Researchers analyzed the patterns of the choices that the subjects made. Without dynamic inconsistency, one would expect that a subject would make the same choice regardless of when they made the decision versus when they were going to watch the movie. However, the decisions were different.

When subjects were asked to pick a movie to watch right away, most of the people chose to watch a lowbrow movie. However, when they were faced with the decision of which movie to watch in four or more days, 70% of the subjects chose a highbrow movie (

What does this mean? People's minds change over time, and the outcome of their decisions in relation to the point in time that the decision is being made can certainly have a strong effect on how people think. People make different decisions for what will impact them in the immediate future than what will impact them down the road.

Reason #4: Working on Small Tasks Because They're Easier

This probably sounds familiar. Often we will choose to work on "filler" tasks because they are quick and easy to accomplish. This may include checking your email, talking to a co-worker, or doing some light paperwork.

While these tasks may make you look and feel busy, and make you think that you are getting a lot done, it is really just a creative form of procrastination. Small tasks are easy to do and give you a quick sense of accomplishment, so by doing them first, you are able to get instant gratification.

The more time and effort it takes to do a task, the more likely people will procrastinate on getting it done. Without the instant dopamine rush from successfully finishing a task, it seems like the reward for working is just too far away. People want to feel successful and accomplished sooner rather than later.

Have you ever heard of the "Present Bias?" This term refers to one's tendency to prioritize payoffs that are more imminent when considering the trade-offs between two future moments.

done at Princeton University studied subjects' brains while they made choices between immediate small rewards and larger rewards to be received at a later date. Researchers found that there are two areas of the brain that compete for control over one's behavior when someone tries to decide between near-term rewards and long-term goals.

The researchers turned to a popular economic dilemma, wherein consumers act impatiently at the present moment but plan to be patient in the future. For example, if someone is offered the choice of receiving $9 today or $10 tomorrow, they are likely to take the $9 and walk away. However, if someone is given the choice between receiving $9 one year from the offer date or $10 in a year and a day, the person will likely choose the higher amount that is slightly delayed.

The procrastination study focused on 14 Princeton University students who were given a brain scan as they were asked to consider delayed reward choices. One example of a choice that students were offered was if they would take a gift card to Amazon.com with values ranging from $5 to $40 at that moment, or an unknown larger amount that they could receive if they waited a certain period of time, ranging from two to six weeks.

The researchers found that when subjects were considering choices involving the possibility of an immediate reward, parts of their brain were activated that are heavily influenced by neural systems associated with emotion. Additionally, all of the decisions that were made, both short- and long-term, activated the brain systems associated with abstract reasoning.

Interestingly, when students had the option of getting a short-term reward but chose the more valuable delayed option, the calculating areas of their brains were more active than their emotional areas. When subjects chose the short-term reward, the activity of the two areas was similar, with a small swing toward more activity in the emotional area.

The study concluded that the option of short-term rewards activates the emotion-related area of the brain and overcomes the abstract-reasoning areas.

The researchers decided that one's emotional brain has a difficult time imagining the future, regardless of the fact that our logical brain can see the future consequences of current actions. While one's emotional brain wants to receive immediate pleasure, no matter the future damage, our logical brain knows to think about long-term effects. More often than not, the immediate hassle of having to wait for a payoff doesn't seem worth the unknown future benefits.

Reason #5: You Experience a Lack of Motivation

Have you ever thought to yourself that life has just gotten in the way, and so you haven't been able to do what you were supposed to do? This lack of motivation can come from several underlying causes, including:

Lack of energy

Fatigue

Stress

Other priorities

Unexpected emergency

Trouble finding new ideas

You haven't been successful in the past with this task

You're surrounded with negativity

Lack of confidence

Working in the wrong environment

Unclear goals

A study done at Carnegie Melon University revealed that people lack motivation when they find little value in the projected outcome of their work. However, if people are able to clearly see how their work connects to their interests, goals, and concerns, they are more likely to value their work and be motivated to invest their energy into it.

Another study, published in The National Academics of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, notes that motivation is composed of two components: self-confidence and goal choice. Self-confidence is not motivating on its own, but rather a judgment about one's capabilities for their accomplishment of the goal at hand. Self-confidence is therefore considered to be a part of a larger conceptualization of motivation of achieving the ultimate goal.

Reason #6: You Are Unclear About How to Get Started

What if the task at hand is too complex, unique, or difficult? What if it has a lot of moving parts, making it unclear where to begin? This uncertainty may keep you from starting because you don't know your first step.

Even if you can figure out the first step, once you are considering the process as a whole, you realize that you have underestimated the level of time and commitment that is needed to complete this task.

What's the best way to overcome this? A very effective method is to use the "getting things done" approach. This will help break down your complex task into a series of smaller tasks. There are five steps to doing this:

1. Write down the specific tasks that have your attention.

2. Decide which actions can be taken care of right away, and do them.

3. Organize the rest of the task.

4. Constantly review your breakdown of tasks.

5. Do each task, one by one, until they are all finished.

You can even take these steps farther by creating a checklist and getting the satisfaction of checking things off as you go. I know it has been really helpful for me to create a long checklist when writing books so I know that I don't overlook something that I once found to be important.

Reason #7: You Often Get Distracted

Let's dive into some of the modern-day distractions that we are faced with:

A recent survey conducted by Career Builder found that one in five employers believe that their workers spend under five hours each day being productive. When looking for a reason for this, over half of the employers say that workers' smartphones are the first thing to blame, closely followed by the Internet and gossip around the workplace.

So, what are some solutions to keep these procrastination causing distractions at bay? If you can always find a distraction when you are trying to focus, it is important to remove any temptation and only think about the task at hand. Some ways of doing this include:

Blocking certain websites

Deleting games and apps on your smartphone

Recording your temptations and directly address them

Removing wireless Internet

Putting your smartphone on airplane mode

Wearing noise-cancelling headphones

Unplugging your router

Closing your door

Reason #8: You Know the task Will Require Effort and Hard Work

Working on a long project can be really difficult because of the amount of effort that it takes to finish. There are also opportunity costs along the way where you have to give up something you would rather be doing to get some work done on your project. This often leads people to lose their motivation and choose to set aside their projects for a later time.

People are very protective of their time, and often value their personal time more than money or goals. This can result in "delay discounting." As shown in one study, on average, people view receiving $100 three months from the offer as worth the same as receiving $83 at the time of the offer. This means that most people would prefer to lose $17 than to wait three months to get a larger sum of money.

"Time inconsistency" is also a factor in putting forth an effort. Time inconsistency refers to the idea that a leader can create a policy rule that causes people to make commitments, thinking the policy rule will stay in place. The leader can later change the policy rule with the commitments already being fulfilled by people.

For example, a professor may announce an exam for the following week. The students will then study in order to prepare for the exam. However, on the exam date, the professor cancels the exam.

The exam is then unnecessary, but the announcement of the exam was beneficial. The students have already studied the material, and the class can use the time scheduled for testing to learn new material. Additionally, the professor does not have to spend time grading the exams.

One study performed at Stanford University found that time inconsistency is a major factor in individual work. People tend to have a present bias when they are working on tasks that they have full control over. This means that they value their current time over future results. This is due to the fact that the brain values immediate rewards (in this case, free time) over future rewards.

This is one of the main reasons why many people procrastinate, and is, in fact, one of the biggest predictors of future success. One project done by Walter Mischel at Stanford University looked at a series of studies that were done on delayed gratification. During these studies, a child was presented with a choice between receiving a small reward right away or two small rewards in 15 minutes.

The researchers took note of the children's choices and followed up with future studies years later. The study found that children who chose to wait longer for the larger reward tended to have better overall success in life. Alternatively, those who did not choose the delayed gratification had more behavioral problems in school, higher BMIs, and lower educational attainment.

The 8 Causes of Procrastination

So what does this all mean? Everyone has a different reason for their procrastination. The causes of procrastination follow a general pattern, but individuals may procrastinate for multiple reasons. sometime mixing and matching different procrastination causes. The key to overcoming the problem is to identify the reason and take action accordingly.

Remember, your reasons for procrastinating on various tasks may change depending on what you are required to do. Stop and do a realistic self-evaluation to determine what you need to do to stop procrastinating.

Like this post?

Don't forget to share the 8 causes of procrastination on Pinterest!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
8 Causes of Procrastination (Backed by Science and Psychology)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Don't you hate it when you have something you need to do, but you just don't want to do it or you can't get yourself motivated? Everyone procrastinates at some point, but some people avoid their unwanted obligations so much that it results in a downward spiral of emotions that has a snowball effect.

# data[].attributes.body
Limit your time online.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Be more focused and get things done with BaTo.Life. Stop time-wasting web session and set yourself a time limit to fix your lost productivity problem.

# data[].attributes.body
Motivate yourself to achieve your goals by gamifying them with Habitica.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The best way to make a mundane task interesting is to make it into a game, and what better than to turn your habits into a role playing game. For the full episode visit https://twit.tv/arena/129.

# data[].attributes.headline
15 ideas for how you can procrastinate more productively.

# data[].attributes.subject
15 ideas for how you can procrastinate more productively.

# data[].attributes.body
Got other ideas? Add them to the comments below.

# data[].attributes.headline
A short video on how to procrastinate positively.

# data[].attributes.subject
A short video on how to procrastinate positively.

# data[].attributes.body
Watch this and add your own tips for taking a mini mental holiday to this Padlet.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Try Squarespace at https://squarespace.com/braincraft and use code "BRAINCRAFT" for a 10% discount. SUBSCRIBE to BrainCraft! 👉 http://ow.ly/rt5IE My Twitter https://twitter.com/nessyhill | Instagram https://instagram.com/nessyhill Taking a break to do simple or "mindless" tasks can have a positive impact on your creativity, productivity and decision making.

# data[].attributes.body
Next time you need to procrastinate, why not watch a video about procrastination.

# data[].attributes.headline
Do you often find yourself adrift on the River of Excuses or lost in Social Media Forest? Try some of these tips to help you get off the island and into the zone.

# data[].attributes.subject
Do you often find yourself adrift on the River of Excuses or lost in Social Media Forest? Try some of these tips to help you get off the island and into the zone.