3 Forms of Procrastination (and How to Combat Them)
Procrastination is often classed as the antithesis of productivity. It’s the other side of the coin of effective, deep work. But, defining procrastination isn't as simple as the act of delaying tasks until the last minute. Procrastination is a habit that is learned through continual procrastination. As we delay more tasks, push the boundaries of deadlines and seek instant gratification from watching YouTube or scrolling Instagram these distractions become a habit. At that point, procrastination becomes the default setting for the brain when faced with difficult challenges and working on our tasks becomes harder and harder to start.
The first step to combating procrastination is to pinpoint exactly which type of procrastination we're dealing with. Not all types of procrastination are the same, and not all techniques are effective for minimising each type. So what are the three types of procrastination? And how should we be dealing with them?
Multitasking
Possibly the biggest misconception in the productivity and time management space is that doing more tasks simultaneously equates to increased productivity. Recent research suggest that "multitasking is typically accompanied with performance decrements that become evident when comparing performance on a task done in isolation to its performance done in combination with other tasks" [1]
Refraining from multitasking can be particularly difficult when you have a lot of tasks that need to be done in a short space of time. The more tasks on the plate, the easier it is to then fall into the trap of trying to juggle all those tasks at the same time. But doing this can have detrimental effects on both the quality and quantity of work that you produce long term. As a student, I realised that when multiple upcoming deadlines were on the horizon, trying to focus on multiple tasks at once became more and more appealing. But having the discipline to combat that feeling will increase your productive output. I’d suggest two methods for avoiding the multitasking trap whilst simultaneously increasing productive output.
The first of these is time blocking. Time blocking utilises strict control over the tasks worked on during a given period of time where each day is divided into blocks of time, and each block is dedicated to accomplishing a specific task or group of tasks. This method works because it allows you to focus on one task at a time, thereby reducing the need to multitask and enhancing your productivity. It ensures that you're dedicating a specific amount of time to each task you need to complete, which can help prevent tasks from taking longer than necessary and importantly, avoids the temptation to allow other tasks to creep into our time.
To use time blocking, start by listing out all the tasks you need to complete then estimate how long each task will take and schedule a block of time for it in your day. Make sure to include breaks between tasks to prevent burnout. Once a time block for a task is scheduled, it's important to respect that schedule and only work on the task during its designated time. This can help you stay focused and prevent the urge to multitask.
The second method is something I picked up from Cal Newport’s book Slow Productivity called the ‘Pull Method’. You can read my article on implementing the Pull Method here, but as a brief overview: The pull method pulls tasks from a sort of ‘To-Do’ list into an active working list in a way that prevents overload. The first step is to track all projects to which you are currently committed and split them into two sections:
A Holding Tank
The Active List
All project should be added first to the holding tank which theoretically has an infinite reservoir of space for projects. The active list represents the tasks that you’re currently working on which at most should contain 3 projects. When a project from the active list is completed, a new project can be moved into the active list.
This management system prevents overload and stress. It’s up to you how you manage this system - it can be on pen and paper, on a digital notebook or my preferred method: Notion. One important point to make this method effective is to clean the list each week to remove any void projects from the list.
Perfectionism
Perfectionism can be thought of as the continual pursuit of perfection, or even believing that perfection is actually attainable. It is arguably the most common form of procrastination among high achievers who pursue marginally better and better output quality of whatever they’re producing.
While perfectionism can promote ambition and high standards - which are good traits when aiming to be successful in any pursuit - there's a fine line between the high standards that perfectionism promotes, and the darker, unhealthier side. And, in high pressure, highly demanding situations, that line can become very blurred. The downsides of perfectionism are at best, time-wasting and burnout but at worst it can lead to anxiety and depression.
“There are studies that suggest that the higher the perfectionism is, the more psychological disorders you’re going to suffer” – Sarah Egan (a senior research fellow at the Curtin University)
Perfectionism is something that students, entrepreneurs, knowledge workers and craftsmen alike are susceptible to. It's easy to focus on one task in the pursuit of perfection but this is often at the detriment of completing the task itself. As a student, when writing papers or finishing assignments, I’d often find myself spending significant time making minor edits to the layout of the assignment and small improvements to the design of plots. In this case, the time used to ‘perfect’ the projects would’ve been far better spent by starting a new assignment, double checking the results in the project or even going for a walk. In essence, perfectionism leads to diminishing returns in output quality while increasing the time commitment needed.
There are a number of ways to combat perfectionism ranging from setting achievable goals and re-evaluating tendencies. But, the method that has helped me the most is reducing perfectionistic thinking. Examples of perfectionistic thinking include thinking in absolutes - "if it's not perfect, it's not good enough" - and catastrophic thinking - "I won't be able to deal with getting less than 70% on the exam". Catching ourselves thinking in these ways and changing our way of thinking is not only a great way to reduce perfectionistic thinking, it's also a great way to control our emotions and mindset in stressful situations. In most cases done is better than perfect.
Busyness
A big misconception about productivity is that being busy is synonymous with being productive. On the surface this makes sense. If project output is a proxy of productivity, and productive people are busy most of the time, then being busy must equal being productive. But hidden in that statement is a logical fallacy: productive people are busy all the time. This is often case not true (as has been pointed out by Cal Newport in his books Deep Work and Slow Productivity). But even if this were true, the importance is what are productive people busy doing? Is it meaningful work that produces quality output? Or is it meaningless tasks that don’t push the individual closer to their goals?
There is a huge difference between being productive and being busy. To be busy is to fill time with meaningless tasks that waste time, but to be productive is to spend that time to move yourself closer to your goals. Busyness is the illusion of productivity when laziness outweighs motivation.
It's easy to fall into the trap of pretending to ourselves that we're being productive by doing some trivial task which just takes up time. That's being busy, not productive.
In order to combat busyness procrastination, we need a way to prioritise our tasks. One way to do this is by using the priority grid. All tasks fall somewhere on this priority grid with each task having a different position on the grid depending on how much we want to do the task and how much we need to do the task.
Tasks that we need and want to do the most should be the highest priority while those that we don't need or want to do will have lower priorities. Notice how tasks that we want to do are just as important as tasks that we need to do? That’s because a big part of productivity is enjoying the tasks that we’re doing. If the tasks are enjoyable, meaningful or fulfilling, then we are much more likely to complete them.
Conclusion
In this article, I've discussed three forms of procrastination: multitasking, perfectionism and busyness. Each of these forms of procrastination can hinder productivity and time management in different ways. By understanding these forms and the strategies to combat them - such as reducing perfectionistic thinking, prioritising tasks, and avoiding multitasking - we can become more effective in our work. In turn, this can lead to better results and a more balanced lifestyle. Remember, overcoming procrastination is not about working harder, but working smarter.
[1] Poljac, E., Kiesel, A., Koch, I. et al. New perspectives on human multitasking. Psychological Research 82, 1–3 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-018-0970-2